How to Start & Run a Coffee Bar - Vol 4

How to Start & Run a Coffee Bar Vol 4

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Expanding your opportunities

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tlets

Welcome to the fourth edition of Café Life magazine’s How to start and run a coffee bar guide…

The rise of the independents in the coffee shop sector continues apace, and in this latest edition of our start up guide we have collated a fresh range of opinions, input and insight from those in the know across various important parts of the sector, and that we trust will inform as well as inspire.

A quick glance over the topics covered will reveal that coffee quality - if not beverage quality as a whole – and the provenance of the coffee you serve is very important these days, as is barista training, food hygiene and allergen awareness.

As you seek to make your own mark in the coffee shop world, it’s important to identify and promote your own strengths as an independent operator, as well as take on board advice from those who perhaps are often more readily associated with some of the big names in the business. In this edition, we also hope to have put forward some new voices and opinions for your consideration.

With many independent coffee shop businesses priding themselves on being able to offer a unique product mix and environment to their customers, this issue’s compilation of articles aims to help boost your knowledge as you prepare to launch or seek out ways to enhance a fledgling start-up.

your endeavours!

As ever, we wish you well in Clare Benfield Editor

Editor Clare Benfield, Tel: 01291 636336, E-mail: clare@jandmgroup.co.uk Advertising Manager Sam Minton, Tel: 01291 636333, E-mail: sam@jandmgroup.co.uk Production Edward Lantzos, Tel: 01291 636334, E-mail: ed@jandmgroup.co.uk Subscriptions and Customer Service Kevin Minton, Tel: 01291 636335, E-mail: kevin@jandmgroup.co.uk Editorial Address Café Life, Association House, 18c Moor Street, Chepstow, Monmouthshire, NP16 5DB Fax: 01291 630402 www.thecafelife.co.uk Opinions expressed in the ‘How To’ guide or Café Life are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of J&M Group Ltd or Café Life. No responsibility is accepted for the opinions of contributors. Café Life is published by J&M Group Ltd. and supports Café Life Association. It is circulated to managers, executives, buyers, retailers and traders in the café industry. © 2019 J&M Group Ltd

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ADVICE

The advantages of being a small operator Small start-ups have an advantage, really, they do; they just don’t realise it because everyone thinks life is easier for the big boys, says coffee shop sector guru, Anya Marco. In many ways the big chain buying power, controls, systems and apparent big budgets to spend on PR and marketing do seem like massive advantages, she accepts.

However, in reality there are many lessons to learn from big chains when starting out, and none of them involve any of those things, she points out. Here are Anya Marco’s seven tips to success learning from the big boys…

PEOPLE

Independent coffee shops have the opportunity from the start to really engage dedicated and loyal staff in a way that the big chains simply cannot match. People are the most important aspect of your business. Without great staff you have nothing, it is as simple as that.

People make a business, and if you want to succeed then you absolutely must be the kind of company you would want to work for yourself.

Think about all the rubbish jobs you have had (let’s face it, we have all had them and for many people, the reason to go solo is down to this) – how many of them were because of the people in the company, or the company attitude to staff?

Recently there has been a huge focus by big companies on offering improved workplace environments in order to improve the wellbeing

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of staff because they realise that by investing in their people their people will perform better and as a result attract more customers. There is nothing worse than going into a coffee shop to be greeted by a bunch of sullen students who really would rather be somewhere else.

As a big chain, when you operate hundreds and hundreds of stores it is nearly impossible to ensure that every single staff member is happy, engaged and delivering the kind of experience they want to deliver. A small independent coffee shop is the envy of many chains for this reason alone.

ADVICE LOCATION

Choose where you open wisely and do not be afraid of being in the same place as a big brand player, they will be more concerned about a new independent opening than you should about opening near a big chain!

But be location is critical and one that the big brands invest a lot of time, money and personnel on, and rightly so. A location can make or break any business. Previous failures due to poor location choices include a chain that simply bought up a load of failed card company shops… Included in the batch of stores were locations that were simply unsuitable for the brand, so despite getting a good deal, in the long run it ended up contributing to the untimely closure of stores.

When you first set out you only have to think about the first location, so spend time and money on researching properly where you are thinking of opening. Don’t be dazzled by a lovely open large space on a high street.

Look around at the people on that street at all times of day. Is there footfall in the morning, lunchtime and afternoon? Who are the customers? Is there a travel hub nearby, are there offices? What else is around that appeals to the customers? On the whole, a coffee shop has an advantage over most retail spaces because you simply cannot have a coffee shop experience online, yet. But that doesn’t mean a coffee shop business is bullet proof, it still requires footfall.

MARKETING

Once you have a good location you need great marketing and this is the one area that most big chains excel at, partly because this is where a budget can help, but in this day and age you actually only really need to be social media savvy to begin with.

Once you start making money, then you can invest in slick branding and collateral, but to start with, making sure your local area knows you exist using local Twitter hours, Facebook groups and Instagram, showing up in all the social media places and engaging with your prospective and new customers are the best first steps to take. Kaffeine and the Gentlemen Baristas in London, for example, have a great Instagram, as do Alchemista in Norwich, where

the conversation with its customers and the engagement really does encourage you to want to visit.

INNOVATION

Being able to respond quickly to fast changing trends in the marketplace is something that an independent can easily do. If you notice more people asking for gluten free products, for instance, you have the ability to buy small from like-minded small businesses selling just that, or perhaps you notice your vegetarian or vegan options selling out? Within days you can increase your offer (especially if you have your own kitchen).

For big chains being reactive is a huge challenge and while there are success stories (Greggs Vegan Sausage Roll anyone?), those successes would have required months and months of planning, designing, testing and rollout, and for many larger operators, the launch of a new product can just as easily miss the trend as hit the sweet spot.

QUALITY

This goes hand in hand with people really as it is your staff who should be responsible for the quality of the products you sell, and importantly how well your coffee is brewed and served. But it starts at the beginning of the sourcing story.

You must source the best quality coffee beans you can, and this is a significant advantage that small independents have over big chains. You are at the vanguard of the so called Fifth Wave. You do not necessarily have the legacy of 20 plus years of Italian roasting and investment into massive roasteries and set in stone ways to roast coffee, that may never change.

It took Starbucks five years to change the number of shots it put into its coffee because of this inability to respond to consumer changing palettes. They have only just launched a ‘lighter’ roast in the UK, despite a trend for lighter, higher quality roasted coffee in the UK for the last five to six years.

However, it is no good sourcing the best speciality beans if you then have staff who cannot deliver great beverages from them.

As a small operator you are far more agile, you can oversee training, so ensure your staff

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ADVICE keep to your high standards - this means that your customers get the best quality every single time. Big chains do not have that ability and while they all instil strong training practices, it is a massive challenge for them to oversee every single member of staff and ensure that every single cup is the best quality every single time.

COMPLACENCY

The biggest mistake I see over, and over, again among large chains is complacency. When a chain is delivering strong like for like growth month in month out, they become complacent and believe in their own hype. They lose track of the importance of investing in their people, delivering quality every time and being innovative and as the market moves so quickly this leads eventually to people becoming bored and moving on to the next best thing.

While it is exciting to get great reviews, awards, recognition, even just good sales, don’t rest on your laurels because a new exciting different coffee shop could open just around the corner. Always be your own worst critic as well as your best customer.

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CUSTOMERS

As a small business you have the opportunity to truly connect with, and get to know, your customers. You won’t need to employ a scheme to make customers feel as though they are being acknowledged, you can just talk to them on a daily basis and make them feel special. This also means you can listen to them, learn from them, and therefore respond to them. You don’t need to invest in massive consumer research projects and spend thousands, you just need to have daily conversations with the people who visit to find out what they love about your shop and what they’d like to see.

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COFFEE

Telling the story...

When it comes to the coffees you serve, and particularly as a new business, it can often be the stories behind them that first capture your interest as an operator, and then subsequently help to engage the taste buds of your customers. Here, Juan Salazar of Finca Joya Verde (www.joyaverde.com), pictured below (right) with his brother, Eduardo, tells us about his own family history, the development of their coffee growing farm in El Salvador and links with French coffee company, Kawa.

ACROSS THE GENERATIONS Our farm - Finca Joya Verde’s - story began in the late 1800s. Our great-great-grandmother was an Italian immigrant. She was just transiting El Salvador, about to go back to Italy following the death of her husband - an engineer at the Panama Canal - who fell while horseback riding. There, she met our great-great grandfather who persuaded her to stay a little longer, and soon after, they married and settled at the skirts of the Chaparrastique (or “giant of fire”) - an active volcano surrounded by an impressive green and orange landscape which looks almost prehistoric.

This is when they started to cultivate coffee and cacao, and the beginning of prosperous years for them and their children. Indeed, these were the golden years of coffee in El Salvador.

Sadly, this ended abruptly for our grandfather’s generation when civil war exploded in El Salvador and also coffee market prices dropped heavily.

Our grandfather worked the land as best he could and after economic crisis, coffee plagues and an earthquake, it was hard to keep the

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Grandfather and great-great grandfather.

COFFEE Joya Verde afloat. Then, our father, who started with just a small carpenter’s workshop managed, with a lot of hard work, to develop it to a more robust level, and was able to rebuild the farm’s infrastructure.

Soon after, my brother, Eduardo, who has always been sort of the high-voltage type of person, went to the farm seeking retreat after some life bumps. He fell in love with the land and jump-started back into coffee and cacao production. His goal was to take our coffee to speciality grade and have it in the cup of coffee connoisseurs in Paris.

Chaparrastique volcano.

THE LAND AND OUR RED BOURBON The volcanic soil at our Finca is very generous.

It is rich in nutrients and very fertile. Traditionally, we have grown bourbon coffee trees. There are still many of them around, older than 100 years, and really tall, and even though they produce a small amount of berries only, the cup they give is really good.

We are at the eastern part of the county, not far from San Miguel, a region known to be quite hot in summer and where long droughts can be challenging. But the worst challenge for a coffee producer is facing devastating diseases like Rust - a fungus that can wipe entire crops by attacking the leaves of the coffee tree and that has no cure for the moment.

There are recently developed hybrid species that are resistant to this disease, but that generally do not produce a good quality cup.

We feel that the red bourbon we plant, however, gives us a very good cup, but is vulnerable to rust, so we are taking a great risk, and we need to be very vigilant of any outburst so that we can act immediately before it spreads.

For the production we focus mainly on sharpening the processes up. Volume targets aren’t worth much if the quality is not there, so we implement different measures to maintain it at each step.

