Wake Up and Smell the Coffee:

How Office Managers Can Evolve Their Breakroom Beverages

Michele Greenberg

Breakroom Marketing Manager


Office managers in the 2020s have had front-row seats to astonishing changes in the workplace. These shifts have affected not just the way we work but how we connect with our colleagues and each other.

Of all the factors contributing to these changes, you'd be surprised to learn that coffee plays quite a significant role.

While America's favorite caffeinated beverage is still present in the breakrooms and waiting rooms of businesses, healthcare facilities, government offices and educational institutions, how and when we consume coffee in the workplace is evolving.


In this article, we'll look at:

  1. How the US workforce is growing younger.
  2. How coffee consumption has expanded way past sunrise.
  3. How the changing workforce prefers its coffee.

The US workforce is growing younger.

In 2020, Covid changed much of how and where we work. Here's the big change that many office managers may have overlooked:

Among the 72% of the workforce who have either returned to the office or are working a hybrid model, many of them are decidedly younger. Today, Gen Z and Millennials make up 38% of the global workforce. By 2030, that number will rise to 58%.1

And these generations drink coffee - just not how prior generations do.


Millennials and Gen Z are becoming the global workforce. The represent 38% of the workforce today, and are expected to make up 58% of the workforce by 2030.

There's always time for coffee.

For starters, this younger workforce has expanded coffee's consumption time. Like eating scrambled eggs and bacon for dinner, drinking coffee isn't just for breakfast anymore.

Coffee "dayparts" are additional parts of the day when drinking coffee is not only socially acceptable but is the hip thing to do. For each daypart, coffee serves a different role.2

It's always time for coffee: A breakdown of different coffee dayparts.

Some Millennials and Gen Zers take part in one or more dayparts, but these two younger generations are the groups most likely to partake in all four dayparts - every day.

That's a lot of coffee. And this is where the java trends get more complicated.


Starbucks®, Dunkin'® and Tim Hortons® saw increased sales during
'The Social Connector' daypart (12:00 pm - 3:00 pm) from 2019 to 2023.3

Hot coffee isn't that hot anymore.

Very few workers from the Millennial and Gen Z generations drink hot, black coffee.

In addition to consuming coffee throughout the entire workday, younger workers do so in different forms, such as flavored coffee and cold coffee drinks.

While Boomers and Gen Xers still prefer traditional coffee over espresso-based beverages and specialty drinks (like cold brew, nitro and frozen), the returning younger workforce is definitely consuming the nontraditional formats.

A chart breaking down coffee consumption by generation across one week at Starbucks.

Still not buying it? Then take a look at what's selling out there in the coffee market these days. In 2021, traditional hot coffee made up less than 10% of Starbucks orders. Half of their coffee orders were cold.5


The majority of Starbucks orders are cold. Hot traditional coffee represents less than 10% of orders.

Here's where we're going with all this:

The biggest coffee chain in the world is providing more specialty and cold forms of coffee to your return-to-office and hybrid workers on their drive to and from the office.

So, it begs the question: Does your office provide specialty and cold coffee to your employees?

If you answered, "Yes", then consider yourself a forward-thinking office manager.

The key takeaway.

As the younger generations (Millennial and Gen Z) make up more and more of the global workforce, office managers should take note of their preferences - starting with how they take their coffee.

Coffee in the workplace is no longer just about drips and donuts. Rather, coffee dayparts have expanded throughout the entire workday.

Also, today's workforce is more discerning and demanding when it comes to their coffee. Thanks to the rise of specialty coffee shops, workers are accustomed to more sophisticated tastes, such as pour-overs, espressos and lattes.

And it's the forward-thinking office manager who's currently thinking, "My office coffee offerings might be ready for an upgrade."


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Sources:

1 pwc.com

2 natrg.com

3 Nation's Restaurant News. How 6 pm became the new 8 pm (and breakfast became early lunch) 2023

4 National Coffee Drinking Trends Spring 2023

5 NPD Crest, Starbucks CaY 2021 vs YA