In some cities the jump is much steeper. The sharpest rise was in Pescara, where the price of a cup has gone up 49% since 2021, followed by Parma (+41%), Bari (+39.5%) and Naples (+37.8%).

And relief isn’t on the way. Speaking to Adnkronos, Illycaffè CEO Cristina Scocchia raised the possibility of a further increase in the price of a cup of coffee in January (Adnkronos).

For vending operators, this is a double problem. Coffee costs more to buy, and customers are more sensitive than ever to what they pay. This article looks at practical ways to handle both sides: protecting margins and keeping revenue up, without pushing customers away from the machine.

Why vending feels the pressure more

A bar can raise its espresso by ten cents and most regulars will keep coming. Vending has much less room. In factories and offices, a coffee from the vending machine still costs around €0.40, and even the most expensive options rarely go above €0.50. Operators have been trying for years to move the standard coffee to €0.50, and it still feels far away. At the bar, ten cents is an 8% increase. At the machine, it’s 25%.

Volumes are already under pressure. According to the Jakala study for CONFIDA, vending consumption fell to 3.66 billion items in 2025, down 4.18% from 2024. The decline hit all major categories, starting with hot drinks (-3.33%), which remain the heart of vending, with coffee alone accounting for more than half of total consumption (CONFIDA).

At the same time, the alternative is sitting on people’s kitchen counters. Searches for automatic bean-to-cup machines on Trovaprezzi.it grew 24.1% in 2026, rising to +93.7% in May (Batista70). Every customer who starts bringing coffee from home is revenue that may never return.

So the question isn’t whether to react to rising costs. It’s how to do it without losing the people who use the machine every day.

Seven ways to adapt to rising coffee prices

Way 1: Charge different prices to different user groups

What to do: Stop charging everyone the same price. Raise it where customers are least sensitive, and protect the groups that buy every day.

How to set it up:

1. Give regular users a personal key, card or app account (closed-loop).
2. Assign each user to a group: students, teachers, employees, management.
3. Set a separate price for each group in the payment system. Anyone without a key (visitors) pays the standard price by cash or contactless card.

Example: A school campus sells 300 coffees a day at €0.40 for everyone, which is €120 in daily revenue. Costs have gone up and the operator needs more per cup.

Daily revenue grows by over 8%, and the students, half of all sales and the most price-sensitive group, see no change at all. Notice how small the steps are: five cents for most groups, ten for visitors. In vending, small steps are what customers accept.

Compare this with a flat increase to €0.45 for everyone. On paper it brings €135. But if students buy just 15% fewer coffees, revenue drops to about €125, lower than with group pricing, and the machine has lost part of its most loyal customers.

Way 2: Let the employer pay part of the price

What to do: In offices, factories and hospitals, offer the client a way to subsidise coffee for their staff.

How to set it up:

1. Agree with the client on which groups receive a subsidy, and how much.
2. Set a lower price at the machine for those groups.
3. Invoice the difference to the employer each month.

Result: Employees pay less, the company offers a visible benefit, and the operator receives the full price per cup. In the campus example above, management pays €0.25 at the machine, while the operator earns €0.50.

Way 3: Discount the quiet hours, keep peak hours at full price

What to do: Use price to move sales from busy hours to empty ones, like lunch or the evening shift.

How to set it up:

1. Check sales data by hour to find the quiet periods.
2. Set a small discount for those hours only, for example 5 cents off between 15:00 and 17:00, or after 18:00 for night shifts.
3. Let customers know. With a mobile payment app such as Pay4Vend, users see the offer on their phone as soon as it starts.
4. Keep the morning rush at full price.

Example: A machine sells 20 coffees between 15:00 and 17:00 at €0.40, which is €8. With a 5-cent discount, sales rise to 35 coffees at €0.35, which is €12.25. Same machine, same hours, more than 50% more revenue.

Operators already work this way. UK operator Broderick’s uses Pay4Vend to launch promotions based on location, time of day and weather, instantly. A quiet-hour discount stops being a machine setting and becomes a campaign you can switch on from your desk.

The message to customers also changes. Instead of “coffee is more expensive,” it becomes “coffee is cheaper when you choose.”

For more real examples of scheduled and location-based pricing, see Vendon’s article 5 pricing strategies real operators actually use.

Way 4: Reward top-ups and frequency

What to do: Give regular customers a reason to commit to the machine before they buy.

How to set it up:

1. Offer a top-up bonus, for example €1 extra credit for every €20 loaded onto a key, card or app.
2. Make topping up easy. In the Pay4Vend app, users can top up with coins or bills at the machine, or with PayPal, credit cards or Apple Pay.
3. Add a simple loyalty rule, such as a free coffee after every ten.