Berries are only picked when they are crimson-red mature. Soil nutrient analysis is done periodically, and the coffee is dried over African beds (raised beds) to favour a homogenous aeration during drying. Humidity levels are also carefully measured among different stages, and finally grains are thoroughly sorted before export.

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COFFEE The different aroma and notes that coffee grains will contain are amassed during each stage of the production, and one major turning point is defined by the amount of fruit you leave around the grains before you dry them. In our case, at the beginning, berries only undergo a washed process. This is when all the fruit around the berry is washed away at the wet-mill, but other processes like the natural (where you leave all of the fruit), or the honey (where you leave different amounts of pulp), involve a bit of fermentation which needs to be closely supervised and adds a level of complexity.

Recently, we have experimented with some natural and honeys which gave us some excellent results.

OUR ADVENTURE IN EUROPE I’ve been living and working in Paris for 10 years, and one day Eduardo called me and said, “Juancho, I have a very good coffee, so prepare yourself because we’re going to take

it to Europe this year!”, and this is pretty much where our coffee adventure in Europe began.

We started our planning in April 2018 and five months later, the first container in 70 years of Joya Verde Coffee landed back in Europe, at Le Havre port in France. With a tight budget we’ve gone shop by shop with a van full of 70 kilos coffee bags, meeting all kinds of interesting people, coffee aficionados of all sorts, participating with great pleasure in the moment where both ‘ends’ meet - the producer and the roaster.

We created, for example, a nice connection with the guys from Kawa Coffee - a startup run by three coffee aficionados (Alexis, Antoine and Brian). Brian, a devoted roaster, whom I had met earlier, invited us to a workshop. It was a fun day of cupping and playing, and this link went further when in January this year, all three went to spend a few days in El Salvador at La Joya Verde, where they experienced first-hand all the processes, from picking the berries to roasting.

t mill process (main), Berries out of the we cess (inset). and the washed pro

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Kawa Coffee COFFEE

“spreading the coffee speciality wave”

At Kawa Coffee, they started to y roast and sell coffee because the wanted to change the approach people have to their morning drink, report the company who roast coffees and sell it to individuals or businesses.

CHANGING TASTES AND PERCEPTIONS We are French, and although we talk about food like we talk about art (but we would often choose to spend four hours at a restaurant rather than inside a museum!), we have questionable tastes when it comes to coffee.

We like it strong, bitter, and short. Coffee actually does not come into the mix when we think about gastronomy - it’s either a wake-up drink, a daily ritual or a must have to a social gathering.

Our goal is to change that. We want to spread the specialty coffee wave in France.

Making filter coffee cool again, espressos without capsules, but most importantly making speciality coffee affordable to people. We want to make coffee to be looked at like wine is today, maybe with a little more fun though.

ESTABLISHING TRUST Right when we started, we had this vision of working hand in hand with coffee producers such as Joya Verde, to share a common goal and grow together, establishing a direct trade first approach. To learn from them, and for them to learn from us, but we soon realised how hard this can be to set up.

Finding the right farm, the right coffee, and then taking care of the shipping, the quality control etc. All this process is a huge task that requires investment and time. You need a lot of trust in all the partners along the chain, as well as experience dealing with green coffee.

And at the same time, we felt this would be too much for the little start-up business we were.

Ready to give up, Juan came to us. He arrived in our roasting warehouse, in France, to sell the HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

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COFFEE coffees from his brother’s farm Joya Verde. That was exactly the opportunity we were looking for! We loved the coffee, we loved Juan and Eduardo’s story and, as they had already brought the coffee in the country, we made a deal in no time on our first ten bags together the first of many more to come.

Juan and Eduardo had done the very thing that is crucial in such a partnership establishing trust. They showed they had great coffee and could bring it in Europe. They were reliable people to work with, and we’ve been having a lot of fun working together ever since, just the perfect partners for us.

TEST AND LEARN We think it is key to have a lab on the farm to make experiments on the washing and drying of the coffee beans. We recently made one where we let coffee cherries dry for 15, 20 or 25 days, and we now work with 20 days for natural coffees. These little A/B tests help us to constantly improve the quality of our coffees for our clients and it would be impossible to do that without a strong relationship with the producers. Eduardo’s knowledge in agronomy, agroforestry, post-harvest processes and his taste for experiment are key to learn and develop the quality of coffee.

OUR VISION FOR WORKING DIRECT TRADE Over 2018, we worked on their coffee and it proved to be a very good one (rating 87), but also a coffee that fits our market perfectly. It quickly had a strong success among the coffee shops we work with. It had what French people expect from an espresso with its strong body and a lasting aftertaste (close to what you get from a Central American dark chocolate).

However, the notes of clementine and sweet orange brings depth and subtlety to the cup making it incredibly balanced and tasty.

Our clients also enjoyed the story and the idea behind that partnership. Direct trade is still very small in France but has huge potential. Our first collaboration being a success, we wanted to take things further so we flew to Salvador in January 2019 to meet the whole team and spend some time outlining what our future together would look like.

So what’s our vision? Well now we were into it, we had to put this down somewhere.

There are a few reasons why we believe in direct trade and long term partnerships for our coffees.

SUSTAINABILITY We believe we can only grow if they grow with us. Through this partnership we want to help Eduardo and Juan to develop and innovate.

Therefore, we buy their coffee production ahead (and entirely), enabling them to invest in tools and workforce. Our aim is to make it good for Kawa, Joya Verde, and our customers altogether while respecting the environment.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s possible.

MORE CONTROL Working with Eduardo and Juan we can influence the coffee beans we will receive - the varieties, the methods used for growing and harvesting the beans, the washing and drying processes. For instance, we wanted to get varieties such as Gesha and Pacamara, and we planted these very trees in the farm this winter! We are very much looking forward to the first harvest in a few years.

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THE FUTURE? Having bought their 70 bags of green coffee for Kawa Coffee, we’ve been inspired and are super excited about these coffees, and are now planning to come back every year to keep on learning and moving forward together.

COFFEE

Enhancing your coffee Speciality coffee at Notes (www.notescoffee.com/tradenquiries) is all about customer enjoyment of single origin coffee, report the company.

With this in mind, Robert Robinson, co-founder of Notes Coffee, offers his general advice on menu, equipment and sourcing so as to help ensure that operators can offer their customers the best possible experience to keep them coming back for more.

GET YOUR SIZES RIGHT - LESS IS MORE! The lighter roasts of speciality coffee allow the delicate and complex flavours of the single origin beans to shine, so having the right size and ratio of milk is essential. Stick to 12oz or smaller.

MILK STILL MAKES UP MOST OF THE DRINK, SO GET THE BEST YOU CAN. We use organic unhomogenised Guernsey milk.

If that is not available go for an organic whole milk as standard, with a low fat option too.

BUT NOT EVERYONE LOVES MILK! The move to non-dairy options is not going away, so operators need to make sure they have high quality non-dairy options - Bonsoy, Oatly, and Rude Health all produce good barista-friendly options, and if possible, it is great to offer a high quality black filter coffee too.

TEMPERATURE The quality and quantity of the milk complementing the espresso is important, and so too is the temperature. At high temperatures the proteins which give milk its sweetness break down, so we advise operators to steam to around 55 - 600C. Some customers will ask for a hotter drink, and this should always be accommodated, but most will appreciate the drinkable temperature and sweeter finish.

TOO COMPLICATED? Iced drinks don’t need to be too complicated.

Blended drinks are popular, but so too are coffees simply poured over ice. We like to give our iced latte a little texture by lightly steaming the milk before pouring over ice, and topping

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with a double espresso. If operators can get a stick blender then an ice-cream based coffee shake is a great option too.

COFFEE WATER SOFTENER A water softener is essential - for two reasons.

It ensures the coffee tastes the best it can, and it protects an operator’s equipment. The best investment an operator can make is in a Reverse Osmosis filter system, or alternatively a commercial water softener recommended by your speciality coffee roasters.

PRICING Be transparent. A flat white should not be more expensive than a latte if it has the same number of shots!

EQUIPMENT Keep it clean and serviced. Daily cleaning ensures that the bright flavours in the coffee aren’t dulled by burnt tastes from older shots. An operator’s coffee roasting partner can help with regular equipment servicing, to ensure they get many years’ service from their coffee machine.

Service

Repair

TRAINING Operators should never skimp on this. Latte art is not a luxury, it is essential to show their customers that the quality of the coffee in their cup is a cut above the rest. The operator’s roasting partner should offer training.

THE BEANS It’s all about the bean, so a big part of speciality coffee at Notes is close collaboration with the farmers who do amazing work nurturing their coffee plants. We work with farmers who care as much about getting the best from their crops as we do, and in return for their labour-intensive organic methods, we pay a fair price and support them in investing in improving their water systems and drying stations. Ethically sourced coffee is at the heart of what we do and buying direct allows us to build relationships with cooperatives and smallholders over many years. For operators this means we can offer full traceability - where, when and by whom their coffee was picked.

Seasonal, traceable and delicious.

Boiler Inspections

Sales

Training

Call us on 01530 242800 or email info@coffix.com 35 Hill Lane Close, Markfield, Leicestershire LE67 9PY

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COFFEE MACHINES

Getting ready for business So, you’ve decided to go it alone and set up your own coffee shop. Congratulations!

There’s a lot to think about before you can open for business and decisions made early on can have repercussions further down the line so time spent at the planning stage will pay dividends later, advises Daniel Clarke (pictured), managing director, La Cimbali UK. FIRST THINGS FIRST One important area, given the profit potential and level of investment involved, is the way that you intend to market your speciality drinks offer, and that extends to the type of coffee machine that you choose for the business.

Before you start looking at the different types of machine available, it’s likely that you will have already thought about the type of customers you are trying to attract and how much coffee you are hoping to sell.

Perhaps you are aiming for a city centre outlet, targeting the morning and lunchtime trade from busy urban professionals? A destination speciality coffee shop with a niche for more interesting and unique coffees or a local, family friendly café aimed at seniors or mum and toddler groups and after school gettogethers?

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A KEY PRIORITY It’s also important to think about how you intend to position the business. For example, as an artisan coffee specialist with a hot shot barista team and an emphasis on carefully selected single estate blends and creative recipes or a non-specialist, where the coffee is great but the emphasis is clearly on the food offer which is likely to be made on the premises and priced at the premium end of the scale?

Deciding on which machine is right for your business is a big decision as choosing the wrong equipment could have a major impact on your profitability. I would therefore recommend that anyone who is looking to invest in a new coffee machine calls in a reputable specialist company first to review the options before any buying decision

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is made. This will help ensure that the correct machine is specified, and you might also be able to make use of favourable service and maintenance packages and training programmes which can be tailored to meet your requirements.

