On a shared office floor, nobody owns the washroom and everybody uses it. A coworking space in Dubai Marina might host 300 members from 80 companies; a serviced office in Dubai Knowledge Park hosts training providers whose students arrive in cohorts of 20; a multi-tenant floor in Media City hosts three agencies sharing one pantry and two washrooms. The pantry gets attention because it is visible and members comment on the coffee. The hygiene consumables get attention only when they run out, and by then the comment is on a review site.
This guide is for coworking and flex-space operators, serviced office managers, community managers and building facilities teams. It covers the consumables list, how much a floor uses, where the stock lives, and how to make the order recurring so that an empty dispenser stops being a Monday morning surprise.
The list a shared floor actually needs
Split the list by the room it serves, because that is how it is restocked.
Washrooms
- Foam or liquid hand soap, in cartridges that fit the installed dispensers (check the model before ordering; a cartridge that does not fit is the most common wasted purchase)
- Paper hand towels or the roll for the installed dispenser
- Toilet tissue, jumbo roll or conventional depending on the holder
- Toilet seat sanitiser or wipes
- Air freshener refills
- Sanitary disposal bin liners and service
- Bin liners sized to the washroom bins
Pantry and kitchen
- Dishwasher tablets, rinse aid and salt (if the machine needs it)
- Washing-up liquid and sponges or cloths, replaced weekly
- Surface spray safe for food-contact surfaces
- Antibacterial wipes for the fridge handle, microwave and coffee machine touch points
- Paper towels on a roll
- Bin liners for general waste and for recycling
Floor and entrance
- Hand sanitiser for the reception and lift lobby stations
- Desk wipes for hot desks, which the hot desking hygiene guide explains in detail
- Tissues for meeting rooms
- Bin liners for the desk bins, if the floor still has them
The facility hygiene range covers the washroom and floor items; cleaning supplies covers the chemicals and tools; the office hygiene range covers wipes, sanitiser and tissues at the desk.
Par levels per 100 desks
A shared floor does not know its headcount from day to day, so plan on desks, not people, and assume 70 percent occupancy on a working day. Rough weekly consumption per 100 desks, to be corrected after the first month:
- Hand soap: 3 to 4 litres
- Paper hand towels: 8 to 10 packs of 200 (or 2 to 3 rolls of the roll format)
- Toilet tissue: 12 to 16 jumbo rolls
- Hand sanitiser: 1 to 2 litres across the stations
- Dishwasher tablets: 10 to 14 (two cycles a day)
- Bin liners: 100 to 150 across washroom, pantry and floor bins
- Desk and surface wipes: 2 to 3 tubs
A floor that hosts events pushes every line up on the event day; the coworking community events guide covers how to plan for them. A floor that hosts training cohorts (common in Dubai Knowledge Park) sees washroom consumption spike at the breaks, so the par level follows the timetable, not the desk count.
Set a par level per item and a reorder point at half of it. The reorder point is what goes on the recurring order; the par level is the shelf.
Where the stock lives
The reason consumables run out on a shared floor is rarely under-ordering. It is that the stock is in a cupboard three floors away, or in the cleaning contractor's trolley, or in a box behind reception that nobody opened. Fix the location:
- A locked store on the floor itself, with the week's stock, keyed to the community team and the cleaners.
- A day box in each washroom (a cupboard under the basin or a shelf above the cistern) with one refill of each item, so the member who finds an empty dispenser can fix it, or the cleaner can without a trip.
- A labelled shelf in the pantry store for the pantry consumables, separate from the food.
Who restocks, and when
A shared floor usually has a cleaning contractor on a schedule and a community team on the floor. The gap between them is where dispensers go empty. The working arrangement is: the cleaners check and refill dispensers on each round and log what they used; the community team walks the washrooms at 9 am and 2 pm and fixes anything missed; the operations lead reviews the log weekly and adjusts the recurring order. The kitchen and pantry etiquette guide covers the member-facing rules for the shared pantry, and the equipment maintenance guide covers the dishwasher and coffee machine servicing that the consumables depend on.
Cold and flu season
From November the floor's consumption of tissues, sanitiser and surface wipes roughly doubles, and a coworking space with members from dozens of companies is where a cold travels fastest. The cold and flu season guide covers the pantry side; for consumables, raise the sanitiser and wipe par levels from November to March and put a sanitiser station at every meeting room door.
After the plastic ban
The UAE's single-use plastic rules changed what a shared floor can hand out: no plastic bags, and in Abu Dhabi and Dubai a phased ban on single-use plastic cups, cutlery and plates. The office cups and cutlery guide covers the pantry side. On the hygiene side, bin liners are still allowed, but members notice: a floor that has switched to paper cups and then hands out thin plastic liners in every desk bin looks inconsistent. Fewer, larger bins with compostable or recycled-content liners is the usual answer.
One recurring order, one invoice
Most operators buy hygiene consumables from a janitorial supplier, pantry stock from a pantry supplier and wipes from whoever is on the e-commerce app that week. Three suppliers, three invoices, three delivery days. The supplier consolidation business case makes the general argument; on a shared floor the practical gain is that the week's soap, paper, dishwasher tablets, coffee, water and fruit arrive on the same morning, through the same building access, and the same person signs for them.
My Healthy Office supplies coworking spaces and serviced office operators with pantry and hygiene consumables on one recurring order, and does the same for media and creative agencies sharing multi-tenant floors. The Dubai Marina, JLT and Media City guide covers delivery into the towers of Dubai Marina; the Al Quoz, d3 and Knowledge Park guide covers the campus-style blocks of Knowledge Park; the coworking operator's guide covers the pantry programme itself.
The short version
- List consumables by room: washroom, pantry and kitchen, floor and entrance.
- Plan on desks at 70 percent occupancy, with a par level and a reorder point at half of it.
- Keep the week's stock on the floor in a locked store, with a day box in each washroom.
- Cleaners refill and log on each round; the community team walks the washrooms twice a day; operations reviews weekly.
- Raise sanitiser, wipe and tissue par levels from November to March.
- Put hygiene consumables on the same recurring order as the pantry.
Frequently Asked Questions
What hygiene consumables does a coworking floor need? Hand soap cartridges that fit the installed dispensers, paper hand towels, toilet tissue, seat sanitiser, air freshener, sanitary bin liners, dishwasher tablets, washing-up liquid, food-safe surface spray, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitiser for reception and lobby stations, desk wipes, tissues and bin liners in the right sizes.
How much hand soap and paper does a shared office floor use? Per 100 desks at 70 percent occupancy, roughly 3 to 4 litres of hand soap, 8 to 10 packs of 200 paper hand towels and 12 to 16 jumbo toilet rolls a week, more on event days and during training cohorts' breaks. Measure for a month and set the par level from actual use.
Why do dispensers run empty even when we order enough? Usually because the stock is not on the floor, or sits in the cleaning contractor's trolley. Keep the week's stock in a locked store on the floor, put a day box with one refill of each item in every washroom, and have the community team walk the washrooms twice a day.
Can pantry and hygiene consumables come on the same order? Yes. A single recurring order can carry soap, paper, dishwasher tablets, wipes and sanitiser alongside coffee, water and fruit, so one delivery and one invoice covers the floor each week.
What changed with the UAE single-use plastic rules? Plastic bags are banned nationally and Abu Dhabi and Dubai are phasing out single-use plastic cups, cutlery and plates. Bin liners remain allowed, but fewer and larger bins with compostable or recycled-content liners keep the floor consistent with its paper cups.