Example:The Italian operator Selda uses the bonus features of Coges Engine to give customers a reason to come back: anyone who makes 10 purchases with their MyKey in the same week gets a free coffee, automatically. It is the loyalty rule above, running on its own. 

Result: The operator collects money in advance, and the customer has already decided where the next twenty coffees will come from. With credit in their app or on their key, they’re far less likely to start bringing coffee from home. Read more on why experienced vending operators still trust closed-loop.

Way 5: Add a premium coffee instead of raising the basic one

What to do: Don’t upgrade coffee everywhere. Find the locations where people already expect better coffee, and give them a premium offer with its own price list.

How to set it up:

1. Sort your locations. A factory floor, a school or a warehouse needs a fair, simple price. A corporate headquarters, a business centre or a hotel lobby is a different audience.
2. In premium locations, upgrade the offer, not just the price: a 100% arabica or specialty blend, fresh-milk drinks, and a modern machine with a clear menu.
3. Give those machines a premium price list, and keep standard locations on the standard one.

Example: One operator serves a manufacturing plant and a consulting firm’s headquarters. At the plant, workers want a quick, affordable coffee and notice every cent. At the headquarters, staff and clients expect good coffee. A higher price would cost volume at the plant, while a premium offer at the headquarters is exactly what customers there expect.

Why it works: Italian vending customers are already moving toward quality. Whole-bean coffee now makes up 88% of the coffee served by vending machines in Italy, and CONFIDA reports growing attention to blend quality and the buying experience (CONFIDA). A premium blend costs the operator more to buy, so it only pays off where customers value it. In the right locations, it raises the price per cup without touching the standard coffee anywhere else.

Way 6: Cut the costs you control

What to do: Coffee prices are outside your control. Many operating costs are not.

How to set it up:

1. Move more customers from coins to keys, cards and app payments. Less cash means fewer collections, less counting and fewer trips to the bank.
2. Use remote machine monitoring to refill based on real stock levels, not fixed schedules. Fewer unnecessary visits mean lower fuel and labour costs. Vendon explains how in Adapting to changes as a vending operator.

Result: Every euro saved on operations is a euro that doesn’t have to come from a price increase.

Way 7: Audit your coffee recipes

What to do: Check how many grams of coffee each machine actually uses per drink. Small differences in the recipe add up to kilos of coffee every month.

Start with three questions:

1. Do you know how many grams of coffee your machines use for an espresso, a cappuccino and an americano?
2. Is the recipe the same on every machine, or did each technician set it up differently?
3. Is the dose higher than it needs to be for the taste you want?

How to set it up:

1. List the recipes on every machine: grams per espresso, cappuccino, americano and any other coffee drink.
2. Compare them. The same drink should use the same dose everywhere, unless there’s a clear reason not to.
3. Set a target dose for each drink and adjust the machines that use more. Check that grinders are calibrated too, because a worn grinder can change the dose.
4. Taste before and after. The goal is to cut waste, not quality.

Example: An operator checks five machines and finds espresso doses ranging from 7 to 9 grams. Bringing every machine to the same target saves coffee on every cup. Even 1 gram less per cup, on a machine that sells 300 coffees a day, saves about 6.6 kg of coffee a month.

The real question: who pays the increase, and when?

Coffee prices will likely stay high for some time. But operators aren’t forced to choose between margins and customers. The choice is between a flat increase that treats everyone the same, and a smart one that asks the right people to pay at the right time.

Closed-loop payment systems, such as MyKey keys, prepaid accounts and the Pay4Vend app, make most of these seven ways possible. They let operators set prices by user group, share costs with employers, discount quiet hours, reward top-ups and loyalty, and reduce cash handling. The regular customer keeps coming back, the occasional customer pays the full price, and revenue keeps up with rising costs. Explore all Coges payment systems.

Ready to price smarter?

Every location is different. The right mix of price lists, quiet-hour discounts, loyalty rewards and app promotions depends on who uses your machines and when. If you’d like to see how these ideas could work in your locations, the Coges team can help you find the right setup, from MyKey keys and prepaid accounts to the Pay4Vend app.

Talk to the Coges team →

Sources

• ANSA: espresso costs €1.29, +24.2% since 2021 (Aug 2026)
• Adnkronos: interview with Illycaffè CEO Cristina Scocchia
• CONFIDA: vending sector data 2025, Venditalia 2026
• Batista70: home coffee machine searches on Trovaprezzi.it (Sep 2026)
• Comunicaffè: coffee prices and Il Fatto Alimentare cost-per-cup analysis
• Comunicaffè: CONFIDA study on vending consumption 2025