THE TRADITIONAL ROUTE A traditional espresso machine uses fresh beans and milk and there is no doubt that they make the best possible coffee going, taking centre stage behind the bar and adding a wonderful touch of drama which enhances the customer’s experience.

But to deliver great coffee, traditional machines are very much reliant on the skills of the barista. And, given the high turnover of staff that the industry is known for, an ongoing investment in training is usually needed as a backup.

COFFEE MACHINES Having said that, some machine manufacturers are making it easier for nonexperienced baristas by integrating smart technologies into traditional machines that take the guess work out of creating excellent coffee.

Some of the key stages of the brewing process such as the milk preparation, temperature control, coffee volumes and drink sizes are all taken care of automatically which leaves very little margin for error.

Manufacturers usually offer a range of machines, from smaller entry point designs to larger options with three or four group heads from which it is possible to make multiple espresso base drinks at once, although if you are busy enough, 2 x 2 group head machines might make more sense in the long run.

Look out too for valuable integral features such as milk preparation systems; pre-set temperature controls for each recipe and automatic grinder blade adjustment which all help the barista deliver that perfect coffee every time.

APPLYING THE PRESSURE If you are pitching your business as a coffee specialist, then traditional really is the only way to go. If your barista team are particularly creative, then you might be interested in a machine with an integrated pressure profiling system which enhances specific flavours and characteristics of the coffee by adjusting the pressure through the brewing cycle. The advantage of this is that the barista can really go to town on signature drinks and create

The new Cimbali S30 Perfect Touch ‘super smart’ super-automatic machine is available with the new Milk PS system. some fantastic recipes and seasonal specials that will not be available elsewhere which will help you create a valuable point of difference.

BEAN TO CUP MACHINES However, a traditional machine is not for everyone.

We have all experienced a coffee shop struggling to cope with demand because they’re trying to manage with an incorrectly specified traditional machine.

Staff become agitated struggling to cope with demand whilst queues build up at the till. How much easier it would be if that operator had bought an automatic or

semi-automatic bean to cup machine instead.

Bean to cup machines also use fresh beans and milk and they are pre-set on installation to deliver barista standard beverages to pre-determined parameters at high speed.

Push button controlled they are quick and easy to use and leave the operator free to concentrate on other tasks such as food preparation.

The better quality machines are so good that only a real enthusiast would be able to tell the difference between coffee prepared on a superautomatic and that which has been brewed on a traditional machine.

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COFFEE MACHINES

These all-in-one machines are ideal for those who want more speed and convenience than that offered by an espresso machine and they really do make excellent beverages.

FILTER COFFEE Filter coffee machines can generally brew two, four or six litres of coffee and are very easy to use and extremely consistent, giving a quality, repeatable, quick serve product. Water simply drips through a basket of ground coffee to infuse in a pot or thermos which will keep the coffee warm for one to two hours.

These machines are a great addition to your espressobased menu helping improve speed and menu quality and

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changing your filter menu on a seasonal basis is a good way to bring in variety. They can also work well catering for small numbers, for example, in meetings, the workplace or during private functions when a pot of coffee can be freshly brewed for a specific number of people and timeframe.

Reusable filter coffee holders which can store around two to three litres of hot coffee are also useful for a variety of out of home coffee moments.

With added developments in filter technology, pour steady single cup automated brewers are now available creating delicious and consistent single cup pour over with ease.

CAPSULE/POUCH/POD Capsule and pouch machines

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are often used in a self-serve mode, for example in a location where it would not be viable to operate a barista team or when demand may be intermittent or ‘out of hours’.

The pod or pouch contains a single serving of ground coffee which is vacuum sealed for freshness. As well as a full range of speciality coffees, these machines also offer chocolates, teas, and infusions for complete flexibility.

CHOOSE WISELY FOR SUCCESS Invest in the right coffee machine and you are far more likely to keep customers happy with delicious coffee and minimal queue times. As coffee has the potential to generate significant revenue for your business, choose wisely and you will not look back!

OPINION

Quality, simplicity and speed In the pursuit of quality, simplicity and speed in the coffee shop environment, choosing the right coffee machine can be a major, and crucial, challenge.

Martyn Bell, category marketing manager convenient coffee, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, outlines the factors to to consider, as well as the nature of some of the company’s own solutions which aim to ‘bridge the gap’.

RISING CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS The coffee shop market has seen 20 years of consecutive growth according to Allegra data, and this looks set to continue. The value of the UK branded coffee chain segment is now estimated at £4.3 billion - an increase of 11.8% over the last 12 months (Allegra – UK Coffee Shop Report – Executive Summary, Overview 2019).

Alongside this market growth, is a parallel growth in consumers’ expectations around coffee quality and variety, with 23% of coffee shop visitors drinking coffee from a coffee shop every day, and 77% purchasing one at least once per week (Allegra – UK Coffee Shop Report – Consumer Insight – 2019).

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There’s no doubt that consumers now expect great variety and quality wherever they consume their coffee out of home, and meaning that the providers of hot beverages need to continuously improve the quality and variety available to be able to stay ahead of consumer demand.

As coffee outlets become established, it becomes harder to create year on year growth. Maintaining great quality is essential, but increased coffee sales can be achieved by offering new drink variants to existing coffee menus. This brings in new business, creates interest amongst existing customers, and enables coffee outlets to stay ahead of the competition.

OPINION expertise with the aim of being able to offer a wide product portfolio so as to be able to recommend a solution to suit every operator’s specific requirements.

EQUIPMENT TYPES In order to run a successful coffee service, you not only need to produce consistently high quality beverages, you also need to have the ability to create various styles on demand.

There’s a vast array of beverage equipment available to help you accomplish this, but the level of choice can be daunting.

Put simply, there are espresso machines using beans, as well as machines that use instant or liquid coffee, and the decision on which machine to purchase will differ from business to business. Jacobs Douwe Egberts, for example, has an extensive range of brands and equipment designed to suit a range of venues, drawing upon its heritage and industry

WHAT TO CONSIDER In my opinion, there are three key elements at play when making an equipment purchasing decision - quality, simplicity and speed. Where quality is everything, and staff have the time and training to create a luxurious coffee experience, a traditional espresso machine with beans delivers great espresso coffee and finely textured milk that can be combined to make a vast array of coffee drinks.

However, as volume increases, and speed of serve and simplicity becomes more important, instant machines are often better suited, as they combine speed, simplicity and still deliver good quality coffee. Getting this decision right can save time, money and effort, and will set your business up for success. Getting it wrong, on the other hand, could be disastrous, with customers kept waiting for poor quality coffee and not returning for future visits. Which is why at Jacobs Douwe Egberts, we have developed an exclusive range of machines to sit comfortably in the middle of this decision hierarchy.

Douwe Egberts’ Cafitesse coffee system, for instance, has been created to deliver consistent quality, with speed and simplicity, in a manner that we feel effectively bridges the gap between an espresso and an instant solution, and thus giving operators the best of both worlds. For smooth service, other key considerations include ease of use, the time required for cleaning and maintenance as well as the reliability and efficiency.

SELF-SERVICE AND PERSONALISATION Self-service equipment can be a great addition for speed of service, and also gives consumers the opportunity to personalise and take control of their beverage order.

In response to recent consumer trends towards personalisation, we have recently launched two new coffee machines, which offer a wide range of coffee shop-style drinks quickly and allows consumers create their coffee, their way at the touch of a button.

A great alternative to slower ‘served over’

HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

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OPINION solutions, the latest Cafitesse Excellence Touch machines were launched to help operators serve great coffee, quickly and avoid queues of customers.

Creating a cup of black coffee in only six seconds and a cappuccino within just 12 seconds, the Cafitesse Excellence Touch can brew up to 600 cups per hour, keeping queues to a minimum and satisfying customers’ coffee needs in an efficient and convenient way.

Another important innovation from Jacobs Douwe Egberts is L’Or Promesso, a liquid roast machine which enables operators to serve espresso quality drinks quickly and conveniently.

The machine’s sleek and compact design looks attractive and its smooth touchscreen interface also offers numerous beverage personalisation options to match individual coffee preferences.

L’Or Promesso not only offers great tasting coffee but offers convenience. An easy to use machine, it offers front-loading access to enable quick and easy refilling. Cleaning is equally quick and simple, requiring less than 10 minutes each week, minimising down time during service and maximising staff time.

Whatever option and machine type operators ultimately choose, I would advise them to regularly seek feedback from their customers and staff to ensure that the beverage equipment is producing the best

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HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

possible quality coffee possible whilst meeting demand. Any negative responses should be addressed as quickly as possible so as to keep the coffee and the profits flowing.

It is also important to consider emerging coffee trends and the part they play when helping operators to retain their competitive edge so that they can ensure that investment in the most appropriate equipment will support future menu changes.

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BARISTAS

Boosting coffee sales with the right barista ALL IT TAKES The most immediate, and perhaps obvious reason to concentrate your recruitment and training on your service staff is that properly trained baristas make better quality drinks. Our coffee is born of generations of expertise, hours of labour; it travels thousands of miles, and is slow roasted to perfection and it only takes a sloppy barista a few seconds to render all of that hard work useless.

Making sure baristas receive a proper training programme will make the difference between a half-drunk cup of coffee and customers coming back time and time again to buy their cuppa from you.

Want to improve your coffee sales?

Scott Russell (pictured) at leading coffee supplier, Paddy & Scott’s, feels that training your staff and recruiting the best will have the greatest impact on your bottom line.

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STAFF MOTIVATION At Paddy and Scott’s, we offer barista training free of charge for all trade customers.

Investing a little time and money in staff development is a no-brainer because everybody wins - the customer gets a consistently great experience, we’re proud that our coffee is being served to a high standard, and the barista is learning a skill for life. We can’t expect baristas to care about the coffee if we don’t show that we care about them.

Setting high standards can only encourage staff development and customer satisfaction.

The other benefit of a knowledgeable barista is that they can talk about coffee all day. You never know who is going to walk through the door of your business; it could be a coffee novice, or someone who really knows their Panama geisha from their honeyprocessed Costa-Rican. Your barista still needs to be able to talk about their preferences. A well-trained, switched on barista can make recommendations or create new drinks recipes to keep customers interested and ultimately get them back next time to try something new.

If you’re looking to hire a barista and want to check out their credentials, then look for the following things: 1.

