Like most people, you spend a lot of time in your office kitchen. It’s a convenient place to eat lunch, chat with coworkers, and store your food. But if your office kitchen is cluttered and inefficient, it can quickly become a source of frustration. One of the most significant aspects of your workplace culture is the kitchen, and it’s a gathering place for coworkers to recharge and break from the daily grind. Although your office kitchen may appear to be an afterthought, it is a critical job for office managers.
Being environmentally conscious does not have to be limited to your own home. The environment is influenced by how you dress, eat, shop, and travel. When it comes to home improvement, you may also be environmentally conscious. When you’re at work, it’s the same thing. Going paperless as much as possible and bringing your food to work are just two examples of making your workplace more sustainable. But what if you could use it in the office pantry as well? Whether at home or at work, the kitchen is frequently where the most trash is found. As a result, it’s only natural to begin your zero-waste journey in the office kitchen.
Why Is an Efficient Office Kitchen Essential?
It is supported by research. According to one survey, 57 percent of employees said that having a well-kept workplace kitchen made them more productive and satisfied. Employee happiness can be boosted significantly by having a clean, beautiful, and well-stocked office kitchen. We think it’s just as vital as having a selection of tasty snacks at work. If you give your employees a reason to use the area, it may become a hub of social activity and a promoter of a vibrant corporate culture. If your kitchen lacks essentials such as cutlery and glassware and fresh office fruit and milk, your firm may be missing out on several perks that come with meeting demand.
What Should be Kept in an Office Kitchen?
Stocking up on basic office kitchen supplies is more than just a matter of culture; it’s also a matter of courtesy. It demonstrates that you, as a manager, are concerned about the well-being of your employees and are willing to go above and beyond. How you retain people and maintain effective connections with them so that they accomplish the best results for you is a crucial care component.
- A Coffee machine: Coffee consumption is a company tradition. When the office is still groggy after the early start on a Monday morning, a dose of coffee can make all the difference in getting the day started. By providing a coffee machine and the beans and other coffee supplies that go with it, you’re encouraging employees to participate in this ritual at work.
- Cutlery, crockery, and glasses: There’s nothing worse than making lunch at work and realizing you don’t have any forks to eat it with! Most employees will expect to have access to various kitchen items or ‘tools,’ including cutlery (knives/forks/spoons), plates, bowls, glasses, and coffee mugs (at the very least). Furthermore, having supplies such as cutlery, plates, and glasses on hand will encourage your employees to eat lunch together at the community table or in the lounge.
- Fresh flowers for the workplace: It’s never been easier to add some gorgeous fresh corporate flowers to the office kitchen. Flowers will add a fragrant and welcoming touch to your business while making a powerful first impression on guests.
- Fruit that is still in season: In any office, a bowl filled to the brim with seasonal office fruit is a must. Fruit is a natural source of energy that keeps you from munching on unhealthy foods. It also provides a convenient snack for staff, so they don’t have to leave the office to get something to eat.
- Condiments: Condiments are another essential commodity to have on hand in your office pantry. Don’t forget about the staples of the workplace pantry, such as tomato sauce, honey, salt, and pepper. You might keep a variety of spices and toppings on hand as provisions, depending on the preferences of your coworkers. Other spices that office workers like to add to their corporate catering include cinnamon, chilli, lemon juice, and mustard.
Ways to Make your Office Kitchen Efficient
- Invest in efficient appliances: Likely, your crew will only require a refrigerator and not a freezer. If that’s the case, save money by purchasing a refrigerator without a built-in freezer. A single colossal fridge is also more efficient than two half-empty ones. Mini fridges also use more energy than you might imagine, so instead of utilizing many smaller fridges, put that milk and cream in the larger one. Encourage your employees to purchase ENERGY STAR®-certified mini-fridges, which are more energy-efficient than other kinds. Also, remember to keep your refrigerator well ventilated. Although having a fridge built into cabinets may appear to be a good design choice, it will require more energy to keep food cool because the cabinets trap heat from the fridge, making it less efficient.
Consider storing drinks in the refrigerator rather than buying a vending machine. If you already have a machine, add a vending miser, a compact plug-and-play device that lowers the machine’s energy consumption. If the machine’s illumination can be disconnected, the cooling load it requires will be reduced.
- Take an inventory of your lighting: People frequently rush in and out of office kitchens. Choose the appropriate window coverings to maximize natural light and keep the kitchen cool on hot summer days.
Another simple solution is to add motion sensors solely for lighting so that the lights do not have to be turned on. Make the switch to LED light bulbs in the office kitchen to save energy if you haven’t already. Small businesses can benefit from the Small Business Lighting Program, which offers substantial financial incentives for energy-efficient lighting.
- Keep an eye out for phantoms: Certain appliances in your workplace kitchen may be using phantom power, or standby power, much like at home. Microwaves, toaster ovens, and coffee maker clocks consume electricity in the background.
Try using power bars to save on standby power that you aren’t utilizing. You can also delegate the task of unplugging gadgets such as toaster ovens and microwaves at the end of the day or on weekends to an employee.
- Consider the case of coffee: Caffeine is a powerful motivator in the workplace kitchen. Because most coffee machines and kettles utilize 1,000 to 1,500 watts, time and the number of people you serve are crucial. Because they only run for a brief time, single-serve machines are ideal for tiny amounts.
However, those devices have a high phantom power demand, which means they utilize energy even when turned off. Even in standby mode, some models can consume up to 15 watts. Keep the machine on a power bar or disconnect it when not used to avoid this. Because some programmable drip coffee makers can draw phantom power, keeping all small gadgets on power bars is advisable. If your team brews larger quantities at a time, check for coffee makers that have removable insulated carafes rather than glass pots, so you can save energy by not having to keep the coffee hot. If your staff is tiny, encourage everyone to prepare their coffee with French presses. Single-serve and drip coffee machines use more energy than an electric kettle to boil a significant amount of water for a coffee press.
- Use a Water-Saving Faucet: You should identify which things need to be replaced when decluttering in the workplace pantry. The kitchen faucet is one of them. You may believe that you are not using nearly enough water to clean your cutlery from a personal standpoint. However, for a 20-person office, that would be excessive. As a result, think about replacing your office kitchen faucet with a water-saving model. You may restrict the flow rate of your faucet by attaching some inexpensive fixtures to it. You can also use a high-efficiency aerator to replace the faucet, saving you gallons of water.
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