Small Business Profile: Have Coffee, Will Deliver

Most workplaces provide coffee for their employees. It's a perk that pays dividends in productivity.

And for nearly 40 years , now based in west San Leandro, has kept workplace coffee pots supplied with brew.

"Coffee has always been a high-markup item," said Hal Steuber, the firm's founder and former president.

In 1972, when he and wife Diane started Associated Services out of their home in Lafayette, delivering coffee to workplaces was an infant industry.

For his pioneering efforts Hal Steuber was recently named a "Coffee Legend" at a trade industry gathering in Las Vegas.

Associated has had some notable clients over the years including Apple Computer in its startup days. "That was until Steve Jobs wanted to roast his own coffee," Diane Steuber recalled.

Tom Steuber took over in 2005 when his parents retired.

Today, Associated serves about 7,000 office sites throughout Northern California.

Most of its clients are businesses with between 25 and 250 employees.

Associated doesn't roast coffee. Instead, it supplies coffee machines to its customers and sellls them pre-packaged coffees that vary in cost and quality.

Over the years it's product menu has expanded to all sorts of workplace kitchen supplies including teas, bottled water, plates and napkins, and cleaning supplies.

The firm has about 95 employees. Roughly a third work out of the San Leandro headquarters office. The rest are in delivery sites throughout the region.

Associated moved its headquarters to San Leandro about eight years ago when it purchased a building at at 600 McCormick Street.

Tom Steuber said city officials have been helpful. For instance, the city stopped trucks from parking on the street outside its headquarters to free up parking for cars.

The recession has hurt.

"When employment dips, we suffer," Hal Steuber said.

Tom Steuber said he had hoped business would turn up decisively at the start of 2011 but that hasn't happened.

"Everyone is really cautious," he added.

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