Office coffee: is a robot barista worth it for your building?

Most offices already have a kettle, a tired filter machine or a pod machine nobody cleans. Meanwhile the café down the road takes ten minutes of everyone’s day. If you manage a building, the question is whether to provide something better on site, and what that something should be. This guide sets out the options so you can choose on purpose.

Why coffee on site matters

Britain drinks a lot of coffee. The British Coffee Association’s media centre puts consumption at about 98 million cups a day. It is a habit built into the working day, not an occasional treat, and people notice when a workplace does not cater for it.

Work patterns have also changed what an office is for. The Office for National Statistics found that 28% of workers in Great Britain were hybrid workers between 8 January and 30 March 2025. With many staff choosing which days to come in, the building has to give them a reason. A good coffee point is a small, visible one.

Five ways offices provide coffee

• Kettle and instant. Cheap and it works, but nobody is excited by it, and it does nothing for visitors.
• Pod or filter machine. Low cost, but someone has to buy supplies, clean it and fix it, and quality varies.
• Bean-to-cup machine. Better coffee, but it still needs stocking, cleaning and servicing, usually arranged through a separate contract.
• A staffed coffee cart or café. Excellent when you have the footfall to justify it, but it is a staffing and rent decision, not an equipment one. It rarely suits a small or hybrid-attended building.
• A managed robot barista. A self-contained unit that brews barista-style drinks to order, with no one staffing it and the supplier handling stock, cleaning and servicing.

No option wins everywhere. A 20-person office with a good kitchen may need nothing more than a better filter machine. A multi-tenant building with a busy reception, or a hotel lobby with early check-outs and a closed bar, has a stronger case for something that works at any hour.

Work out who the coffee is for

Before comparing machines, decide who you are serving. Staff want speed, quality and a fair price. Visitors want something they can order without asking anyone. Tenants in a shared building want an amenity that makes the space feel looked after.

Then count the hours. If people are in the building at 7am and 6pm, a staffed option leaves gaps. If most use is between 10am and 3pm, a simpler set-up may be enough. Also decide whether you want to subsidise drinks. Free or subsidised coffee for staff or guests is a visible perk, and it can be set up with a managed machine.

What a robot barista does and does not do

Our robot barista coffee machine uses a six-axis robotic arm to make barista-style drinks to order from a 22-inch touchscreen, with latte art printed on top. It has a dual pickup point, so one collection does not hold up the next, and a refill capacity of 200 to 300 cups. It is cashless only: people pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

It is a coffee point, not a canteen. It will not make breakfast or run a lunch menu, and it needs space, power and, for the right set-up, water. What it adds is a feature people stop to watch, in a place where a machine tucked in a kitchen would go unnoticed. We only recommend it where it will earn its place, and if a different machine suits your building better, we say so.

What to check before you agree to any machine

• Who pays for what. Get the machine, installation, stock, cleaning, servicing and repairs in writing. With Nexus Vend there is no upfront cost to you.
• How you are paid. An agreed share of sales, paid monthly, with a statement showing every transaction.
• Who sets prices. They should be agreed with you before the machine goes live, not decided afterwards.
• The contract. Ours is a six-month minimum, then rolling monthly. Be wary of long fixed terms you cannot leave.
• Power and water. The robot barista draws 2,200W and has a 6-litre water tank. Mains-plumbed and tank-fed options are both available, and we check power, water, access and positioning at a free site survey.
• Placement. Reception, lobby or a breakout area where people pass and can see it work.
• Insurance, food registration and certification. Ask who handles them. With Nexus Vend, we do.
• Service. Ask how faults are found. We monitor stock levels and faults remotely, so refills and repairs happen before most people notice.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Hiding it away. A coffee point in a back corridor gets used by the people who already know it is there. Visibility is part of the value, for staff and visitors alike.
• Choosing on equipment price alone. A cheap machine nobody cleans or restocks quickly becomes a dead spot in the building. Ask who does the unglamorous work every week.
• Leaving the menu to the supplier. The drinks range should be chosen with you, based on what your people want, and reviewed against what actually sells once the machine is live.
• Skipping the site survey. Power, water, access and positioning are far easier to settle before delivery than after it.

A simple way to decide

1. List who you are serving. Staff, visitors, tenants or guests, and at what times.
2. Check you have a suitable spot. You need floor space, a power supply and, ideally, a place with passing footfall.
3. Decide on any subsidy. Free or part-paid drinks change how the machine is used.
4. Count the real cost of the alternative. Include staff time, supplies, cleaning and repairs, not just the price of the equipment.
5. Agree the numbers in writing. Revenue share, prices, contract length and what happens if it underperforms.

For the full detail of installation, servicing and payments, read how it works.

Sources

• British Coffee Association, Media Centre
• Office for National Statistics, Who has access to hybrid work in Great Britain?