If it’s the little things that can count for or against employers in an employee-constrained market, then it must be a plus to offer those little things; at least that’s what Doug Hamilton reckons.
Mr Hamilton is managing director of East Perth-based coffeefresh, which for the past seven years has been supplying the kitchen needs of a growing number of Perth businesses.
He says offering fresh coffee, milk, and healthy snacks for the workplace is a simple way for a business to enhance its image and make it an employer of choice.
Coffeefresh includes Woodside, BHP, and Chevron among its clients.
“Instead of a tin of Nescafe, you have a coffee machine and an automated service with food and healthy snacks delivered to the workplace,” Mr Hamilton told WA Business News.
And by outsourcing what would normally be part of a PA’s role, he said, a company’s kitchen could be turned into a social space where staff were able to interact in a more informal way.
“It creates a space in which everyone feels comfortable to catch up in the kitchen. People can discuss work in an informal way, it’s the old ‘standing around the water cooler’ applied to a coffee machine,” Mr Hamilton said.
The company caters mostly for businesses located in the Perth CBD, from small operations to larger corporations.
Coffeefresh also has clients in West Perth, Osborne Park and Bentley.
Mr Hamilton said that, although the company planned a push into the suburbs, he wanted to work in clusters, so as to ensure quality control.
Coffeefresh has grown from just three employees in 2001 to 55 today, catering for a total of 12,000 people.
As well as providing coffee machines suited to clients’ requirements, coffeefresh distributes its own coffee blend, called Husk.
And coffeefresh took its service offering a step further last month when it bought a catering business located in West Perth.
“We are extending our services for our existing clients to cater for high-quality working lunches,” Mr Hamilton said.
