Pictured: Diane Hunter from the refresh-U Group and Tony Smith, National Sales Manager at Douwe Egberts
BY TED WOODWARD
The refresh-U Group is pleased to announce that Douwe Egberts Professional will be joining its supplier membership scheme as a strategic partner.
The partnership will see Douwe Egberts at the forefront of developing the refresh-U Group’s vending product offering. As the leading branded roast, ground and espresso supplier to the vending market, Douwe Egberts is expertly placed to provide the highest quality vended coffee experience to refresh-U customers.
Made up of 14 regional vending companies, the refresh-U Group will benefit from the 250 years of experience Douwe Egberts has generated roasting high quality espresso beans. The objective is to help refresh-U add value to their offer, by providing a range of high quality ingredients and concepts – ensuring operators provide the best vended coffee possible.
Douwe Egberts is at the forefront of innovation within the vending sector, demonstrated through its award-winning Espresso Bar concept for – which when launched, was the industry’s first gourmet vending option fully endorsed by a major branded coffee roaster.
The Espresso Bar concept has since defined a new quality benchmark for vending machine and the new Coffee Pod units which we have been heavily involved in developing with Regency design, taking the Douwe Egberts ethos of improving in-cup quality to the next level.
Tony Smith, National Sales Manager at Douwe Egberts said: “We are delighted to partner with the refresh-U Group. We are hugely passionate about quality coffee and are dedicated to helping the vending industry move forward in line with changing consumer expectations. Ever since we entered the industry in 2010, our new product development strategy has been aimed at continually pushing the quality agenda forward, and bringing innovative products to the market from a brand that consumers trust.”
Diane Hunter speaking on behalf of the refresh-U group said “This is a fantastic opportunity for both Douwe Egberts and the refresh-U group and I and our members look forward to working with Tony Smith and his team in developing our business relationship further”.
The latest addition to the Douwe Egberts vending range is an extensive range of espresso beans to meet everyone’s flavor profile combined with Café Blanco – a high quality milk granule made from 100% pure skimmed milk, with the moisture evaporated off, resulting in an easy-to-use milk granule that preserves all of the Nutritional value of fresh milk alongside our new insulated cups from Huhtamaki, these cups bring the quality of a high street cup feel and texture to the consumer out of home.
Tony Smith, National Sales Manager at Douwe Egberts said by Combining our range of premium products with modern branding concepts the operator has a great opportunity of moving further away from the low margins previously experience, and by positioning a quality coffee that will happily persuade consumers confident in a brand they know and respect will encourage them to pay a minimum of £1.00+ depending where it’s sold vs. the higher cost of high street brands now serving in the out of home market which all refresh-U members will now benefit from.
