Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, new working environments were considered an important trend in the office landscape, accompanied by modern office coffee solutions and catering concepts. Changes within the office environment have now accelerated further, influenced by factors such as progressive digitization, contactless work processes, home offices, open or co-working spaces and changing employee expectations. In the context of getting people back to work from home offices, the availability of coffee and food solutions has a central meaning (gained prominence of 33% (YouGov/Sodexo Study 2023) as a competitive advantage). The communal act of coffee breaks or gathering around coffee machines encourages informal networking, idea sharing and team building, thus fortifying the social fabric of the workplace. Research indicates that coffee consumption can enhance cognitive functions such as alertness, attention and memory, thereby positively impacting productivity and problem-solving capabilities for effective teamwork and interpersonal interactions. Furthermore, the provision of high-quality coffee options by employers not only reflects a commitment to employee well-being, but also serves as a tangible expression of the corporate culture and values. Requirements for modern vending concepts are evolving. It is not only the classic office environment that is subject to major changes; innovative solutions must also be found in the canteen/catering and hotel sectors in order to adapt to the new conditions. What this means for office coffee service and vending services in offices and businesses will be illustrated in this presentation under the motto “This is where New Work meets New Retail”. To this end, new to-go concepts from the out-of-home market will be presented, as well as innovations and modern solutions from the classic vending industry.

Proceedings: Kaschefi, A. The New Importance of Coffee and Food Solutions at Workplaces. Proceedings 2023, 89, 33. https://doi.org/10.3390/ICC2023-14856

Almost every physical or chemical process in nature favors certain light stable isotopes over others, and thereby leaves an isotopic “fingerprint” on the substances involved. Prominent examples are the evaporation and condensation of water, which act together to produce a global “map” of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in rainwater. Environmental parameters including humidity and soil fertility influence the stable isotope compositions of carbon and nitrogen in plant tissues. Therefore, every agricultural product carries isotopic information regarding its geographical origin, growing conditions, treatment and others. This makes stable isotope analysis a powerful tool for disclosing food authenticity and to applying quality checks to a number of products (e.g., wine, honey, and vanilla). Here we recapitulate the principles of stable isotope analysis in general as well as some applications to coffee from the literature and present our recent measurements of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes on a well defined set of coffee samples.

Proceedings: Wintel, J.; Knipper, C.; Spross, M.; Friedrich, R.; Schwarz, S. Isotopic Fingerprinting: A Promising Tool for Coffee Authenticity Checks. Proceedings 2023, 89, 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/ICC2023-14857