Their processes are slick Spend a bit of time watching them – if there’s a method to their work, a rhythm when they’re banging out those coffees, chances are they know what they’re doing. No-one wants a chaotic coffee – consistency is key.

2.

Their working area is clean and tidy Let’s face it, making a coffee is messy.

There are coffee grounds flying about as well as milk and hot water. Check, do they clean the porter filters after each use?

Is the steam arm sparkling or covered in crusty old milk? Do they re-use the milk jugs without rinsing, or worse, re-heat the milk? All these things affect the taste (and hygiene) of your coffee – good baristas are on top of it.

3.

They can recommend your next coffee A great barista cares about coffee and about their customer and can use their knowledge and passion to tell you about your next favourite drink. I love to go into a coffee bar and just ask for whatever they want to make me – it really shows their calibre.

4.

The best mate factor A fantastic barista is not just skilled in customer service; they really know their regulars. We get countless emails to our head office praising our café teams and how they make people feel welcome, at ease and at home. They might have a full café and long to-do list but they know that the customer is King (or Queen). Taking the time to get to know customers is what turns first-time visitors into regulars. If your barista knows your name and your coffee order they’re an absolute keeper!

More information about Paddy & Scott’s and its Barista Training Programme can be found at www.paddyandscott.co.uk.

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BARISTAS

The importance of barista training Graham Hepburn is head of coffee at 200 Degrees, having worked in the industry for around 14 years.

He spent many years as a barista and after four years moved up to a head barista position, stepping into his current role at 200 Degrees in 2018.

PREPARATION THE KEY I have always been passionate about training and coaching people as the coffee world can be overwhelming at times. The main thing that I have learned is that the more training your team receive, the easier everyone’s life becomes!

Particularly if you are a new start up, a common mistake is to open your doors, hoping that a new team will just ‘pick everything up’ as they go along.

A negative first impression can be detrimental for a coffee business, so having a well-trained and practised team well in advance of opening will help to ensure that your first customers are the ones that you still see returning years later.

Most importantly, it’s about getting the basics right. It’s all well and good having baristas who can pour triple swans and inverted tulips, but if they can’t dial in a recipe for an espresso – then they haven’t received the adequate, basic level of training.

I always start less experienced team members pulling shots and learning all that there is to know about the coffee itself and how it works. I teach them the importance of proper tamping and distribution, and how this affects extraction and flavour. Once they have mastered the core principles, they can then move on to milk steaming and latte art.

MILK MATTERS Milk is one big aspect of the coffee preparation process that a lot of people tend to get wrong. Milk needs to be steamed to the right temperature, with the perfect amount of texture, and this can be tricky for some training baristas to begin with.

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Using water with a drop of washing up liquid is a great exercise for novices who are practising their milk preparation technique, which requires getting the perfect amount of microfoam. However, this doesn’t allow for pouring techniques.

When baristas are ready to practise latte art, use cheap cocoa powder or loose coffee grounds in the cup for practice sessions, as using espresso shots can quickly ramp up the cost of training. Always start with the basics, as hearts and tulips can still look very good when done well.

When latte art training, bear in mind that it doesn’t make the drink taste any better! I would rather have a simple design that is executed well and clean, than a sloppy attempt at some ridiculousness you can witness on Instagram.

Latte art is a skill that improves over time with practice and patience. Customers in general will appreciate this as well. Again, start with the basics and do those well before moving on to more challenging designs.

Another key thing about good training is job satisfaction. Not only does it give the trainer/ manager a sense of pride seeing trainees progress their skill set, but the training individual feels valued that someone is taking the time and effort to further them and they will provide loyalty in return.

Last thing to remember - there is always more! Your training and the training of others is never finished. The coffee world evolves and changes constantly, so the need and willingness to adapt is one of the best traits that any barista can possess.

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FINANCE

Securing investment as a café operator In the current climate, it might seem as though the finance market has fallen out of love with the hospitality sector, leaving many café operators wondering how they can fund their growth plans.

Here, Catherine Gannon (pictured), founder, Gannons Solicitors (www.gannons.co.uk), offers her five top tips to investment.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME The latest figures (Altus Group UK News & Insights data, 25/2/19) suggest the insolvency rate among UK food and beverage operators rose by 17.9% in 2018, so it’s extremely important to stay abreast of business finance options. However, for the right concept, in the right location, the financial backing is there.

It’s about knowing what’s right for your business and how to find it.

Get under the skin of how an investor thinks Lenders are still open to investing in the hospitality industry, however, it needs to be the right type of venture. A great concept and fantastic food offering are just the start – those ideas then need to be supported by the right team.

Since the crash in the casual dining market, private investors have been following the example set by the banks and looking more carefully

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at the people behind the plan. Café operators need to be asking themselves can I demonstrate strong ethics? Have I really done my research? Do I know how to budget – and indeed stick to it? In addition to serving up the perfect plates, it’s important for operators to be able to demonstrate they know how to run a business and that they have set that business up to succeed.

Making the case for expansion - quality versus quantity Funding is still available from investors. Indeed, venture capitalists and private equity investors are actively pursuing worthwhile projects.

However, naturally, there is a greater degree of caution in the current climate. There is certainly no objection to expansion, as long as the quality of the offer isn’t diluted in the process.

Expansion should be a smart prospect, not a risk

HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

and café operators must demonstrate that their business is in the best place possible to ensure it appears lucrative to investors. However, we would urge operators to be realistic about their capabilities and make certain they can manage the battle between quality and quantity under the pressure to repay a loan or expand quickly to turn a profit for an investor.

Be realistic – setting attainable goals Investors look for a strong scale-up plan and a clear exit strategy. Café operators should understand their target market, know their proposition and have the presence to achieve it. Investors also want to see genuinely attainable goals. Be realistic – don’t promise to open 40 new sites in a year, when you know you can only achieve 15. Investors prefer honesty from the outset

FINANCE

when setting out profitability targets.

Be real and be businessminded. We’re seeing a focus from investors on businesses that have harnessed the power of technology to improve operational efficiencies. Café operators should automate in-house processes as much as possible.

Tech is very fashionable and we find investors often want to help fund projects they have a connection to or feel passionate about.

Know where to look for investment Access to funds can be an issue. Banks are still hard to crack and schemes such as Funding Circle are not offering sufficient investment so, without access to high net worth individuals, venture capitalists or private equity funds, operators find it difficult.

To my mind, investment is

personal. It should reflect the needs of that operator’s business at that time. The main aim is to find the relationship that suits you. So, what are the alternatives to private equity investment?

Banks are heavily regulated and have the strictest rules so the pressure to deposit money will be higher. The relationship with a bank is also less personal.

With a good business plan and sound preparation, crowdfunding can be successful but these platforms have higher thresholds for success. Again, there is no personal relationship and crowdfunded investments will not be able to offer any further input into the company.

However, crowdfunding is an attractive platform for many looking to invest - backers may receive tax benefits on investments made in smaller companies and any resulting shares, via a government initiative known as the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). A crowdfunding platform can be a good way to go to market, get the brand out there and act as a useful halfway house between bank loans and private equity investment.

Café operators should look at a range of investment options to see which suits their circumstances best. After all, you wouldn’t choose a partner that didn’t suit you personally.

Negotiating with a lender It’s important to accept that there are market standards.

Today, personal guarantees are standard requirements

by banks, and investors will demand good and bad leaver provisions. These provisions set out what will happen to the funds or shares should the investor leave through involuntary circumstances (a good leaver), or for undesirable reasons, such as misconduct (a bad leaver).

These conditions are incredibly difficult to negotiate and I would advise café operators to focus their energy on areas where they can improve their position and soften standards, such as agreeing a cap on liability. The responsibilities vary between types of investment – with a bank loan, the conditions are stipulated by the bank. With crowdfunding, the operator lays out the terms, and in the case of private equity investors, there is scope for negotiation.

It’s about finding the investment which fits the business, knowing what the goals are and having a solid, well-researched, realistic plan in place. It’s vital that café operators aren’t overambitious. We have witnessed the distressing fallout when a plan goes awry and an operator attempts to expand too far, too quickly. The brand and the team behind it can become diluted by growth and the quality of the offer will suffer, potentially leading to the collapse of the entire enterprise. With concerns about Brexit still unanswered and the rises in rent, rates and wage costs continuing unabated, now is not the time to enter into any business partnership without a full and detailed plan of action.

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FINANCE

Five accounting habits every business should adopt

Running your own coffee shop business is challenging enough without having to worry about the finances. Every business, whether fledgling or multi-national, needs to adopt effective accounting and book-keeping habits to keep records accurate and complete, and to stay abreast of cash flow, profitability and growth.

Perrys Chartered Accountants is based in London and Kent (www.perrysaccountants. co.uk) and provides a range of accountancy and tax planning services to clients ranging from start-up businesses and sole traders to large companies. The firm’s Declan McCusker suggests the following top five practices to ensure a fledgling business stays healthy.

1.

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Keep good records Get into the habit of keeping track of all expenses, bills and invoices to ensure that you get paid on time and avoid unnecessary hassle further down the line.

Make sure invoices are clear and make a note to follow up with clients.

HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

These measures will prove useful if your company is audited. HMRC found that of the more than 2,000 UK businesses it checked in one year, 39% had issues with their record keeping. Failure to keep adequate information can lead to inspections by HMRC, costing your business time and money.

2.

Hire a good accountant and bookkeeper Small businesses might be tempted to think they don’t need an accountant, and that all they do is fill in forms for the taxman.

FINANCE and will help you keep tabs on your accounts in the early days. But the latest technology is revolutionising the way businesses manage their accounts. Cloudbased software – where accounts are accessed via the internet – is part of the new-wave of technology, enabling staff with login details to access information from anywhere in the world. Available for a monthly subscription, cloud-based accounting is perfect for businesses operating in today’s inter-connected world. If you’re a technophobe, your accountancy firm may be able to offer training in using the software.

But accountants can boost a company’s profitability, advising on schemes and benefits businesses might be missing out on, and offering advice on the best way to overcome financial difficulties. Finding an accountant you can trust will help ease the burden of understanding complex regulations, as well as helping to identify financial problems that may arise.

3.

Invest in software For small start-up businesses, simple Excel spreadsheets are easy to negotiate

4.

Understand expenses If you don’t keep a close eye on your expenses, they could eat up your profits.

There are two main types of business expense - overhead business expenses (which refer to passive costs such as insurance, rent, utilities, accounting and loan repayments) and cost of sales expenses (expenses a business needs to pay out in order to sell its wares, such as a construction company buying machinery).

To ensure you keep control of expenses it is good practice to set budgets and communicate these to your team. Record details of the two types of expenses separately to ensure better financial health for your business.

