Re-start or upgrade?

Whether or not you are re-opening and recommissioning your existing beverage-making machines after lockdown, or seeking to invest in a new one, keeping an eye on machine developments and beverage quality is as important as ever emphasis the sector’s suppliers.

PERSONALISED, SMARTPHONE OPERATION

Jura (www.uk.jura.com) says that it is now offering state of the art automatic coffee machine operation via smartphone or tablet – called the Jura Operating Experience (J.O.E., a registered trademark) - with hygiene now being of top priority in coffee preparation in many coffee shops and cafés, they point out.

By simply linking J.O.E. to the Smart Connect in your Jura coffee machine via Bluetooth, enjoying the perfect cup of coffee just the way you like it is even easier, claim the company, and is also touch free. Using either text or touchscreen, J.O.E.reg is intuitive, convenient and simple, and with free updates, it means that users can always have access to the latest way of operating their Jura automatic speciality coffee machine.

Using a slide control, the J.O.E.reg facility means that users can make their favourite coffees exactly how they like them, tailored to their personal taste, the preferences able to be stored on a smartphone or tablet (names and images can even be given to favourite speciality coffees).

Maintenance-wise, if the fi lter cartridge is worn out, or it’s time for a milk system clean, or the water tank is empty, J.O.E. provides status messages, prompting the operator to take action and enabling them to order the right fi lter for your automatic coffee machine via the direct link to the online shop, or let J.O.E. guide you through all the maintenance programmes in pictures and text (also helping to achieve TUV-certifi ed hygiene).

Got visitors and want to cater to all their coffee tastes? No problem, say Jura. With J.O.E., you can store the personal preferences of others by simply touching the symbols on your smartphone. The different specialities will then be prepared one by one in your JURA automatic coffee machine, and you can also save personalised images. Data-wise, clear statistics, such as number of coffees prepared, can be read instantly and sent by e-mail.

J.O.E. is compatible with all Jura Professional coffee machines equipped with Smart Connect, and can be downloaded free from the App Store and Google Play.

After more than 20 years of developing automatic coffee machines, Jura says reports that it has come up with many innovative technologies that set new standards, all of which have been incorporated into their entire range and have become the fundamental ingredients for enjoying the perfect cup of coffee. Each machine contains the wealth of knowledge and experience of their engineers, they feel, with functions and components having become standards to make perfect coffee on a consistent basis.

Jura’s range of professional coffee machines cater for the smallest to the largest coffee shop, restaurant, pub, or hospitality venue. Top of the range is the GIGA X8 or X8c, available with fridges, cashless systems, cup warmers and data communicators. Smart Connect is integrated and suggested daily capacity is 200 cups per day. Still with the Giga range is the GIGA X3 or X3c which has most of the

Where versatility, usability and individuality count

The X10

Coffee pleasure – freshly ground, not capsuled

Customised coffee via 4.3" colour display thanks to

One-Touch function for 31 programmable specialities  Professional Aroma Grinder for ideal grinding results over the entire service life  One-Touch Lungo function for delicious, aromatic barista specialities

Ideal areas of use: coffee lounges, bistros, pubs, bars, restaurants, private function areas, offices

Recommended maximum daily output: 80 cups

JURA – If you love coffee

features and accessories of its larger sibling, but a smaller daily capacity at 150 cups per day. The (J)X10 and the (J) X8 are models to suite mid-range venues, advise Jura, with daily capacities of 100 and 80 respectively. The smallest in the range are the WE6 and WE8, still packed with features but offering daily capacities of 40 coffees each.

AT HOME INCREASE

“With the majority of consumers working remotely, people are drinking and purchasing more coffee for at home consumption than ever before. Thanks to the rise in at home coffee subscription services, and café and coffee shops increasing their online presence, it’s never been easier to purchase speciality coffees in a domestic environment,” reports David Cutler, coffee specialist, brand ambassador and head of training at Lavazza UK.

“Further, consumers are also educating themselves about coffee and investing in machines, tools and equipment to recreate barista standard coffee at home. This new appreciation and understanding of coffee will affect out of home consumption, as consumers will expect the same high quality beverages they’ve learnt to make at home. Further, there is increased consumer interest in coffee origin and sustainability.

“The industry must adapt to this heightened interest by providing good quality coffee that is ethically sourced, such as Lavazza’s La Reserva de ¡Tierra! range of sustainable, quality blends. Coffee professionals should also seek to educate themselves on the origin and production of all coffees within their range so as to better educate their customers and offer them professional insight they cannot obtain from home. “From an at home perspective, Lavazza has seen an increase in e-commerce sales as well as sign ups to our coffee subscription service which enables consumers to arrange a monthly subscription of their favourite A Modo Mio capsules as well as one of our popular A Modo Mio machines for just £1.”

OUT OF HOME

“With regard to our away from home customers, we have maintained a collaborative relationship with our customers, checking in with them at each stage of the pandemic as government guidelines have changed,” adds Dave Cutler, who also has some top tips for operators re-opening soon.

“In response to lockdown 1.0 last year, we launched the Welcome Back Pack for our customers to help support them both fi nancially and emotionally. This included offering product free of charge, POS materials and video content featuring top tips on how to re-open their business according to government guidelines post lockdown. Based on its success, we relaunched these tools for lockdown 3.0 to help businesses navigate the road map out of lockdown and the effects this will have on the industry.

“Lavazza is also investing in data and analytics to bring relevant market trends and insights to customers in a digestible way. Overall, Lavazza is not seeking to push our products to new customers, rather, we aim to support and our existing partners through this uncertain time.

TOP 10 TIPS FOR RE-OPENING

Filter fl ush – after a period of inactivity, make sure you get the water filter flushed before turning on your machine. Using filtered water is absolutely essential; not only for great tasting coffee, but also for looking after your equipment. Check machine pressures - once you have turned on your equipment, make sure your boiler and pump pressure are working correctly and check under the machine for any leaks. Check waste fl ow – to avoid any problems during service, check the water can flow freely through the waste pipe. Designated cloths – clean, hygienic working practices have never been more important. Make sure you equip your baristas with colour coded, designated cloths for their filter basket, their counter and their milk. Invert pitchers – keep your milk pitchers clean. You can do this by either using a pitcher rinser or by using rinsing them in a nearby sink. When a pitcher rinser isn’t available, you can of course invert your pitcher so the small amount of leftover milk from your top jug will drain nicely into the bottom. This will also stop the milk from sticking to the sides. If your milk pitchers have seen better days, do consider replacing them. Milk pitchers are fairly inexpensive and you will make your barista’s job much easier. Clean hopper – coffee is a fresh product. Fresh coffee oils are going to leave residue inside your hopper. Therefore, you must make sure you are cleaning your hopper daily either by using a soapy water or designated hopper spray. Once cleaned, ensure the hopper is air dried overnight so you are not putting a wet hopper back on the grinder. Set grinder - now everything is turned on, cleaned and checked, this is the time to start setting your grinder (if you have one). Set machine – having set your grinder, you should check your espresso machine is still in working order and that it’s giving the right espresso dose automatically. If it isn’t, you can make adjustments if you are able to. If you are unsure, call your technical service supplier. Handling cups – to maintain optimum hygiene standards, always remember to pick crockery up by the handle, not by the rim of the cup. When using takeaway cups, the general rule to abide by is that the bottom half of the cup is for the barista’s and the top half is for customers. Clear workfl ow – a clean and efficient workflow is not only beneficial to your barista, but it’s also good for your business. For example, in my workspace I have my grinder and tamp station on the left, move to the machine to brew and then switch to the right to steam milk, pour and serve the customer.

REFLECTION

Turning on your coffee machine and your grinder after such a long shutdown, caution Evoca UK (suppliers of Gaggia Milano coffee machines in the UK), requires a specific procedure - follow it faithfully and you’ll be delivering coffee at its best, from the first cup you serve. In particular, you’ll need to pay attention to your water supply, the machine’s steam wand, the coffee brewing circuit and the operating pressure. It might sound like a challenge, but it needn’t be, say the company who have created a downloadable pdf detailing everything you need to do to be able to restore your coffee machine and your grinder to their former glory (available via scanning its QR code).

At the same time, many operators have had plenty of time to think recently, the company acknowledge - “Is my offer right, is my store layout right, am I offering the right products, am I making a good job of marketing my business?” Many operators and proprietors have made the decision to up-scale their offer, both to delight the old ‘regulars’ and to attract new customers, Evoca UK report.

Chris Kraszewski, the owner of Carat’s Café Bar in the West Sussex seaside town of Southwick, did exactly that. “We decided we needed to re-invest, to make sure we could provide the best possible coffee for our customers when they started to return to cafés and restaurants when restrictions were eased. Our old machine had served us well, but it was showing signs of age,” he says.

“Gaggia’s flagship La Reale ticked all the boxes for us, and we appreciated its potential immediately. With the combination of drink taste, machine design and the excellent value for money it offers, it was clear to us that – complemented by a Gaggia G10 grinder – that it would put us in a good position to build on the reputation for excellence that Carat’s Café has built in recent years.

“It is the first La Reale to be installed in the Brighton area, and it really has given us a head start on our competitors. Whilst we all enjoy a friendly rivalry, there’s no doubt in our minds that this machine not only looks amazing, but also it creates the best tasting drink we’ve ever served. That’s been the real benefit of choosing this machine - our customers love the coffee it serves and they keep coming back for more.”

Other machines in the Gaggia range include the Gaggia La Precisa, designed by the Bonetto Design Center. It features ‘Gaggia red’ painted sides, chromed covers of its brewing units and premium finishes, as well as a high-definition OLED alphanumeric display, capacitive keyboards and ergonomic steam knob.

Gaggia’s La Nera is a machine for small locations. It’s a single, or two group, compact machine and despite its small footprint, is robust enough to cope with the rigours of daily use, claim the company. You can even use it for pop-ups or takeaway coffee stalls, they suggest, and if you’d prefer to use professional capsules and/or ESE certified paper pods, thanks to specific filter holder kits, you can (more about the professional range of Gaggia coffee machines can be found at https:// gaggiaprofessional.evocagroup.com/).

THE RIGHT CHOICE

There is an unprecedented choice of espresso machines now available to the market, acknowledges Fracino’s head of global sales, Peter Atmore, but what type suits which outlet, and why?

“Irrespective of the unprecedented range of wide range of espresso machines available, ensuring that the machine is reliable, ‘fit for purpose’ and fits comfortably in the space you have available – remains of paramount importance,” advises Pete Atmore.

“Venues with no immediate access to a mains water supply would need a machine with an integral water reservoir, a four to five litre boiler and full size group head for producing the best quality drinks. Busier venues would be looking for a two or three group machine, with the largest capacity boiler and most powerful heating elements to provide excellent performance, whilst being simple to operate and easy to maintain.

“Venues with a higher ratio of multi-shift staff, where training becomes a challenge, would benefit from equipment with an increased level of automation or innovative integrated milk foaming systems to ensure drink quality remains consistent and of a high standard “Operators who have a requirement to serve coffee away from a mains water and electrical supply – such as mobile coffee carts, event organisers or tourist attractions would look for models that can operate on LPG gas and a 12v battery to fulfil their requirements (Fracino is producing such machines in one, two and three group versions to suit both single owner and operator start-up ventures or the busiest of locations).”

Precise temperature control - Fracino’s PID Romano espresso machine.

TECHNOLOGY KEY

With accuracy and consistency of the drink produced becoming an increasingly important factor in more discerning venues, technology that allows precise temperature control and pin-sharp timing is being integrated into the latest models, say Fracino.

“Proportional Integral Derivative (or PID) is a very clever technology that ‘learns’ from the specifi c use of the machine - incoming water temperature and pressure, atmospheric pressure, surrounding temperature and other variables – and adjusts the fi nal settings of the espresso machine to ensure that every drink is absolutely identical to the previous ones. Digital screen technology, monitoring drink temperatures, extraction times and other data are included in model specifi cations,” explains Peter Atmore.

“Fracino’s Romano PID espresso machine, for example – which features an LCD display showing each group’s temperature – can deliver hundreds of espressos at a perfectly consistent extraction temperature every hour and is ideal for outlets looking to achieve the highest quality drinks.”

RESOURCE AND TRAINING CHALLENGES

The expectations of coffee bar management for staff to provide premium, consistently high quality coffee can often be hampered by lack of resource for extensive and demanding barista training, feel Fracino.

“Increasingly, the solution is to install fully automatic coffee machines where operators ‘press a button’ and move onto other duties,” says Peter Atmore. “However, often requiring a massive initial investment, they can be unreliable, complex to set up and require onerous daily cleaning.

“Fracino’s state of the art, hybrid Velocino espresso machine has been designed to combine the convenience of a high quality bean to cup coffee machine with the simplicity of a traditional espresso machine. It is the same price as traditional espresso machine and avoids substantial initial outlay and associated complex technology and purchasing/leasing/maintenance expense.

“The benefi ts include a simple daily cleaning process (which takes a few minutes), minimal barista training and frees up staff to multi-task and focus on customer service. This is part of the afore-mentioned operator training which Fracino provides.”

For the mobile coffee bar operator, and ideal solution during ‘lockdown’, Fracino point out that they also manufacture a dual fuel range of full size commercial espresso machines. With powerful LPG or butane heating systems, these models allow full barista style coffee

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MOMENT MOMENT

when great beans become great business.

At Franke, we’re not just in the business of selling coffee machines. We’re in the business of creating wonderful coffee machines. We’re in the business of creating wonderful coffee experiences for your customers. It’s all about the moment. experiences for your customers. It’s all about the moment. We can help you make it wonderful. We can help you make it wonderful.

service in pretty much any location, claim the company. They also, uniquely, point out the company, allow the operator to run the equipment on regular mains electricity should they choose to operate near to a standard power socket, thus ensuring that the versatility of the range provides a solution for any venue that would benefi t from either a mobile or fi xed location, or both.

CARRYING ON

“Once lockdown restrictions are eased it is likely that many cafés will continue to operate on a take-out model for some time afterwards, which will make it imperative that you buy a machine that is able to cope with large amounts of orders quickly,” says David Rees, marketing manager, Taylor UK, who supply the range of La Cimbali automatic and semi-automatic machines which are capable of producing up to 300 cups in a day.

“Automatic and semi-automatic machines are essential for operators who don’t have the capacity to employ expert baristas, but still want to produce consistently high quality results.

“La Cimbali’s S20-TS4, for instance, has a Turbosteam 4 milk wand that perfectly steams milk in any quantities, bringing a touch of showmanship and style to drinkmaking, without the training. This will also help any businesses operating with fewer staff than usual. As well as coffee, the S20 range also features a built-in soluble hot chocolate system that offers up to 24 different drink options, alongside two hot water selections that can be programmed into each machine.

“Units are controlled via a touchscreen that uses images for beverage selection, making it easy for the operator to select the correct beverage, and to provide customers with a visual guide of the products on offer.”

The S20 models can also be remotely monitored via an integrated bi-directional Wi-Fi system, point out Taylor UK (www.taylor-company.co.uk), making updating software, setting recipes and customising background images simple and intuitive. Unnecessary downtime can also be prevented by remote monitoring, which makes it possible to ensure maintenance and cleaning tasks are completed correctly. Settings can also be uploaded manually by USB stick. These features help make managing equipment easy for both single location businesses and chains.

NEW LAUNCH

Following the successful launch of the fully customisable and award-winning range of stylish full size EX3 professional espresso machines last year, Crem has now launched a new compact range for outlets looking for all the benefi ts of the original variant, but in two thirds of the width.

Available as both one and two group machines, the new EX3 Mini options are just 550mm wide and can be customised, both externally and technically in the same way as their full-size counterparts, to ensure operators can create a machine that has both the aesthetic looks and operational capabilities that they demand, say the company (further information about Crem can be found at www.welbilt.uk).

As a recipient of numerous awards, including the highly prestigious, IF Design Award and Red Dot Award (for Product Design) in 2020, the EX3 range has become recognised as one of the most customisable machines available from selecting the colour and fi nish, through to specifying the type of lights, pressure gauge and keypad control.

“We are delighted to be able to introduce two new compact models that have all the benefi ts of the fullsize machine, but in a width of just 550mm,” says Oliver Seidel, VP & managing director of Crem. “This means a much smaller footprint for the operator, which takes up less, of the highly valuable counter space.

“Complete with robust hydraulics and a PID controlled temperature system, we feel that this highly optimised and stylised espresso machine range is the perfect addition to any commercial venue with a requirement for superior coffee. And, whilst ergonomics and user experience have been key, this has certainly not been at the expense of the quality of the espresso.”