Evoca UK has added to its HoReCa team by appointing Andrew Barrow to the position of HoReCa Sales Manager. He will be responsible for setting and executing the UK strategy and route to market for the coffee sector.
Andrew, 45, brings with him over twenty years’ experience on the coffee front line, after starting his working life first as an engineer and subsequently as a technical equipment salesman.
His break into the coffee industry came with South Coast company Concept Coffee Systems. It’s a time in his life that Andrew remembers fondly: ‘I learned my trade at CCS’, he says. ‘It was a small company, so it was ‘hands on’ during every part of the process. For six years, I was qualifying leads, making face-to-face sales; setting up leasing agreements, ordering machines; putting them in the back of the car and installing them – the whole thing. I can even remember taking a customer’s leasing cheque to the bank! And after that, providing after sales back up was down to me, too. It was a lot like running your own business.’
When the time came to move on, Andrew chose to join one of the Big Boys – Café Bar, (which became Autobar and then Pelican Rouge, before morphing into Selecta). He won the company’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ award and in subsequent years the accolade of Salesperson of the Year. His success was rewarded first with promotion to Regional Sales Manager, leading a team of twelve; and then with a further move, to Regional Sales Director.
Upon leaving, Andrew was Technical Sales Director, responsible for the Tech Revenue across the business’s HoReCa channel which, at the time, included the Whitbread brand, Costa Coffee. He spent a year with Regency Design and Print before joining Caffeine as Sales Manager. Caffeine were (and still are!) Gaggia distributors; the business ownerhad been since the 80’s. It was Andrew’s first experience of Gaggia equipment, and it made a lasting impression…
The move to Evoca is a considered milestone along Andrew’s career path. ‘I wanted to work for a machine manufacturer’, he says, ‘and when the opportunity to join Evoca was presented, it felt like the perfect fit.
‘I’ve been familiar with Evoca since my Café Bar days when it was still N&W Global Vending. I knew some of the people from back then and I was au-fait with the equipment, so it’s not so much a ‘learning curve’ introduction to the business, as a ‘hit the ground running’ scenario.’
If any further incentive to join Evoca was required, it was the opportunity to work with and to represent the famous Gaggia Milano brand. ‘It’s an iconic brand, created by the man who invented espresso’, Andrew says. ‘There’s a sense of pride for me in becoming a part of that story.’
Andrew’ objective is to nurture Evoca’s HoReCa business both by growing the existing customer base and by exploring different routes to market. He’s also set himself a personal target – to get Gaggia machines into a High Street chain. As he says: ‘It’s got to be done!’
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