Palmerston North Girls' High School is a secondary academic institution with approximately 130 teaching and non-teaching staff.

The school took the initiative to increase its engagement with the staff, look after their wellbeing in the workplace, and improve the efficiency of their break times in the staff room. 

The school's Business Manager, Troy Gerbich, contacted OfficeMax Account Manager Maureen West for a café solution that will help build a more positive work culture, regenerate morale and invite staff back to the staff room (school).

The Challenge

• The staff had been using a filter coffee apparatus and a tin-spoon system that took up precious break time to make coffee/tea. 
• Manual coffee making would leave a mess on the kitchen counter and needed cleaning every time it is used.
• The staff have limited break times between classes and recess, and queues for coffee/tea meant staff didn't maximise the value of their break times.

The Solution

Maureen brought in OfficeMax café specialist Matthew Gainsford to consult with Troy on the options best suited to their needs. Matthew recommended Nescafé Algeria FTP 120 as the most suitable for his school’s staffroom kitchen.

Troy visited the OfficeMax showroom in Wellington and saw the coffee machine in action. This coffee machine was already popular amongst the schools as it dispensed a cup of coffee in only 9-16 seconds [varies with different types of coffee selected]. 

"I was sold on the 9-seconds as it meant it could cater 3-4 cups of coffee in a minute," Troy said. 

Bonus, this advanced machine can also make soup, an attractive beverage option for the teachers, which otherwise had to be made manually with a sachet. 

"This machine was a game changer. The foot traffic has increased, and we are seeing an excess of 100+ cups of beverages being made." 

Troy Gerbich
Business Manager, Palmerston North Girls' High School

Troy asked if the coffee machine could be installed during the school holiday period before the teachers returned for Term 1. This request was completed, and the machine instantly became an indispensable part of the staff room and garnered huge positive feedback from everyone. 

"We had the OfficeMax account manager Maureen West, me, and technical staff from Nescafé onsite during the installation. We organised training for refilling the consumables, maintenance, and use. We also hosted coffee-tasting with certain staff members to ensure the machine was tuned to the expected taste and ready to dispense with the push of a button."

Matthew Gainsford
OfficeMax Café Specialist

The Results

• Convenient, time-efficient solution - the machine delivers coffee and selected soup (range) in a matter of seconds. 
• No long queues or waiting for the coffee, and little to no mess on the staffroom kitchen bench. 
• The new machine has boosted the staff's morale, indicating that their efforts and time are valued.
• The staff can now get consistently good coffee, and the machine offers a variety of other beverage choices, such as tea, hot milk, water, chocomilk and soup.
• More staff are returning to the school staffroom and an increased footfall in the staffroom kitchen. 

"The beverage options are great, especially the Choco milk, which is delicious and the most popular. The staff are very complimentary of the coffee machine, and there would be a riot if it were out of action even for one day.”

Troy Gerbich
Business Manager, Palmerston North Girls' High School