Coffee to go: Handling of customers’ own reusable cups when dispensing hot drinks

Peer-Reviewed / Manuscript (original contribution) received: August 10, 2019 / Revision accepted: October 30, 2019

Introduction

In 2016, around 2.8 billion disposable cups and around 1.3 billion plastic cup lids were thrown away as waste in Germany, corresponding to about 320,000 cups per hour [1]. One approach to reducing this waste—which amounts to about 28,000 tonnes per year—is to use reusable to-go cups.

In 2018, Food Federation Germany [German: Lebensmittelverband Deutschland e. V.] (formerly Federation for Food Law and Food Science [German: Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde—BLL]) published a “Leaflet with instructions for the hygienic handling of customers’ own cups when filling self-service hot beverages or hot beverages served by staff” [2] in order to ensure food safety when filling cups brought in by customers. The “Fact sheet with instructions for hygienic filling of customers’ own ‘to go’ coffee cups”, published by Environmental Action Germany [3] has been available since 2016. In these documents, Food Federation Germany and Environmental Action Germany provide the food businesses performing the filling (mostly establishments belonging to the independent catering, chain catering or communal catering sectors or the retail trade) with information on the relevant legal framework and on operational requirements, as well as concrete recommendations for handling customers’ own cups.

Abstract

Food businesses were tested for compliance with guidelines published by Food Federation Germany and Environmental Action Germany containing recommendations for handling reusable cups brought in by customers for receiving hot drinks. Fifty test purchases were carried out at randomly selected businesses serving coffee to go. Filling of the cups was observed in a direct and well-structured yet covert manner, with active participation in the interaction. Compliance with the recommendations was documented using checklists and the data was analyzed in a descriptive manner. In two of the 50 test purchases, the staff did not dispense the hot drinks into the customer’s reusable cup. In 46 of the remaining 48 test purchases, the coffee was dispensed by staff; in the other two cases, the hot drink could be obtained via self-service. In four of the test purchases, all of the tested criteria were met. Three of these purchases took place in branches of a large chain of bakeries with > 350 branches. Dispensing of hot drinks into reusable cups at the request of customers was already in practice almost everywhere. However, in some cases, there was room for improvement in terms of hygienic filling and dispensing of hot drinks among service staff, who would benefit from more targeted training.

Keywords: coffee to go, reusable cups, hot drink, hygiene, sustainability, public catering

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