5.

Stay on the right side of the taxman When it comes to financial responsibilities, your tax duties really do come first. If you miss the deadline for filing your tax or VAT return, or fail to make payments on time, you may find yourself liable to unwelcome penalties, interest and surcharges.

Neglecting tax deadlines means you could be charged even more if you’re late again in the future and means you’re more likely to be selected for a dreaded inspection by the HMRC. Make sure you’re fully aware of deadlines, file your tax and VAT returns on time, and if you can’t pay, contact HMRC before the deadline. You may be given more time to pay or be permitted to pay in instalments.

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FINANCE

A guide to business funding for café owners The idea of raising money has created dread amongst business owners for generations, but now the commercial finance market is changing.

New lenders are entering the market, new products are being offered and the choice for business owners is growing. Gary Hemming (pictured), senior consultant at ABC Finance, talks through the options.

OPTIONS Although more choice is usually a good thing, a lot of the café owners I speak to are finding it harder and harder to find the right product for their business. New products can be confusing and costs difficult to compare. In this article, I will break down the products available, when they should be used and how to select the most suitable product for your business.

PURCHASING OR REFINANCING A CAFÉ Buying a café When purchasing a café, along with the building it trades from, a commercial mortgage will almost certainly be the right option for you. Commercial mortgage lenders will often lend based on the ‘going concern’ value - a combination of the business and property value.

The maximum loan to value is usually 65-70% of the going concern value. Some lenders will lend up to 75% of the ‘bricks and mortar’ value, although this tends to be significantly lower than 65% of the going concern value.

When buying a café without the premises it trades from, then commercial mortgages won’t be for you. As you won’t own the property that you will be trading from, you will need to

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FINANCE consider business loans. The interest rates tend to be a little higher, typically at 6-12% per annum, and the term of the loan will be shorter than with a commercial mortgage.

Some business loan lenders will want to take security over property (such as your home or another property), whereas some will be happy to lend without security.

Refinancing a café For those who are already successfully running a café, and owning the property from which it trades, regularly checking your commercial mortgage options is essential.

If you already have a commercial mortgage then you may be able to save money, either on a monthly basis or by reducing the total interest paid on the loan.

The simplest way to do this is to check with your own provider whether they are able to offer you a better deal, and then comparing their offer with others by using a fee-free commercial mortgage broker.

If you have other borrowing, you may be able to consolidate them into your commercial mortgage to reduce your interest rate and monthly costs. When considering this, you must be mindful of increasing the total interest paid over the term. A good commercial mortgage consultant will be able to break this down for you.

Raising working capital Cash flow is the key to success for every business.

When cash flow becomes tight, finding the right product is crucial to avoid causing further problems down the line.

When raising funds to support your working capital requirements there are a few key points to consider, including the cost of borrowing, the monthly cost and the likelihood of being accepted.

Although there are lots of products out there, the most suitable ones for café owners can be split into the following three categories.

1. Business loans Not so long ago, your own bank was the only viable option for a business loan. Due to advances in technology, and to a large part crowdfunding, there are numerous lenders out there and funding has become faster and more accessible.

Unsecured business loans work in a very similar way to personal loans, with fixed repayments made monthly, over a fixed period with the loan gradually being repaid with each payment.

The lowest rates tend to be available to those with a clear credit history and at least two years of trading history. Unsecured business loans tend to be available from £5,000 to £500,000 over a term of six - 60 months. The maximum loan and rate charged will depend on your credit history and the trading performance of your business.

Unsecured business loans usually take around five to seven days from application to the funds hitting your bank account.

2. Merchant cash advances Merchant cash advances, also known as business cash advances are a relative newcomer to the unsecured business finance market.

Like business loans, on completion of your application, a lump sum is paid into your bank account. The amount available is usually between £3,000 and £300,000, depending on

HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

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FINANCE the strength of your business and the amount of money you take each month on your card terminal.

Cash advances allow you to borrow against your future card takings, with repayments made automatically at a pre-agreed percentage of your future card takings.

Unlike other forms of business borrowing, the repayments are not over a set term and do not have a set interest rate. From the outset, a preagreed repayment amount is set, for example, a £10,000 facility may be set at a repayment of £12,000.

Merchant cash advances can be easier to secure than traditional business loans as the repayments are automatically deducted from your card receipts.

3. Business revolving credit facilities There are a number of revolving credit facilities available to business owners and although they may be presented differently, they all serve a similar purpose. Revolving credit facilities can be drawn down and repaid as the client’s needs dictate.

The most well-known revolving credit products are overdrafts and credit cards. The products tend to be simple, with a pre-agreed credit limit agreed at the start and a set interest rate charged on the funds drawn.

Revolving credit facilities are perfect for café owners who’s working capital position is often up and down. By taking a revolving facility, interest is only paid when the funds are drawn, which could be cost effective compared to a traditional business loan.

UPGRADING YOUR CAFÉ Investing in new equipment or refurbishing your café can give your trading performance a real boost. Funding refurbishment or new equipment can get very expensive and have a real impact on your cash flow.

There are several products available to fund these improvements, firstly, the unsecured business finance mentioned above. The most suitable of these products to pay for upgrades is usually going to be the unsecured business loan as it allows you to spread the cost of repayments over a set term with a simple repayment structure. In addition, there are further products available which are ideal in this situation.

ASSET FINANCE Asset finance is a product widely associated with the acquisition of new equipment for a business. Products can be broken down into leasing, hire purchase and loans. These products all allow you to take on a new asset in exchange for set repayments over a defined term.

The main differences come down to whether you actually own the item, or simply lease it for the term of the finance. If it’s important that you own the item at the end of the term, then

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speak to an asset finance broker who will be able to breakdown your options and the costs associated with each.

The costs associated with asset finance depend on the product chosen and the asset purchased. It is advisable to get more than one quote when looking to take out asset finance as the costs from different providers can vary greatly. If time is an issue, a broker will be able to do this on your behalf.

SECURED BUSINESS LOANS Secured business loans allow you to take out a loan, using your home or business premises as security. The rates offered tend to be lower than unsecured loans due to the increased security offered to the lender.

This is offset by the additional risk that you have effectively taken on. Should you fail to keep up your repayments, the security property may be at risk of repossession. This must be taken into account when comparing the different options available to you.

Further information on commercial mortgages and other types of finance can be found at www.abcfinance.co.uk/commercialmortgages/.

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TRENDS

Making coffee accessible to everyone QUALITY Speciality coffee was once the preserve of the coffee geeks and hipsters. These days all operators are trying to ensure their coffee is good, otherwise no-one will buy it.

Over the last twenty-five years, we’ve seen the industry experience monumental changes in everything from the types of coffee that consumers are opting for, through to frequency, price and format. It seems that the days of poor quality coffee are well and truly over as the speciality nature of coffee has cemented its position on the mainstream coffee scene.

As a result, the coffee sector has boomed, hitting £6.5bn value in 2018, and with 10 million (Kantar Worldpanel data) cups of coffee drunk a day in the UK alone, it’s showing no signs of stopping. Not to mention that the out of home coffee segment market has overtaken tea as the beverage of choice and is one of the biggest success stories in the food and drink market with a massive 45% annual growth rate.

JOURNEY THROUGH TIME This year, we celebrate our twenty fifth anniversary, and I’m just as immersed and fascinated with how the sector continues to move as I was all those years ago. Whether it’s the ever-fluctuating market price, sustainability or changes in consumer trends, the coffee sector has continued to thrive.

These days, it’s hard to imagine life without flat whites or a coffee shop on every corner, but the industry has undergone radical change in the last quarter century. Here are five of the

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James Sweeting (pictured), CEO, Lincoln & York (www.lincolnandyork.com), looks back at the twenty-five years of being in the coffee business and how to start the journey of a lifetime.

most profound changes in coffee since we started roasting.

1.

Sustainability Modern consumers are driven to buy products that are reported to be good; not just for them, but also for the environment and farmers who are at the very end of the supply chain. Allegra insights show that consumers perception of organic certification has changed over the last 25 years. Reports have shown that consumers seek ethically sourced coffee over less sustainable alternatives with 40% more consumers happy to pay more for sustainably sourced coffee. The sense of doing the greater good means that consumers are increasingly interested in how the products they purchase, are sourced and produced. As a result, ‘fair’ coffee prices and sustainable sourcing models have been created and implemented. This could be the most outstanding trend over the next 10 years.

2.

The coffee 25 years ago, instant coffee was the norm and filter coffee was a weak beverage, if you were lucky. In 2019 lattes, flatwhites, cold brew and frappuccinos are dominating the sphere and have become

TRENDS reflection of its origin while darker roasts are known for overpowering flavours. The increase in consumer knowledge about the different types of coffees available has also played a big role in this.

5.

the norm. The number of coffee formats have exploded over the years and made coffee much more accessible to the general public, not just those willing to look for it. This has been a massive part of the boom in the coffee scene.

3.

Accessibility Believe it or not, speciality coffee was once hard to come by in the UK. Espresso based drinks like cappuccino, or a latte are the early influences of the American (though Italian inspired) twenty years ago and were only available in high-end coffee shops.

Fast forward to 2019, there are over 24,000 coffee shops in the UK (Allegra Project Café 2019) and even your local pub or corner shop will have these on offer.

As a result, coffee businesses have ramped up innovation to cater to the growing consumer demands for more premium products.

4.

Quality As more and more people get used to higher quality coffee being easily accessible out of home, they are trying to replicate it more and more in home, driving sales of espresso machines and coffee capsules. This is also evidenced by speciality coffee shops moving towards a lighter roast as it’s a more authentic

Inception of café culture Over the last twenty-five years we’ve gone from being a nation of tea and instant coffee drinkers to a nation obsessed with quality coffee. It’s difficult to remember a time when high street giants like Starbucks, Nero or Pret weren’t on every street corner and the self-proclaimed hipsters weren’t regulars at artisan coffee shops serving beans from around the world. Coffee went from being a basic hot beverage into a fully blown social experience, and pioneers like Starbucks started a new wave of coffee culture.

STARTING OUT There is no set way to begin your coffee journey.

Drive, ambition and industry knowledge are important when starting out to bringing your vision into fruition. It’s crazy to reflect on how Lincoln & York first started. Our first days as a business began in a garden shed, driven by our hopes of becoming the region’s premier coffee supplier. Twenty-five years later, we now supply coffee to over 250 clients in the out-of-home market, producing enough coffee to supply 1.5 million cups a day!

For me, the key ingredient to being successful is to truly become experts in your chosen field.

