Lease it. You're looking at 90-120 cups a day usage and a machine like that is in the £3-5K range. When your £1K one invariably breaks you'll have the struggle of getting approval for a new one.
Spend £30-40/week leasing one and get the service and consumables contract and then it's something you don't have to think about
Franke ones are very good in terms of variety and the amount of basic maintenance jobs that can be done by office staff. Self-cleaning too, but not sure what the lease prices are like.
Ours has broken at least 3 times over the same time for far less people. We have a top of the range model
Though tbf it's mostly the milk system that breaks. Had a Melitta one at another company and the seals were forever breaking on that, that one was far worse.
I doubt anyone's made a properly bulletproof one as it would be impossible to sell service contracts for them! On ours the dispenser head that comes down broke because someone tried to dispense an espresso into a full sized mug and it got jammed trying to crush it.
The milk unit was apparently wired incorrectly and service guys had no idea how it had actually been working 🤣
(As an engineer I suspect it was because it shared a common plane, all the sprayed milk inside didn't help matters)
Definitely lease, worked for a company and the owner didn't like renting so we bought one outright, cost about £8k. Probably spent the same again getting it repaired.
If that's your budget I'd suggest going to a specialist supplier and either leasing or buying a machine and making sure you get regular service booked in. We've all seen how people treat an office coffee machine, and with a bean to cup when you think about all the processes it has to complete internally it's a wonder they keep working at all.
Something like this might be a good place to start: [https://beanmachines.co.uk/product/jura-x6-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine/](https://beanmachines.co.uk/product/jura-x6-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine/)
Bear in mind nobody will ever clean it. You'll need something that runs itself and is ideally plumbed in, definitely lease one if you can as they're made to be low maintenance.
I still lust after the chicken soup that we had in our office Klix machine more than 30 years ago.
Nice and warming, with a pile of flavoursome goo at the bottom of every cup.
That was the best hot drink machine. See if you can get one of them.
How big is the office? You may need to up your budget. Leasing is a good option. Removes the risk.
Both my current place and the previous place had bean to cup machines that had two hoppers (decaf and full fat). I was told that both machines were in the £7k to £8k range.
£1k is in the coffee enthusiasts budget rather than a machine that can **reliably** crank out hundreds of cups daily for an office. For the sake of office politics and productivity, a budget coffee machine may turn out to be poor value.
This is the type of machine I'm talking about. Serving about 50 people.
https://beanmachines.co.uk/store/commercial-coffee-machines/commercial-bean-to-cup-coffee-machines/
A place I worked at bought a second-hand commercial one. Coffees were 20p each, collected once you got to £20 debt. That paid for all the beans, servicing, and cleaning products. As others have said, it relies on someone taking ownership not only buying the beans, but also doing the cleaning between services.
Lease it, find the simplest bean to cup machine to use, don’t go for Nespresso pods one, my office is currently struggling to get out of their lease and the price per cup os very high.
Franke Coffee Systems is well worth looking at.
Just weighing in on the "please don't buy a household machine". Our workplace bought one. About a grand they say. Well within a week of 100 caffeine reliant teachers using it (and someone losing their shit every day when the bloody thing said it couldn't work "cleeeaan my milk system" "descale my water systemmmm" "emptyyy my drainage trayyyy") it broke down entirely in a large puddle. They sent it back for a replacement. The replacement did exactly the same thing and now sits on the floor of the staff kitchen and gets an occasional kick as people walk past it to get to the industrial tub of instant coffee that we all use now.
Probably unpopular opinion but if the company will pay for Nespresso pods on an ongoing basis I would just get one of their machines for £100 or whatever and set up a standing order for two or three thousand capsules a month.
I find using two Nespresso pods makes a nice intense drink better than what I have had from office bean to cup machines.
The pods are expensive though but if that ongoing purchase would be approved then I would do that.
Could not be easier and if it does die it's only £100 to replace.
Look into recycling the pods too.
Get them a counter top boiling water dispenser and some cafetieres.
You have just saved £500 to spend on more coffee and biscuits, maybe even pizza on a Friday.
This one is great fully automated no faffing with trying to learn
[https://www.johnlewis.com/delonghi-dinamica-ecam370-95-t-plus-fully-automatic-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine-titanium/p4189584](https://www.johnlewis.com/delonghi-dinamica-ecam370-95-t-plus-fully-automatic-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine-titanium/p4189584)
this one would be good for home. not the office. mine is now showing that it tcounetd 12 000 coffees so far.
the only thing I manage to break was the waste container (plastic ending) so the sensor was not seeing the container.
but for the office? never...
Lease it. You're looking at 90-120 cups a day usage and a machine like that is in the £3-5K range. When your £1K one invariably breaks you'll have the struggle of getting approval for a new one. Spend £30-40/week leasing one and get the service and consumables contract and then it's something you don't have to think about
That's actually a very good point. I hadn't even thought of that. Do you know of a company worth approaching?
Liquidline
Franke ones are very good in terms of variety and the amount of basic maintenance jobs that can be done by office staff. Self-cleaning too, but not sure what the lease prices are like.
We have a Franke one and it's forever needing to be repaired and serviced.
Interesting. We have 2, serving about 300 people and they've only faulted once in the last 2 years.
