EDUCATIONAL COST MODEL
Property managers, facilities directors, and campus auxiliary leads often ask the same question in different words: what does a cup of coffee really cost under a staffed café, traditional coffee vending or office coffee service (OCS), a self-serve pantry setup, or a hosted automated coffee station / unattended café partnership.
This page is an educational cost model, not a quote. It uses public labor benchmarks and transparent input slots. SIPJOLT revenue-share percentage and drink prices are confirmed in the proposal. Cup volumes, local wages, and COGS are user-supplied.
Related pages: Property Partners, How It Works, Automated café vs coffee vending, Unattended café for buildings. Start a site conversation on Get Started.
SCOPE
It is:
It is not:
Exact partner share and drink prices are confirmed in the proposal.
METHOD
LABOR
| Input | Default (public) | Your override |
|---|---|---|
| Occupation series | SOC 35-3023 Fast Food and Counter Workers | , |
| National median hourly wage (May 2025 OEWS) | $15.00 / hr | [user] |
| National mean hourly wage (May 2025 OEWS) | $15.46 / hr | [user] |
| Source | https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm | , |
| Loaded labor multiplier (benefits, taxes, overhead) | [user] | [user] |
| Staffed hours per day (counter coverage) | [user] | [user] |
| Days open per week / year | [user] | [user] |
Note: Using 35-3023 is deliberate. Barista wages are often discussed casually; the OEWS series that contains counter / barista-containing roles is the citable national benchmark. Local CBA rates, tipped structures, and HORECA classifications can diverge, override with payroll reality.
WORKSHEET
Use this table as a worksheet. Leave SIPJOLT share percentage and drink prices blank; they are confirmed in the proposal. Use your own cup counts.
| Cost / structure line | Staffed café | Traditional coffee vending / OCS-style | Self-serve brewers / pods | Automated coffee station / unattended café (SIPJOLT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guest framing | Staffed café | Vending / route coffee (category) | Pantry / breakroom | Unattended café amenity |
| Prep | Staff made-to-order | Limited dispense | Guest brew / button | Made-to-order at station |
| Counter labor hours × wage | Hours × $15.00 median (or override) + loaded costs | Route / operator labor (vendor-specific; user) | Light restock / clean (user hours × wage) | No cashier/barista for day-to-day cups; restock flexible (SIPJOLT full-service or partner hands-on) |
| Beverage COGS per cup | [user] | [user] | [user] | Ingredients included in SIPJOLT ops |
| Space / rent allocation | Buildout + FF&E + lease attention | Cabinet footprint (user) | Counter / pantry (user) | Location + outlet + storage closet + utility sink access |
| Equipment CapEx to host | Buildout + FF&E (user) | Buy / lease / operator (user) | Often buy (user) | $0 upfront; SIPJOLT brings the station |
| Partner / host economics | Cost center or lease income (user) | Equipment- or route-centric (user) | Usually pure cost center | Share of every cup sold; quarterly deposits; reports + dashboard. share percentage in the proposal |
| Public drink price band | [user / market] | [user] | Often subsidized | Confirmed in the proposal |
| Implied cost per cup (illustrative) | (labor + COGS + allocated overhead) ÷ cups, user math | User math | User math | Host share confirmed in the proposal |
| Hours available | Shift-limited | Often 24/7 | Building hours | 24/7 |
| Exit / stickiness | Lease / labor sticky | Contract-dependent | You own asset | No long-term lock-ins; pickup if not working |
For the SIPJOLT column, share percentage and drink prices come from your proposal, so treat the comparison as structural (labor off the counter, $0 install, cup-aligned economics) rather than a finished dollar output.
SCENARIOS
These presets help stakeholders discuss when cups happen. They do not include preset daily volume defaults.
Morning and midday peaks matter for workplace experience. A staffed café may cover peak windows and leave evenings thin. Self-serve pods often sit in pantries rather than guest-facing lobbies. Traditional coffee vending can cover hours but often reads as corridor dispense. An automated coffee station / unattended café keeps made-to-order specialty drinks available without staffing every peak. Supply your own weekday cup estimate; do not use a fabricated “office average.”
Resident amenity framing cares about perception as much as unit cost. A leased café may not pencil on amenity floors. Pods and urns underperform when residents already buy café coffee off-site. Evaluate whether the building wants a cost-center pantry or a paid amenity with café positioning. Volume bands remain user-editable.
Auxiliary services often need coffee when dining halls are closed. Staffed points require shifts. Vending language still appears in RFPs and campus “kiosk” searches. SIPJOLT is an automated coffee station and unattended café. Campus-card options are confirmed in the proposal (see the campus-card guide).
LIMITS
MODELS
Staffed café. Highest labor visibility. Cost-per-cup rises when hours are long and volume is uneven. Best when human service is strategic and funded.
Traditional coffee vending / OCS-style. Lower counter labor; economics often equipment- or route-centric. Guest perception may stay “vending” even if the cabinet looks new. Useful when only a basic hot drink is required.
Self-serve brewers / pods. Moderate CapEx, light restock labor, limited specialty menu. Usually a cost center, not cup-aligned partner revenue.
Automated coffee station / unattended café (SIPJOLT). Ordering and payment on the station; 200+ specialty drinks; typical serve under 60 seconds; 24/7; $0 upfront install; ingredients and maintenance included; flexible restocking; share of cups via quarterly deposits. exact share percentage in the proposal. Partner provides location, outlet, storage closet, and utility sink access. See Beverages, For Buildings, and How It Works.
NEXT STEP
Bring property type and estimated daily foot traffic to Get Started. Use this worksheet offline to sanity-check labor-heavy café options against a hosted automated coffee station. For partnership structure, read Property Partners. For category framing versus vending, read Automated café vs coffee vending.
SIPJOLT address on file: 515 Myrtle Avenue, Allenhurst, NJ 07711. Contact: support@sipjolt.com.
FAQ
No. This is an educational cost model. A personalized proposal follows Get Started. Exact partner share and drink prices are confirmed in the proposal.
BLS OEWS does not publish a standalone national barista wage series. SOC 35-3023 is the citable May 2025 series that includes barista-containing counter work. Median $15.00/hr; mean $15.46/hr (BLS OEWS tables).
Yes. Override the national median with payroll or market data for your metro.
SIPJOLT brings the station at $0 upfront install.
As a comparison column only. SIPJOLT replaces that category with an automated coffee station / unattended café; it does not brand itself as a coffee vending machine or kiosk.
It is a static worksheet with described inputs. Enter your own figures to compare models.
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