When we founded Lincoln & York, we made sure we knew as much as possible about our products, origins, competitors, and everything else in between.

Familiarising yourself with coffee origins is key.

As a team we frequently visit countries which we source from, to fully appreciate and immerse ourselves in the community, products and partners. Colombia grows coffee at some of the highest altitude’s beans in the world. The cooler mountainous location causes the cherries to ripen more slowly, leading to a more aromatic, flavourful yield. This production is highly sought after in the speciality coffee industry, which is one of the reasons why we buy over 1,000 tonnes of Colombian coffee annually.

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TRENDS SO, WHAT’S NEXT? The coffee industry twenty-five years ago functioned and looked far from what it is today.

I strongly believe that this transformation will continue driving the coffee-drinking experience to completely new areas.

Over the last few years, consumers have started to prioritise sustainable practices and its implementation throughout the coffee production process. There is a growing trend of customers willing to pay more for sustainably sourced coffee. We will see businesses investing more time and money into CSR and the creation of their own take on ethical practices such as sustainable sourcing models.

The two forces of digitalisation and technology have disrupted pretty much

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every industry in the last couple of years, and without doubt we will see such developments make their waves in the coffee sector. Loyalty apps, subscription services driven by artificial intelligence, and the rise of online ordering are the big things to watch out for.

Lincoln & York is one of the UK’s leading private label coffee sourcing, roasting and packing specialist whose coffee products are sold to 300 customers across UK & Europe.

The company say that they are on a mission to help Britain drink better coffee, and not just at the premium end of the market, and since 1994 they have been working behind the scenes to deliver bespoke products to customers in the UK and EU.

WMF espresso

THE PERFECT ESPRESSO, HANDMADE AUTOMATICALLY. We know many great people out there but only a few well-trained baristas. With the new WMF espresso you can hire anyone to be your Barista. It’s revolutionary technology that grinds and tamps automatically into the portafilter, controls the brewing ratio and temperature. That allows everyone to make a perfect espresso, effortlessly and consistently. Handmade automatically.

For further information: Please phone 01895 816100 or email sales@wmf.uk.com www.wmf-coffeemachines.uk.com

HYGIENE

A formula for maintaining and cleaning coffee equipment The importance of maintaining and cleaning coffee equipment to prevent loss of customers, standards and reputation cannot be understated, says Peter Atmore, head of global sales at Fracino. During the day a good barista will regularly backflush each group head to remove any loose coffee grounds that have built up between the screen and brewing head during the day’s use, he advises, and they will also complete a simple cleaning process at the end of each business day.

A group head before (above), and after (below), backflushing.

HOW TO BACKFLUSH GROUP HEADS Choose a handle, remove the filter and insert the blank filter into the handle. Using the continuous pour button, let hot water circulate in the brewing head for eight to 10 seconds.

Push the continuous pour button again to stop the pump. Repeat this process up to five times. Remove the handle and look to see if the water is running clear. If not, repeat the process. Take the espresso machine handles to a sink, remove the brewing filters and clean with a non-abrasive pad and warm water - no liquid soap. Soak the handles overnight in warm water.

If the build-up is still there after this process you will need to clean more regularly.

CLEANING STEAM TUBES Using a small jug, fill half full with very hot water, add a measure of Milk System Cleaner, submerge the tip of the steam tube into the hot water and turn on the steam valve just a bit to achieve a slow rolling motion.

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Let this slowly bubble away way for a few seconds. Stop the steam valve, remove the jug and by using a clean, lint-free cloth you will be able to clean away any milk residue. Repeat with fresh water only to ensure the cleaner is rinsed away fully.

HYGIENE WEEKLY CLEANING PROCESS Ideally this procedure would be carried out at least once a week, and at the end of the evening is recommended.

It is vital to backflush with a specialist group cleaning detergent. Fracino recommends a liquid product, rather than granules, as it flushes through more efficiently. Using the same process as the daily cleaning method, simply add the cleaning liquid/powder into the blank instead of just using water. Then repeat with water only to remove all remaining grounds and cleaner solution.

Once a week place the filter baskets and handles in a warm solution of water and group cleaner liquid/powder and soak overnight. Take care not to immerse the handle in the solution.

Be aware of blocked drains. Pour two or three small milk foaming jugs of very hot water down the round, black drain box. This ensures any loose grounds will be forced down to the mains and flushed away.

Using a cloth, wipe down all stainless steel surfaces on the espresso machine. Pay particular attention to the areas around the brewing heads and the steam tubes.

The cleaning process required to transform from grimy to glistening takes no more than ten minutes a day and will go a long way to ensure you serve the perfect espresso.

DAILY CLEANING To ensure coffee freshness for tomorrow, one to two hours before closing time close the black slide on the bean hopper and grind away any remaining beans. When closing, proceed with the following cleaning steps.

1.

Remove the bean hopper and return any remaining bean back to a coffee bag.

Roll the bag down tightly and close with a thick rubber band. Remove any remaining ground coffee to a small airtight container.

2.

Using your grinder brush, sweep away any remaining beans in the bean chute and any remaining ground coffee in the dosing chamber.

3.

Place the bean hopper under the steam wand and give a short blast of hot water and steam into the hopper. Use paper towels to wipe away any water and oil. Do not use liquid soap or abrasive pads.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Remove the two-part metal drip tray, milk foaming jugs and other barista accessories to the sink and wash.

Be aware of blocked drains. Pour two or three small milk foaming jugs of very hot water down the round, black drain box.

This ensures any loose grounds will be forced down to the mains and flushed away.

Wipe and clean all external surfaces with a damp cloth.

Reassemble all parts, leaving the remaining whole bean bag in the hopper and the small air-tight container on the dosing chamber ready for tomorrow morning.

Don’t store coffee in the fridge!

WEEKLY CLEANING TIPS At least once a week, backflush with a group cleaning powder (such as Fracino’s liquid Quartz Group Cleaner Detergent).

Using the same process as the daily cleaning method, add the cleaning liquid/ powder into the blank instead of just using water.

Then repeat with water only to remove all remaining grounds and cleaner solution.

Also place the filter baskets and handles in a warm solution of water and group cleaner liquid/powder and soak overnight, taking care not to immerse the handle in the solution.

Wipe down all stainless steel surfaces on the espresso machine. Pay particular attention to the areas around the brewing heads and the steam tubes.

• • • •

•

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T MAINTAIN THE EQUIPMENT CORRECTLY? Coffee is by nature a very oily substance. Over time, coffee oils accumulate inside of your machine to form a rancid residue. This residue is responsible for the acrid smell you may recognise coming from a poorly maintained machine. Unfortunately, this residue causes

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HYGIENE more than just bad odour.

If allowed to develop, residue inside of your machine will eventually clog its ďŹ lters and tubes and cause it to malfunction. Well before your machine clogs or you even notice the signs of neglect, the stale residue lining the inside of your machine will begin to affect the taste of the fresh coffee you prepare.

Dirty machines can be the downfall of a great cafĂŠ. You might start your coffee preparation with the most exotic green beans, roast them to perfection, grind precisely, and brew according to every technique and standard of quality. However, if you are using an improperly maintained machine, you and your customer may never have a chance to appreciate all of this hard work.

LOOKING AFTER CUSTOMERS It goes without saying that the customer is the most important person. When served a bitter

cup of coffee from a dirty machine, they will notice the taste, and might never return to let you know.

Taking into account the time and effort that goes into picking a great location, hiring skilled baristas, and selecting the best beans, avoid using dirty machines at all costs. It would be a shame to diminish your efforts by serving beverages tainted by the presence of stale or rancid coffee oil residue. Simply cleaning your machine at the end of each business day makes all of your other efforts go that much further towards the success of your exciting new venture.

To advertise in the 2020 guide

CONTACT SAM MINTON

k 01291 636333 | sam@jandmgroup.co.u

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R

Which Espresso Machine? Easy Decision ……

The standard Contempo model reflects a modern interpretation of style that makes for a stunning, yet timeless focal point in any café, bar or restaurant.

Romano

The Bambino is a top quality 1 or 2 group espresso coffee machine with semi-automatic or electronic options and is exceptional value for money.

Benefiting from Fracino's extensive research and development programme, world class engineering skills and state of the art production methods, the Romano is the fusion of style and award winning technology.

• A Pedigree of Award Winning Innovation and Contemporary Design • British Engineering Technology with Reliability and Simplicity as Standard • The Perfect Choice For Every Coffee Bar

For information on how Fracino can help in the success of your new venture

0121 328 5757 | sales@fracino.com | www.fracino.com HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

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HYGIENE

Safe from the start Catherine Watkinson, global hygiene expert at Hillbrush (www.hillbrush.com, manufacturers of specialist cleaning materials for the food industry) gives her advice on some of the basic cleaning and hygiene essentials that first-time coffee shop owners need to consider.

VITAL Opening your own coffee shop is an exciting dream – the look you want to achieve as well as the products that you are going to offer. But there are also some less glamorous essentials that need to be considered when setting up in order to make sure that your business is safe for customers and that you keep the local Environmental Health Officer happy too.

There are basic food safety rules that all businesses serving food should stick to, with effective cleaning being an essential of course (the Food Standard Agency’s Safer Food Better Business gives guidance for caterers running cafés, coffee shops and takeaways on food safety and hygiene).

Ensuring that your foodservice business is clean, and tidy is a prerequisite of good food hygiene practice. It promotes a positive image to customers and ensures that your outlet is as popular as it can be. Poor hygiene will turn customers away, but bacterial contamination can also cause serious illness and result in a visit from the Environmental Health Officer (EHO), possible prosecution and shut down of your business. So it pays to make cleaning and hygiene your top priority right from the start.

Food premises are inspected on an annual basis to ensure hygiene levels are up to scratch and displaying a Food Hygiene Rating is a voluntary way (law in Wales and Northern Ireland) of communicating to your customers that you take hygiene seriously.

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MAKE TRAINING TOPS Ensuring that anyone handling food is trained or is supervised by someone appropriately trained is an essential foundation to your business. You and your staff may never have worked in the food industry before and cleaning standards need to be tip top.

Caterers must have food safety management procedures in place. Training in basic food hygiene can be taken at your local college or online. It’s good practice to ensure any new starters have an induction to understand the basic principles of food safety relevant to their role before they start work.

As a legal minimum, all food handlers must receive training commensurate with their duties and responsibilities – generally this is basic food hygiene training (Food Safety Level 1 or 2). As an ideal, all supervisory and management staff should receive higher level training at either level 3 or 4 food safety.

