It’s a subject that’s long been in the minds of machine manufacturers: the creation of a machine that can deliver great coffee, from a wide menu, time after time – without the requirement for a ‘barista’, a.k.a. ‘somebody who knows what they’re doing.’
At Caffe Culture, a distinguished panel, hosted by Hugh Gilmartin, (a leading coffee advisor in Northern Ireland and SCAE board member) gathered to address the issue before a live audience.
We were pleased to learn that Simon Bracken, MD of Scanomat UK, was a panel member. Simon has many years of experience in the coffee industry, and he kicked off by introducing Scanomat as being ‘at the forefront of coffee innovation for many years, from being the first to launch a fully automatic coffee machine in the eighties, to being the first coffee machine manufacturer to launch an app controlled coffee tap called the TopBrewer.’
We’ve featured TopBrewer in two PV stories and I’ve got the TopBrewer App on my iPhone. We’ve seen it working on a busy office of 500 plus people, so we were interested to hear what the man at the top of Scanomat UK would have to say on the subject
We hope you find it as interesting as we did.
Now, read on:
Delivering a quality coffee offering when it’s not your core business
Joining Simon Bracken On The Panel were:
Matthew Charity from the Bulldog Hotel Group: Bulldog Hotel Group identified an opportunity to boost sales in the mornings and afternoons through the introduction of an improved coffee offer three years ago. They now have 7 sites and each hotel has it’s own coffee shop that serves high quality coffee and patisseries. Matthew explained how they invested in training, products and equipment to inject a passion for coffee into their business.
James Healey, Food Service Marketing Consultant: “If you’re not going to do it well, and it’s non core, my advice is – don’t do it at all” were the words from James, who has worked as an advisor in the coffee and food industry for many years. He explained there is no silver bullet when it comes to serving great coffee, instead there are one hundred small steps that need to be taken, including; investment, passion, training and clear objectives.
Peter Dore-Smith, owner of award-winning and highly acclaimed Kaffeine coffee shop: Melbourne-born Peter founded Kaffeine in 2009 which is recognised as one of the leading cafes in the UK for its high standards. “Everything we do at Kaffeine is focussed on quality” said Peter. Kaffeine was awarded Best Independent Cafe by the Cafe Society Awards in 2012. Peter previously worked at Marylebone Cricket Club and still runs the coffee offer for them now alongside his coffee shop business.
How much should you pay for your coffee?
The discussion kicked off with the misconceptions around coffee price. “I think people are focussing on the wrong things” Simon stated, “I had three emails this morning telling me how much money I could save on my kilo of coffee. I haven’t had any e-mailers saying ‘would you like to make an amazing cup of coffee in your business today?’” James added, “The price you pay the roaster is relatively irrelevant in the discussion. Because if you save 10% on your purchases and you lose 2% of your retail sales then you’ll be out of business. The real equation is can you get that top line moving?”
When asked his opinion on coffee price Matthew hit the nail on the head by saying, “It’s like most things – you pay for what you get.”
Simon added that a similar misconception can also be made when it comes to coffee equipment purchases; “We naturally see the purchasing professionals trying to get the best deal, which sometimes means they don’t buy the best equipment. But that can be a false economy if that piece of equipment is going to breakdown. Coming back to the coffee, I think the consumer experience, whatever your market, is going to drive that top line number.”
What type of coffee should you serve in your business?
There are so many different types of coffee and equipment out there that it can be hard for operators to choose the right solution. Espresso based drinks are the highest quality but it is not always a practical solution for all business areas. The discussion moved to filter coffee in particular and the do’s and don’t’s for keeping it fresh.
Hugh: “Simon. At Scanomat, do you do filter coffee?”
Simon: “We do filter coffee fresh from the bean at the push of a button. So we brew it in the brew chamber with zero tamper pressure. We use the brew chamber that we would usually use for an espresso as a french press. We mix it with water then we put it straight into the cup. It’s freshly ground, from the bean. The machine grinds the coffee one cup at a time because its the only way you can make fresh coffee.”
He continued, “The big problem as I see it with bulk brew is that unless you’ve got great discipline and use it within twenty minutes then its freshness does suffer. Now, there aren’t many businesses that have got the discipline to throw that away after twenty minutes in my experience, so if you’re unlucky enough to be the customer that comes in after twenty minutes then you’re going to get a bad experience. By making it one cup at a time you have fresh coffee, but also you have zero waste. Because, if you are brave enough to throw it away then you’re getting big wastage into your business and if you’re a large hotel operator, or even one with six sites to be honest, bulk brew would be a big cost on the bottom line unless you can manage it very, very carefully.”
As a disciplined coffee expert focussed on quality, Peter explains that they do have to make allowances for some filter coffee wastage at Marylebone Cricket Club, “We have to throw it out and waste it, but we do it to the bare minimums that we can.”
The conversation turned to capsules prompted by a question from the audience. “Capsules are a compromise” James suggested. Simon agreed, “I do think capsules are a compromise. I dip my hat to the heritage of capsules, I think they’ve helped to bring coffee to the forefront, but as an industry I hope we’ve moved further on than that.” Peter went on to suggest that capsules can be suitable for some environments, for example at Marylebone Cricket Ground they use them as a solution for their Executive boxes.
Choosing the right equipment supplier
Moving onto equipment, Hugh asked Simon “Is the equipment more important than the coffee?”
“I think its a marriage,” Simon replied, “If you’re looking for accountability, we wrap it all up, so we’re totally accountable. We have free baristas in the field which any customer, any day, can call out.” Talking about the support service Scanomat provide, Simon added, “The first thing we’ll do is send a barista, not a technician. A barista will look at the product and then be guided from there how to improve the product. Is it the grind setting? Is it the water temperature? Is it the tamper pressure? And then they’ll make the judgement whether the technician needs to come or not.”
(When there’s a problem) ‘the first thing we’ll do is send a barista, not a technician.’ Simon Bracken
He added; “Whether it be traditional espresso or fully automatic we need to keep searching for that next innovation where we can give customers a more personalised experience, and that capability is out there.”
What’s the next big thing in coffee?
James: “You’ve got people who are really passionate about the product, that are going to differentiate the product, who are going to make their location a place to go, and they’re just going to do things better. There are great opportunities, as the market is growing, but you’ve just got to differentiate yourself.”
Simon: “I think it’s already here, and you’ve all got one in your pocket. It’s called a smartphone. Have a look up for the ‘internet of things’, the connected future, this personalised experience that is coming all of our ways – in our house, in our work – and we have made a coffee machine work with your iPhone. I think the next wave as far as a consumer is concerned is that they want it the way they like it, not the way our marketing teams tell them they like it. I think that wave is coming, that’s going to be a challenge for some of the businesses because if I want 1.1 shots, or half a shot, or three quarters milk, how is the trade going to cope with that?”
ENDS
So what are your thoughts about ‘delivering quality coffee when it’s not your core business’?
Do let us know.
Further Reading
Scanomat UK Partners With Seymour Valentine
Someday, all coffee At Work Will Be This Way
