september-october2023 - 18

CHART 5A: % OCS sales
by supplier type
SUPPLIER TYPE
Private label
Local coffee brands
(known to customers)
National brand -
value coffee
National brand -
specialty coffee
Espresso coffee
2023
16.4%
25.6
29.5
18.4
10.10
CHART 5B: % OCS sales
by product category
PRODUCT CATEGORY
Frac pack
Whole bean coffee
K-cups
Single cup (non K-cup)
absorbing costs, and 45% said they
adjusted their product mix. Others
began selling additional services (37%),
and 9% divested.
It has been the ability of OCS
operators to adapt to an ever-changing
environment, and 2022 was no different
- with 34% of operators reported that
they added pantry service, 24% said they
added micro markets, while 31% added
water service.
2023
29.5%
39
14.1
17.3
CHART 5C: Top-selling OCS
products for past 12 months,
by volume
TOP PRODUCT
Local coffee brands
Private label
Value frac packs
Specialty drinks
Whole bean
National brand coffees
K-Cups
Single-cup
Tea
Pantry or direct
delivery service
(food/snacks/beverages
delivered to locations)
Water filtration service
(point-of-use/POU)
2023
25%
7
9
5
22
17
3
6
1
5
BEAN-TO-CUP IS NOW A
DOMINANT CHOICE
In 2022, whole-bean varieties increased
again from the previous year, becoming
the dominate coffee product sold,
making up 39% of OCS sales over frac
packs (29.5% of OCS sales), followed by
single cup (17%) and K-cup at 14%.
To meet the demands by clients to
offer high-end coffee service as a reward
for returning to the office, most operators
provided high-quality coffee, with local
coffee brands familiar to clients (25%) as
the top-selling OCS product, then whole
bean (22%), nationally branded coffee
(17%), private-label products (7%), and
single cup at 6%.
For OCS product categories, pantry
CHART 5D: OCS product
category, % of sales
PRODUCT CATEGORY
Coffee
Non-coffee hot beverages
Soft drinks
Bottled water (5 gallon)
Creamers/sweeteners
Cups/plates/paper
products
Tea
Pantry service/micro
kitchen (paid by employer
offered to employees)
Water filtration service
(non bottled)
Ice machines
service as well as water filtration
service and ice machines all showed
a notable jump in 2022 sales due to
customer demand.
An increase in respondents (81%)
2023
41%
7.1
7.9
6.4
6.0
8.1
4.7
6.5
7.2
5.1
p. 35 & 46
said they offered online ordering of
coffee or related products in 2022. And,
75% said they are using industry-specific
software to manage OCS business; 9%
are using the same software for vending.
SUSTAINABILITY AND
COFFEE TRENDS
In 2022, a higher number of OCS
operators reported that they offered
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p. 38
CHART 6: Plumbed-in, automatic
and thermal as % of total
● Single-cup
● Automatic thermal
● Pourover thermal
● Automatic glass pot
● Pourover glass pot
8.5%
13.1%
41.2%
11.7%
25.5%
2022/23
more water filtration devices to reduce
bottled water (29.5%), as well as an
increase in coffee with sustainability
features, such as organic or fair trade
(26.3%), and about 35% said they
offered recycled products (cups, filters,
pods, utensils). Only 9% said they
do not offer any products to address
environmental concerns.
Consumer demand also was
reflected in the percentage of OCS
operators reporting they offered cold
brew options in 2022 - 83% compared
with 66% in the previous year. Among
those, 13% offered on-draft kegs, 30%
offered single-serve bottles, and 34%
said in packages the location can brew.
About 90% of operators offered iced
coffee options. Also, a higher number of
operators reported an increase in espresso
in their OCS sales by supplier type -
10% in 2022, up from 5.5% in 2021.
Single-cup brewers also showed an
increase in 2022 - at 41% compared
with 39% in the previous year.
LOCATIONS AND
POPULATION SIZE
In 2022, the typical location
population of coffee service
accounts from respondents
had 20-29 employees (27%),
followed by 30-49 employees
(17%), and then 15-19
employees (16%).
18 Automatic Merchandiser * September/October 2023
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september-october2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of september-october2023