It is also beneficial to record any training so you can show enforcement officers during their visits that you have implemented a training programme.

IMPROVE YOUR HYGIENE RATING Simple steps can help to increase your food hygiene rating too such as introducing a HACCP system. This is a recommended management system where businesses identify possible food safety risks as critical control points (CCPs) throughout the food preparation and handling

HYGIENE and use different cleaning equipment for food contact surfaces, floors, walls and staff facilities (toilets).

Use a cleaning schedule to indicate when things should be cleaned, how to do it, which products to use and how to store the cleaning products. You can use these as a basis for your training records too.

process – from the kitchen right through to service. Basic HACCP plans include various monitoring, verification and record keeping procedures, from ensuring that everything is dated once opened (likely also with a date for when the product should be thrown away/used by) to keeping the fridge temperature below 5˚C and the freezers below -18˚C. It should also cover cleaning regimes, from kitchen clean downs to how often the loos are checked.

GOOD CLEANING MEANS GOOD HYGIENE Alongside a thorough HACCP plan, using high quality colour coded cleaning equipment with good cleaning practices is key to avoiding crosscontamination. So, at a basic level, the same equipment should not be used to clean surfaces in contact with food as for cleaning the floor.

Using colour coded brushes for different types of cleaning jobs will help keep a rigorous cleaning programme in place. This is a practice widely used in food manufacturing which is now being adopted in many catering operations.

Inadequate cleaning will result in standard food safety risks of microbiological, chemical or allergen contamination of food as well as the quality risks of spoilage, meat species crosscontact and accidental transfer of animal proteins to vegetarian or vegan products.

If your coffee shop is offering gluten free or vegan dishes or even complete menus of ‘free-from’ foods, proper clean downs using the correct colour-coded equipment between preparation is particularly important. Many caterers cooking vegan dishes from scratch will prep these first, clean down and then move onto prep for other dishes on the menu.

Ensure hand washing facilities have hot and cold water, and that suitable soap and drying facilities are available for staff and are separate from any other sinks. Make sure that staff wash their hands after certain tasks identified by you; for example, before starting work, after handling raw product, after emptying bins, after sneezing or coughing, after touching their face or hair, after smoking, after using the toilet etc.

Use food safe chemicals for washing utensils, equipment and surfaces Labelled BS EN 1276 or BS EN 13697 and that health and safety instructions are followed. Have separate sinks for cleaning utensils/equipment and washing food

ESSENTIALS FOR THE JOB A spotless kitchen is essential for health and safety reasons and it need not be an onerous task if cleaned regularly. The non-food items in your kitchen should be good quality and this coupled with good staff training will mean that your premises are kept spotlessly clean. Invest in some quality cleaning equipment including a mop and bucket, broom, dustpan and brush, non-food contact brush and nonabrasive scrubbing pad plus professional grade cleaning chemicals. Your delivered wholesale company can advise on the right janitorial products for the job.

As a guide, you should clean the following kitchen items at the following frequency.

Remember if you are offering gluten free products alongside regular dishes you may wish to clean down surfaces more frequently or prepare in a separate area of the kitchen.

Surface and utensils - after each use.

Ovens – weekly.

Sinks - between uses, and at various points throughout the day with frequent use.

Fridges and freezers – monthly.

Bins – weekly.

Ventilation systems - every three months to one year (depending on use).

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ALLERGENS

Top ten tips for good allergen management 1.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes – if I had a food allergy could I eat here? Is the allergy sign in a prominent position and does it have a clear and positive message? Is there a separate menu available for customers with allergies?

2.

The kitchen must be well organised to reduce the risk of cross-contamination of allergens within the storage, preparation and cooking processes. If the kitchen is small, careful thought is required to identify an area where non-allergen foods may be prepared and cooked safely.

3.

4.

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Any foods suitable for a gluten free diet must be cooked separately to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. A separate fryer must be available, for example (a small table top fryer is suitable for this if space is tight).

Adopt a routine of using purple allergen equipment in order to highlight awareness HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

in the kitchen. “This dish requires careful preparation and I must avoid contact with other allergens”, for example, helps to encourage a culture of allergen awareness within the team. The same principle as using red or green chopping boards applies here and obviously in between preparation of different dishes the chopping must and utensils must be thoroughly washed in hot soapy water.

Several boards may be required.

5.

Write a suitable Food Allergen policy which will set out the procedure for purchasing, supplier agreements, delivery, storage, preparation and service of meals.

Training requirements will also be stated in this document. Share the information with staff and add this to your web site.

6.

Training is very important. Online training is readily available, however a delivered training course allows interaction and questions to be asked.

ALLERGENS 7.

Pre-service briefs, team meetings.

Communication is vital -the chefs need to communicate with FOH staff and keep them informed in relation to allergens, changes to recipes etc.

8.

Allergen File - an up to date file of each recipe with a relevant allergen matrix is required. This can be a hard copy or available on a computer, as long as staff members have access to the information.

9.

Communication with the customer-talk to customers with food allergies. They need to understand the ingredients of the food they are eating and are not trying to “catch you out”. They will appreciate an honest discussion about which foods they may be able to eat and they need up to date and accurate information to make an informed decision.

10.

Include Allergen checks within your HACCP paperwork at key points - e.g. delivery, preparation and service. Any issues which arise throughout the process will be highlighted on the paperwork and any action taken will be recorded.

This shows due diligence and will ensure allergens are considered in the same way that food hygiene practices are considered throughout the day.

Jacqui McPeake has worked for over 35 years in the catering industry, with ten years as head of catering at Manchester Metropolitan University with 36,000 students and 4,00 staff, and where she and the team had a responsibility to ensure that they could cater for a wide variety of diets on a daily basis. The changes implemented ensured that allergen management became part of the team culture, winning them Catering Team of the Year 2017 specifically for the work they had undertaken on allergen management. Her company – JACS Ltd - now provides interactive Allergen Awareness workshops, HABC Allergen Training and presentations, as well as audits with a full report on findings and also audits as part of the National Allergen Accreditation Scheme. Here, she offers her top ten tips for good allergen management in a food catering environment.

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DRINKS

Creating a drinks menu Ricky Flax, general manager at the Italian Beverage Company (IBC) shares his top ideas for creating an enticing and profitable soft drinks menu.

Stock up on back bar essentials Every café can use a stock of classic flavoured syrups such as Simply Vanilla, Hazelnut and Caramel. These flavours are popular all year round and are perfect for adding interest to everyday lattes, hot chocolates and even frappes.

Iced teas are on trend right now and a great addition to the menu. Your team will love them because they are so simple to use.

Just add water to IBC’s Simply Iced teas and a garnish and they are good to go – and very profitable too.

If you do not have space for a countertop blender then look out for ready to serve, preblended drinks such as IBC’s Simply Liquid Vanilla Frappe. For a delicious indulgent treat, pour over ice and combine with syrups, sauces and toppings to make a range of tempting flavours.

Customers buy with their eyes and eyecatching presentation is therefore really important so use sauces and toppings to add pops of flavour, colour and texture to drinks and desserts. For example, our Simply Luxury Chocolate Sauce is a must have, not only does it taste great, it’s perfect for finishing hot and cold drinks. Or use freeze dried fruits such as real strawberry pieces as a pretty topping or addition to cold drinks like lemonade and iced tea.

Plan It’s great to fill the menu with classic recipes all year round, but adding seasonal flavours is an easy way to keep things current and will

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IBC’s “Simply Unicorn Frappe” (featuring Simply Vanilla Frappe, Simply Violet Syrup and double cream and Simply Strawberry Topping Sauce). encourage customers to come back for more.

With numerous flavoured syrups available (IBC now stock over 70 flavours, for example) which can be used to add a seasonal twist to lattes, hot chocolate, frappes, smoothies, fruit teas etc, there’s endless scope for creativity.

Use POS to promote seasonal drinks and increase sales From countertop strut cards, to table talkers and A-Boards, branded POS material can be a very effective way to help drive sales by promoting menu options and latest news in and outside the café. IBC Simply, for instance, can support customers with POS materials from design through to ordering the finished product.

Get started with Simply

No minimum order, FREE delivery on orders over £100

Order today: 0800 689 5128 See the full range online

italianbev.co.uk Simply Syrups • Frappes • Smoothies • Granita • Topping Sauces HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

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DRINKS

A blackberry and blueberry smoothie.

Engage with customers Building a connection with customers costs nothing apart from a few minutes of your time and yet the benefits are considerable in terms of loyalty. Get to know customers’ favourite drinks and how they like them served as it will help encourage repeat business and recommendations to friends and colleagues.

When there is a connection it is much easier to upsell other products, for example by asking “would you like a shot of vanilla in your latte?”

This additional spend is a way to increase profits which, although small, certainly adds up over the course of a busy weekend.

Make your hero drinks Instagram worthy Social media is a great way to promote favourite menu items to new and existing customers and it’s free to use! So, making sure your drinks and desserts are worthy of a great Instagram shot means you always have fresh

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content to share and will also encourage your customers to help create a buzz by snapping and sharing their images too.

Give your customers more choice There’s a growing demand for healthy options with more people picking ‘free from’ and ‘lighter’ choices from across the menu.

Stocking a range of healthier alternatives such as sugar free and organic syrup options (all IBC Simply Syrups are also suitable for vegan diets, for example) can help to meet consumer demand head on and will allow you to offer customers the extra choice they are looking for.

Vegan food choices are more popular than ever. With this in mind, it is worth creating a range of vegan signature drinks by experimenting with vegan syrups, sauces and non-dairy options such as coconut or oat milk to find which flavours work well together.

MUSIC

Playing mood music in your coffee shop Gregory Geismar (pictured) is marketing director for Rehegoo Music Group. In his career to date, he has been lucky enough to work in two of the most prominent café cultures in the world - Spain and Italy. From the bountiful Pintxos of Galicia to the ebullient espresso lifestyle in Padua, his work has allowed him to sample the many delights of the Mediterranean, he reports, although, when home, he says that nothing beats a good old-fashioned cuppa…

CLARIFICATION NEEDED Working for a music company with a streaming platform providing background music for businesses, we encounter numerous clients confused about licensing and why they even need music in the first place. So let me clarify these issues.

Let’s begin with the rather mundane and slightly technical side - licensing (namely, playing an artist’s music in a commercial space). It’s a vital but often unduly ignored aspect of running a business. I recently popped into the new local coffee shop, authentically Italian in design and décor, with traditional Sardinian music playing in the background. I asked the manager, Giorgio, how he played his music. He replied ‘’Spotify’’.

