Most offices stay with a coffee vendor they have stopped liking, and the reason is almost never loyalty. It is that switching feels like a project: a contract someone has to read, equipment someone has to return, and a week where nobody is sure whether there will be coffee. None of that is hard. It is just unassigned.
Here is the sequence, in order, with the traps marked.
Step 1: Find the contract and the two dates that matter
Not the whole document — two dates. The end date and the notice deadline. Auto-renewal clauses typically require written notice 60 or 90 days before term end, which means the decision window opens well before the date you have in your head.
If nobody can locate the agreement, ask the vendor directly for a copy of the current term and renewal date in writing. That request is also a useful signal to send.
Step 2: Price the exit before you commit to it
Ask the incumbent, in writing, for the exact figure to terminate as of a specific date. You are looking for three things: early-termination fees, an equipment buyout balance on a machine that was described as free, and any outstanding product commitment. Get a number, not a description.
Sometimes the number makes waiting three months the right answer. Knowing that is the point of doing this second rather than last.
Step 3: Give notice in writing, by email, with a read confirmation
Phone calls to a national dispatch line are not notice. Send email, name the contract, name the effective date, and keep the sent copy. Ask them to confirm receipt and to state the equipment pickup process in their reply.
Step 4: Book the overlap week
This is the step that removes the drama. Do not schedule the old machine's removal and the new machine's arrival for the same Friday. Instead, install the new machine while the old one is still plugged in, and run both for a week.
What the overlap buys you: zero risk of a coffee-free Monday, a direct side-by-side taste comparison your staff can make themselves, and time to find the right spot on the counter without a rush. Our free one-week trial is built for exactly this — it is a no-obligation week, so the overlap costs nothing and does not require you to have cancelled anything yet.
Step 5: Pin down equipment pickup
Get a scheduled date, in writing, and note two things: who is responsible for the machine until it is collected, and what condition it must be in. Vendors have been known to invoice for damage on a machine that sat unclaimed in a hallway for six weeks.
Practical detail people forget: if the old unit was plumbed in, confirm who caps the water line and who handles the drain connection on removal. Ask before the technician is standing in your kitchen.
Step 6: Tell staff once, briefly, before it happens
One short message beats a surprise. Include: the new machine arrives on [date], the old one stays until [date], here is the drink menu, here is who to tell if something is wrong with it. That last line matters — it gives people a channel other than complaining in the kitchen.
If the new setup has a broader menu, say so specifically. "Cappuccino, latte, flat white, chai and hot chocolate on the touchscreen" gets a materially better reception than "we're changing coffee suppliers."
Step 7: Check the first invoice against what you were told
Two weeks in, compare the bill to the quote. You are checking that the per-cup rate matches, that no equipment charge appeared, and that no delivery, service or minimum-spend line arrived uninvited. If the model was described as pay-per-cup with nothing else, the invoice should be boring.
The short version
- Find the end date and the notice deadline
- Get the exit cost in writing
- Give notice by email
- Overlap the new machine for a week
- Schedule pickup and confirm line-capping
- One clear note to staff
- Audit invoice one
On our side there is nothing to unwind later: pay-per-cup, $0 equipment cost, no contract, cancel anytime. Start with the overlap week — call 416-995-0577 and we will work around your existing vendor's dates.