Running out of coffee is almost never a budget problem. It is a visibility problem. Nobody knows how much is left, in which breakroom, until the last box is opened. Here is how to fix that without adding work for your team.
Why buildings run out
Most offices order on memory. Someone notices the shelf looks thin, places an order, and the order lands somewhere between too early and too late. Multi-breakroom buildings make it worse: the front office may be full while the warehouse breakroom has been empty for two days.
Seasonal and project-driven swings add another layer. A hiring wave, a busy quarter, or a long stretch of heat changes consumption faster than a fixed monthly order can adapt.
Fix one: count by breakroom, not by building
Each breakroom is its own inventory location. A building with four breakrooms has four counts, four par levels, and four refill decisions. Averaging them hides exactly the shortages you are trying to prevent.
Fix two: set par levels per item
A par level is the target quantity that should be on the shelf after a service visit. Refill to par, record what was added, and the reorder decision stops being a judgment call.
Par levels are not permanent. After a few cycles the data tells you which items to raise and which to lower.
Fix three: put it on a schedule
A recurring visit at a known interval beats reactive ordering. It also means equipment cleaning, filter changes, and problem reporting happen on the same cadence instead of separately.
What this looks like with FreshBreak
Our service techs count every item in every breakroom at each visit, restock to par, and log what was added. Usage history builds up per location, so par levels get tuned to how your team really drinks rather than to a generic template.