LeanBox - the startup whose vending fridges stock offices with healthy, locally sourced food options - has recently taken on an initiative: jazzing up your cup of coffee at work. With a new line of services, the venture is offering high-quality, responsibly sourced and locally roasted coffee to boost companies’ caffeine cultures.
Office coffee has traditionally been a last resort.
Instead of having to take 20 minutes of your day to spend $3.25 on a decent cup of coffee or suffering through a nearly impotable K-Cup, LeanBox is presenting a more appealing option. "Office coffee has traditionally been a last resort,” Shea Coakley, co-founder of LeanBox, explained. “Stale boxes of single serve, acidic, bitter coffee are used reluctantly by the office worker looking to get the caffeine fix. We knew there had to be a way to bring the barista experience and the fresh bean to cup experience into the breakroom.”
Coakley told us LeanBox was at first reluctant to touch the coffee business. But it became increasingly apparent overhauling office coffee aligned with the company’s mission of enhancing the daily work experience. “There is a trend to improve workplace culture and coffee is simply an aspect of office environment that cannot be ignored,” he said.
LeanBox now has three service offerings centered on coffee. It started with LeanBox On Tap, able to dispense cold brew coffee - traditional and nitro - tea and beer (in partnership with Drizly). And matter of months ago, the company expanded into the hot coffee space with its Cafe Brewing Station (for small to medium-sized offices) and Bean to Cup (for medium to large-sized offices) options, the latter of which grinds beans on the spot to make more than 20 specialty coffee drinks.
The hot and cold brew coffee available through LeanBox’s services come from Atomic Coffee Roasters, based in Beverly and whose roasting facility is located in Salem, Mass. John Mahoney, co-founder of Atomic, explained the two companies met through a mutual friend and they could tell a partnership would be a fit.
Atomic Coffee Roasters takes care when sourcing their beans, ensuring they’re fair-trade and organic, either by buying them from a broker or directly from farms.
“There are four of us who do a taste test at our coffee roasting facility,” Mahoney shared. “We cup everything for quality control and, with a lighter roast, can taste defects or off notes. That’s how we determine if we buy a coffee or not.”
They seasonally select beans to roast. “Coffee is a seasonal fruit,” Mahoney said. “We aim to buy and sell out rather quickly because fresh crops of coffee come in as the seasons change.”
Coakley pointed out that modern coffee drinkers have developed palates and demand a higher quality from their joe. LeanBox hopes to create a satisfying, environmentally friendly coffee experience for office-goers at a reasonable cost for companies. Although Coakley didn’t disclose exact figures for fees, he said their offerings were priced a tier above Keurig costs.
“It was odd for us to find out that we had the ability to increase quality and lower cost,” he said. “It might be a function of controlling to process from bean to cup, but we have found a way to upgrade coffee programs and save money.”
