Coffee machines for a school staff room

Teachers get two coffee windows a day, and a bell sets both of them. Recess and lunch arrive for everyone at once, and the break ends whether the cup is finished or not.

That timetable is the whole brief for a school staff room machine. A coffee machine for the staff room covers the general case. This one is about schools.

A button suits a bell

Nobody in a staff room has time to tamp, steam, and wipe down a group head before the next period. An automatic bean-to-cup machine grinds whole beans for each cup and pours at a button. Arico installs a Saeco Royal Plus. A relief teacher on their first day can use it without asking anyone.

Instant and pods are the usual alternatives. What instant really costs is the bill most staff rooms never add up.

Who signs off

Schools route almost anything that goes into the building through someone. The business manager, the principal, or a facilities contact. A machine at $0 still needs a supplier approved and a spot agreed. Government and independent schools often have their own supplier rules, so check yours first.

Find that person before you ask for anything else. It saves a second conversation.

Who pays for the beans

Staff rooms run on a social club tin, a levy, or the school budget. Any of those work. The order is one monthly bean delivery, from as little as 40 cents a cup. The machine, servicing, and tech support stay at $0 while that order continues. How the free machine works is the terms in one place.

Sizing the order around the term

Count the people in the staff room on a normal day, not every name on the roll. Part-timers and relief days make the real number smaller than it looks.

A working example, not an Arico specification: 30 people, 2 cups a day, about 7 grams a cup, 20 school days. That comes to about 8.4 kilograms, so plan around 9. An office of twenty shows the same sum at a smaller size.

Holidays are the catch. A month with two weeks of term drinks far less than a full one. Raise the term calendar on the call. Order for the month, not the quarter, and keep the bag sealed at room temperature. Storing beans has the rest.

What the room needs

Power, water, and a bench. If the only water is a tap at the sink, the machine runs from a tank someone fills. We put the machine in. We do not supply milk or cups, and we do not refit the kitchenette.

Someone on site empties the grounds, keeps the tank full, and tops up the hopper. Anything else that stops the machine is ours. We install in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and the postcode confirms the school.

Three answers before the call

Who approves the supplier. Which bench the machine sits on. Who pays for the beans.

With those settled, the rest is a postcode and a headcount.