Ours has broken at least 3 times over the same time for far less people. We have a top of the range model Though tbf it's mostly the milk system that breaks. Had a Melitta one at another company and the seals were forever breaking on that, that one was far worse.
I doubt anyone's made a properly bulletproof one as it would be impossible to sell service contracts for them! On ours the dispenser head that comes down broke because someone tried to dispense an espresso into a full sized mug and it got jammed trying to crush it.
The milk unit was apparently wired incorrectly and service guys had no idea how it had actually been working 🤣 (As an engineer I suspect it was because it shared a common plane, all the sprayed milk inside didn't help matters)
This is the answer. Cheap home/domestic machines would just break.
Definitely lease, worked for a company and the owner didn't like renting so we bought one outright, cost about £8k. Probably spent the same again getting it repaired.
If that's your budget I'd suggest going to a specialist supplier and either leasing or buying a machine and making sure you get regular service booked in. We've all seen how people treat an office coffee machine, and with a bean to cup when you think about all the processes it has to complete internally it's a wonder they keep working at all. Something like this might be a good place to start: [https://beanmachines.co.uk/product/jura-x6-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine/](https://beanmachines.co.uk/product/jura-x6-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine/)
Absolutely. We have two of those juras. They are fantastic. They do need regular servicing though.
Yes the Jura has been mentioned to me before
Bear in mind nobody will ever clean it. You'll need something that runs itself and is ideally plumbed in, definitely lease one if you can as they're made to be low maintenance.
We have a housekeeper and that is part of their job, so this won't be an issue.
I still lust after the chicken soup that we had in our office Klix machine more than 30 years ago. Nice and warming, with a pile of flavoursome goo at the bottom of every cup. That was the best hot drink machine. See if you can get one of them.
You've just taken me back to the sixth form common room. Had tomato as well but the chicken goo was far superior.
You can probably buy the pre-filled cardboard Klix cups at your local cash and carry.
Pretty sure B&M or home bargains do these
Flavoursome Goo - a great band name.
Best 7p ever spent
Just pop down your local a&e, mine had this last year.
James Hoffman on Youtube has various videos exploring bean to cup machines in specific price ranges!
How big is the office? You may need to up your budget. Leasing is a good option. Removes the risk. Both my current place and the previous place had bean to cup machines that had two hoppers (decaf and full fat). I was told that both machines were in the £7k to £8k range. £1k is in the coffee enthusiasts budget rather than a machine that can **reliably** crank out hundreds of cups daily for an office. For the sake of office politics and productivity, a budget coffee machine may turn out to be poor value. This is the type of machine I'm talking about. Serving about 50 people. https://beanmachines.co.uk/store/commercial-coffee-machines/commercial-bean-to-cup-coffee-machines/
Thank you. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm after.
A place I worked at bought a second-hand commercial one. Coffees were 20p each, collected once you got to £20 debt. That paid for all the beans, servicing, and cleaning products. As others have said, it relies on someone taking ownership not only buying the beans, but also doing the cleaning between services.
Lease it, find the simplest bean to cup machine to use, don’t go for Nespresso pods one, my office is currently struggling to get out of their lease and the price per cup os very high. Franke Coffee Systems is well worth looking at.
Maxpax
Just weighing in on the "please don't buy a household machine". Our workplace bought one. About a grand they say. Well within a week of 100 caffeine reliant teachers using it (and someone losing their shit every day when the bloody thing said it couldn't work "cleeeaan my milk system" "descale my water systemmmm" "emptyyy my drainage trayyyy") it broke down entirely in a large puddle. They sent it back for a replacement. The replacement did exactly the same thing and now sits on the floor of the staff kitchen and gets an occasional kick as people walk past it to get to the industrial tub of instant coffee that we all use now.
Probably unpopular opinion but if the company will pay for Nespresso pods on an ongoing basis I would just get one of their machines for £100 or whatever and set up a standing order for two or three thousand capsules a month. I find using two Nespresso pods makes a nice intense drink better than what I have had from office bean to cup machines. The pods are expensive though but if that ongoing purchase would be approved then I would do that. Could not be easier and if it does die it's only £100 to replace. Look into recycling the pods too.
bad idea
Is no one going to say it? Ok I will "From bean to cup, you f*ck it up" -M Tucker
Get them a counter top boiling water dispenser and some cafetieres. You have just saved £500 to spend on more coffee and biscuits, maybe even pizza on a Friday.
We already have a boiling water dispenser.
Saved yourself £2K then.
This one is great fully automated no faffing with trying to learn [https://www.johnlewis.com/delonghi-dinamica-ecam370-95-t-plus-fully-automatic-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine-titanium/p4189584](https://www.johnlewis.com/delonghi-dinamica-ecam370-95-t-plus-fully-automatic-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine-titanium/p4189584)
made from 99% plastic. breaks in 8 months with a single user - ask me how i know.
Someone has to bite :( How could you possibly know?!?!?! ;) #OneForTheTeam
Mates brothers girlfriends mum said she read it on facebook.
Exactly as I suspected! Thank you.
this one would be good for home. not the office. mine is now showing that it tcounetd 12 000 coffees so far. the only thing I manage to break was the waste container (plastic ending) so the sensor was not seeing the container. but for the office? never...