Commercial facility services
Books and taxes for office coffee service companies.
Monthly service accounts, single-serve pod restocks, a brewer placed in a lobby you do not own, and a vending route that pays in coins and cards. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September came in at $7,450. The new single-serve brewer placed at the law firm downtown went on the books as equipment, not a coffee order.
- Office route invoicesRecurring service fees
- Vending cash depositVending sales
- Royal Cup coffee orderCoffee and supplies
- Route van fuelVehicle and route
- Brewer placed, law firmMachine placement
Why your books are different
Office coffee service books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business places machines you own in offices you do not, restocks on a rotating schedule, and sometimes collects vending coins alongside invoiced accounts. When the books do not know that, the profit picture gets muddy fast.
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1
A placed brewer looks like it disappeared
A single-serve brewer or airpot system sitting in a client's break room is still your equipment, but once it leaves the warehouse it is easy to lose track of, and a broken or stolen unit gets written off as a mystery loss.
What we doKeeps a running list of machines placed at accounts with what each cost, so a lost or damaged unit shows up as a real, trackable cost. -
2
Restock timing does not match the invoice
A big coffee and creamer order lands in one week to restock a dozen accounts, but the invoices to those accounts trickle in over the following month, so a heavy buying week can look like a loss.
What we doKeeps supply purchases and account billing visible side by side, so a stock-up week does not read as a bad one. -
3
Vending cash and invoiced accounts blur together
Some accounts pay a flat monthly fee, others run a vending machine that collects coins and cards, and lumping both into one revenue line hides which kind of account is actually more profitable.
What we doKeeps recurring service billing separate from vending sales, so you can see which model earns more per stop. -
4
Water filtration and machine maintenance get lost in supplies
Filter cartridges, descaling service, and brewer repairs are a real recurring cost tied to keeping machines running, but they usually get buried with the coffee order and nobody tracks the trend.
What we doKeeps machine maintenance and filtration in its own line, so you can see it against the accounts it serves.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for an office coffee service.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Recurring service feesFlat monthly billing for coffee, tea, and supply service to an office account.
- Vending salesCoin, card, and mobile pay collections from break room machines.
- Water and filtration serviceBilled separately where a filtered water system is on the account.
- Event and catering ordersOne-time coffee service for meetings or events.
Money out
- Coffee and suppliesCoffee, tea, creamer, sweetener, and cups from Royal Cup, Boyd's, or similar.
- Machine placementBrewers, airpot systems, and vending machines placed at accounts, tracked as equipment.
- Machine maintenanceDescaling, repairs, and filter cartridge replacement.
- Vehicle and routeFuel, insurance, and repairs for the delivery route.
- Route driver wagesDelivery and restock staff, kept apart from office wages.
- Bid and marketing costsSample kits and proposals sent to prospective office accounts.
- Insurance and licensingGeneral liability and any local food handling permits.
What we watch for you
- Income per stop
What each office account brings in a month, so you can spot which accounts are worth keeping and which are not.
- Machine loss rate
Brewers and vending units lost or damaged against how many are placed, tracked so replacement is planned, not a surprise.
- Coffee cost share
Supply cost against service revenue, so a supplier price increase does not quietly erode margin.
Ask Gus
Things office coffee service owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
I logged it as equipment placed at that account, not a coffee order, so it does not read like a bad supply month.
You bought a big Royal Cup order to restock all twelve at once, and most of those invoices land next month. I kept supplies and billing side by side so you can see it evens out.
If you pay him $2,000 or more this year and he is not on payroll, he gets a 1099 by January 31. I keep that list running as your route gets covered.
The tax side
The tax side of an office coffee service.
Most of what goes wrong here is labels and timing. A placed brewer filed as a coffee order, a fill-in driver paid like a contractor who works like an employee, and a set-aside nobody started until the return was due.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Machines placed at accountsBrewers, vending units, and filtration systems bought for the business can usually be written off the year you buy them, with bonus depreciation back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Contractor 1099sA fill-in route driver paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list current all year.
- Employee or contractorA driver who follows your route on your schedule with your van is usually an employee, whether or not he calls himself a contractor. Getting that wrong gets expensive, so Gus asks before it becomes a habit.
- The pass-through deductionA profitable coffee route can usually claim up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income under the pass-through deduction, once the books are right all year.
Deductions office coffee service companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Coffee, tea, and creamer stock
- Cups, lids, and stir sticks
- Brewer and vending machine repairs
- Water filter cartridges
- Route van fuel and maintenance
- Sample kits for new accounts
- Uniforms with your logo
- Phone and tablet for route scheduling
- Storage or warehouse rent
- Card and vending processing fees
- Liability insurance
- Local food handling permits
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
An office coffee service year, kept every month.
Accounts bill every month with little seasonal swing, so the real work is keeping equipment and supply costs in view all year. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Accounts squared away
Last year's filing gets underway, any fill-in driver's 1099 is confirmed, and a monthly set-aside starts so April holds no surprises.
- April
Return wrapped
The return is filed and signed this month. Because the set-aside has been building since January, there is no scramble for cash.
- July
Midyear account check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether new office accounts this year changed the number.
- October
Before the holiday orders
Gus looks at machine placements worth making before the holidays bring event orders, and anything worth doing before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for office coffee service companies. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions office coffee service owners ask first.
Can Gus track the machines I have placed at different offices?
Yes. He keeps a running list of brewers and vending units placed at accounts with what each cost, so a lost or damaged machine shows up as a real cost, not a mystery.
Some accounts pay a flat fee and others run vending machines. Does that matter for the books?
Yes. Recurring service fees and vending sales are kept in separate categories, so you can see which kind of account actually earns more per stop.
Do I write off a new brewer all at once?
Often you can. A brewer placed at an account can usually be deducted the year you buy it, though sometimes spreading the write-off out works better. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
A big restock order made this month look bad. Is that normal?
It happens whenever a bulk supply order lands before the accounts it restocked get billed. Gus keeps supplies and billing visible side by side so you can see the month is not really thin.
I have not looked at my books in months. Is that a problem?
No. Send the statements you have, however far behind the route billing runs. Gus sorts them, the accountant checks them, and you will know where you stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever