Single-cup Brewers Heat Up Luxury Coffee Trend At Work and At Home

Fairfield, NJ, (PRWEB) August 3, 2005

For more than a decade, the gourmet coffee trend has been steadily climbing, with specialty coffee houses and upscale chain shops sprouting up everywhere from urban street corners to suburban strip malls, and with grocery stores selling freshly-ground exotic beans from all over the world to a swelling audience of luxury coffee-lovers. The only place it seemed a coffee gourmand couldn't get a freshly brewed, custom-prepared cup of java was at work, where double burners hosting a hardly-fresh pot of regular and one of decaf usually ruled the day. But that, too, has changed.

“There are so many trends – both on the consumer side and the business side – that have converged to make luxury office coffee such a popular corporate perk,” notes Judson Kleinman, president of Corporate Essentials, a beverage service firm for professional businesses in the NY-metro area. “But by far, the newest and strongest of these trends is the emergence of the Single-Cup Brewers,” he says.

Single-Cup Brewers work using sealed cartridges or cups of prepackaged, pre-measured coffee, which are inserted in the machine prior to brewing. After selecting and inserting a cartridge or cup, then pushing a button, the machine brews a fresh cup of coffee in usually about 30 seconds. Although Single-Cup Brewers have been available to the corporate market for several years, Kleinman notes that the past year saw a surge in the technology behind the machines for both the office and the home, as well as in the widespread availability of a host of premium quality coffees for those machines. “Today, manufacturers like Keurig have partnered with several coffee brands to create more than 100 different flavors and strengths of coffee, along with other hot drinks like tea or cocoa,” Kleinman explains.

What's more, the industry is hard at work developing the “next generation” of Single-Cup Brewers that use “pods” of specialty coffee pre-wrapped in filter paper in place of the cartridges and cups. “The technology has been used for years in Europe to control quality and costs when making espresso,” Kleinman explains. Corporate Essentials has tested several models of this new equipment, and Kleinman believes the technology is “very close – we're right around the corner from a market introduction.”

Single-cup brewers at home

Fueling the rise in popularity of Single-Cup Brewers, several manufacturers of these traditionally corporate machines recently began marketing smaller consumer models for the home. “It wasn't until 2004 that Single-Cup Brewers for the home market really began to take off,” Kleinman explains. “The appeal of making a custom cup of coffee in your own kitchen – whenever you want it, however you want it – with no mess, and within 30 seconds, drives strong consumer sales of these Single-Cup Brewers for the home,” he adds. Once consumers experience the quality and convenience of single-cup, luxury coffee brewing at home, Kleinman says, the contrast with average coffee at the office becomes far more pronounced, and much less acceptable.

Employees and Employers See the “Perks”

According to recent research by Automated Merchandiser, the trade magazine that follows the Office Coffee Service (OCS) industry, there are benefits to be had on both sides of the boardroom table when it comes to offering luxury coffee as an office perk.

For instance, The 2005 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey, which was conducted by the National Coffee Association and referenced in the report, confirmed that more Americans are drinking specialty coffee (52% in 2005, as opposed to 49% in 2004). Of those coffee aficionados, the percent that drink gourmet coffee away from home spiked 11%. The most popular place? Work, of course. The bad news is that NCA reports most of these specialty-coffee-loving office workers had to leave their offices to find their favorite cup of joe. “This represents a huge potential for lost productivity, when more and more employees are heading out the doors and down the street for a good cup of coffee,” Kleinman points out. “Employers are realizing that the key to keeping workers happy and at their desks is to bring the gourmet coffee to them.”

The good news is that, once employers institute in-house specialty coffee services, employees do view it as a significant “perk.” Gerald (Jerry) Kundla, Director Facilities & Office Administration at VNU Inc., a leading international media and information company, notes, “We had several employees who would spend $6, $10, even $12 per day on specialty coffee outside the office. They've commented that the single-cup brewing system is almost like getting a raise for them.” Kundla notes, too, that the perks extend to client service as well. “The fact is that more and more people are jumping on the gourmet coffee bandwagon. And being able to offer clients or prospects a variety of high-end coffees from our own pantry right before a meeting just reinforces that overall quality image that we want to project.”

According to the Automated Merchandiser report, published this month on its web site, http://www.amonline.com higher coffee prices, coupled with a stronger, less downsized corporate economy and an unprecedented increase in the quality and variety of both coffees and equipment, led to a 5% jolt in OCS revenues during the past 12 months, bringing the industry to $3.56 billion in sales.

Bio:

Judson Kleinman has more than 25 years of experience in positioning and promoting refreshment services to professional services companies including law firms, advertising agencies and accounting companies. Mr. Kleinman has been at the forefront of the recent trend by employers to offer their employee’s gourmet coffees and refreshment services as a perk to improve job satisfaction and productivity. From his position as a reseller, Mr. Kleinman has a broad view of the many makers of coffees, teas, waters and snacks and is on the cutting edge of the beverage brewing technology and trends. As the founder and president at Corporate Essentials, a New Jersey business to business beverages and refreshment services firm, Mr. Kleinman oversees purchasing, sales and servicing. Mr. Kleinman has been quoted on numerous occasions on the subjects of coffees, teas, waters, and on a variety of topics involving running a small business, customer services and sales management. Mr. Kleinman holds a business degree from State University College at Oneonta.

Contact:

Melissa Chefec

203-968-6625

mchefec@optonline.net

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