I further enquired if he was paying any sort of licence. His response? “I need a licence? I have a premium account, I pay them £10 every month!’’

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Similarly, I had my hair cut recently, and Bieber and Sheeran were both blaring from my barber’s radio, changing from KISS FM to Capital Gold frequently. As obvious, or perhaps unobvious in Giorgio’s case, in both examples they are breaking the law. In order to play music for customers through the TV, radio, and now commonly digital services, you need a licence.

Some business owners seem to think this is unnecessary (fines without a licence can range from £1,000-£100k depending on business size and type), or unfair (considering the number of products that we are used to getting for free in the tech era).

MUSIC by your business type and its size in square metres. For example, a café with an audible area of 551-600 square metres would pay £232.17 per year. With our service, Rehegoo Streaming Platform, the licence is already paid for and included in your subscription, thus giving you access to our vast catalogue of independent music and taking away the hassle of having to deal with the PPL and PRS (if you still aren’t sure check out their website for more information - https://pplprs.co.uk/ themusiclicence/#).

You may be thinking ‘’Music? A licence?

Don’t think I’ll bother, I have the best location in town and the freshest coffee and snacks this side of Rome.” And you may be very well right, depending on the nature of clientele, some people just simply don’t like any noise whatsoever. Unfortunately, the research says otherwise. Whether you are a café, or hair salon, there is a direct link between the music being played and the customers perception of their in-store experience.

However, look at it from an artist’s perspective. Would you be happy to know that your song is getting played across the country, in pubs, bars and cafés and not getting any renumeration for it? I think we all know the answer.

The originally named, the Music Licence, strives to provide musicians and record companies with what they deserve - royalties.

Previously, businesses had to buy separate licences via the collection societies, the PPL and PRS. They have now conjoined to form the Music Licence making lives way easier.

How much your licence costs is calculated

MOOD To quote from his 1973 Journal of Retailing article: “In some cases, the place, more specifically the atmosphere of the place, is more influential than the product itself in the purchase decision. In some cases, the atmosphere is the primary product.”

A report by Mood Media in their The State of Brick and Mortar Report, surveyed over 10,000 people across nine counties and found that hearing music in store lifts moods by 81% and that hearing it in the first place helps them connect to the brand (70%).

Several studies have shown that having the right music can have a significant effect on sales. Music that fits in with your brand will bring a greater sense of authenticity and in turn loyalty for customers to want to return to your café because of the rapport that has been built.

Furthermore, the tempo, rhythm and volume of your music can have a profound effect on a customer’s behaviour. Calm music tends to keep people in-house for longer, whiling away time. Whilst high-tempo loud songs results in people accelerating, spending less time looking at produce and less time in-store.

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MUSIC For example, you may play your energetic music during rush hour, peak times to increase your customer turnover, whereas your slow music will be played during the afternoon or late mornings, to keep customers in-store and in a relaxed mood. A smart strategy will take in to account the different times of day and react accordingly with your music selection.

Whether you are a small corner city café or a larger premise in the outskirts of the town, your choice of music is going to be intrinsically connected to the atmosphere you create and how loyal your customers are at returning to repeat the experience.

To go back to Giorgio (who is at this very moment probably scrambling for a licence!), he has created a terrifically authentic Italian experience. The décor accompanied by his fine selection of slow, ambling, melodic Sardinian music, gives you a genuine feel you are nestled away in a small Italian village.

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The combination was very transcendental, and I completely forgot there was a bustling high street in North London two metres away. Without the music, would I have got the same feel?

Probably not, and would that make me want to visit regularly? Doubt it.

You may think ‘’that’s all very well, but I’m no musician, I’m not sure what people react well to!’’ In this case, there are several background business music services such as ours who can help out.Our streaming platform, for example, gives you access to a range of categories and subcategory businesses, which then have specially curated playlists, moods and genres to suit the type of café that you are. For instance, whether you are a hotel, trendy, city, or breakfast café, each has a unique and distinct set of playlists with carefully hand-picked songs by our music specialists to fit in with the nature of your brand (you can find more information about what we are doing at rehegoostreaming.com).

WHAT IF YOUR COFFEE WASTE COULD BE TURNED INTO SOMETHING USEFUL? bio-bean recycles your spent coffee grounds, renewing them into sustainable bio-products and reducing your waste while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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FURNITURE

Furnishing a café Furnishing a café is a big (or should we say grande) deal, feels Robert Price, owner of Trent Furniture (www.trentfurniture.co.uk).

Regardless of whether you need to furnish a brand new café or you simply want to upgrade old furniture, there’s plenty to consider, as he outlines here.

THE MIX The type of café you are, the products you serve, and your target audience all have a direct impact on the furniture you need. It goes without saying that you must dedicate time to research the best options for your café.

Many owners rush into buying, considering nothing but whether the furniture is comfortable.

But café furniture acts as so much more than an object for customers to use to sit and socialise; it plays a major part in contributing to your café’s overall atmosphere.

SHOW YOUR PERSONALITY According to Allegra data, there are expected to be 30,000 cafés in the UK by 2025, so how is your café in particular going to stand out from the ever-growing number of competitors?

Your first thoughts might be the products and promotions you could offer, but furniture choice is another effective way of differentiating yourself.

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FURNITURE It’s unfortunate that many cafés opt for uniform, unimaginative choices. Show me the law that says your café furniture has to match and be consistent. You’re right, there isn’t one!

The standardisation of high street café chains is forced upon them, often leaving an institutional feel. But as an independent café, this is your opportunity to show your quirks and personality, to broaden your appeal – something that chain cafés are unable to do. Owners shouldn’t be shy to embrace creativity with their furniture choices.

Vedi, a new vegetarian café in Derby has done exactly that by using a mismatch of designs, colours and materials to furnish their interior. The café, which serves a full vegetarian menu, ordered seven different types of chair, three alternate tables and three different stools to create a relaxed environment that reflects their sustainable ethos.

WHAT TYPE OF CAFÉ ARE YOU? Cafés broadly fall into four categories. Each of these have different types of décor to reflect the target customer they are looking to attract.

• • •

•

Trendy and quirky, with an emphasis on authenticity (these cafés create a cool, relaxed experience using raw wood materials and low tables and benches).

Traditional cafés that cater for a more mature, conservative clientele (more than anything else, customers will expect comfortable furniture).

Individual, one-off cafés that reflect the owner’s personality and taste (quirky and original furniture with a homely quality that matches the home-made treats on the menu!).

High street options that are more mainstream and generic (these have a consistent appearance throughout with unobtrusive furniture).

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE SERVING Your choice of furniture will also depend on what food and drink options your café offers. Some customers will nip into your café for just a few minutes for a quick espresso fix, while others will linger for an hour or more to rest their tired legs.

It’s important to offer alternative seating to suit different needs.

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FURNITURE As a general rule, you should have stools and ‘poseur’ tables for the in-and-out coffee customers, normal-height chairs and tables for those with more time to spare and low-level tables and perhaps tub chairs for customers who are staying longer.

Make your choices based on whether you have a substantial food menu to accompany drinks – remember, it’s not easy (or comfortable) to eat plates of food from a small table designed for drinks!

FOLLOWING THE TRENDS Trends within café furniture and decor have shifted in the past couple of years. The industrialchic, Edison lightbulb trend seems to be continuing, but it is becoming something of a cliché and may have had its moment in the spotlight.

The mood seems to be moving towards something homelier. Wooden chairs and tables painted in light colours with natural wood surfaces have come into favour. The dark and raw interiors are being replaced with these natural, light and airy atmospheres, so with this in mind, now might be the time to switch to something softer.

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KEEP CUSTOMERS IN MIND As with your café’s overall concept, don’t follow trends too religiously. There can be a temptation to but, in truth, this won’t do you any favours.

If you did, over the past couple of years you’d have ended up with an industrial-looking cat café, which you don’t need me to tell you probably wouldn’t work!

Your only focus should be to make changes with your target customer in mind. Cosy sofas and inviting décor aren’t particularly suited to a hectic city-centre cafe looking to appeal to quick-stop customers. Likewise, bar stools and a rigid layout isn’t best suited to the likes of board game cafés that want groups to relax and linger.

If there can be said to be a trend, it is this: there are no trends. If your café or coffee shop looks warm, welcoming and friendly, you’re getting it right.

WHAT ABOUT OUTSIDE? If the sun is shining in the UK, customers want to be outside – simply because of the rarity! So, if you have an outdoor space, whether it be a courtyard, garden or terrace, you need to make the most of it. Having the right outdoor commercial furniture to battle with the unpredictable elements of British weather is a key factor in making the right choice. With outdoor furniture coming in a range of different materials, it can be difficult to know which is best for your business. Metal is a common choice, though modern synthetic wickers and wood-effect finishes are just as durable and withstand weather well.

A top tip is to ensure that your outdoor furniture is stackable.

This way, it can easily be stored away in the evenings and throughout the colder months.

Regardless of your café’s theme, an attractive interior, high quality coffee and good food are a winning combination for making your café stand out from the crowd.

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WI-FI

Setting up a public

Wi-Fi network Nathan Hill-Haimes is founder of Amvia (www.amvia.co.uk), a privately-owned, voice, data and cloud application provider based in Sheffield, UK, and which supplies services to companies of all sizes. Here, he offers some advice on setting up that coffee shop essential – a public Wi-Fi network.

EXPECTED Today’s modern customers are used to being able to access free public Wi-Fi in businesses across the country. Public-access networks are a brilliant way to bring more people into your premises, and once they’re through the door they are likely to stick around. However, setting up a public Wi-Fi network in your own business is more than just switching on a router.

ENSURE YOUR NETWORK CAN MAINTAIN THE TRAFFIC When you are putting plans in place to provide public broadband, the first thing you need to know is that there’s more to it than simply handing out a password.

In order to allow customers to get proper usage out of your network, it’s important that you make sure your business broadband package is capable of handling the amount

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of traffic that it is likely to see on a daily basis.

Even a high-sounding data limit can easily be used up quickly if large amounts of people are freely logging on to your account, so it’s recommended you to choose a package that provides an unlimited amount of data.

For establishments with smaller premises, a fibre optic connection should be able to easily manage.

Make sure your broadband package offers very high speeds, as a slow or poor Internet connection can easily frustrate customers and discourage them from using your service in the future.

For businesses with larger premises, a faster leased line or Ethernet connection may be a more preferable solution due to the fact there will likely be a high volume of people wanting to access your network all at the same time.

WI-FI guest network you can make sure that only users that have actually visited your premises have access.

RESTRICT CUSTOMER ACCESS TO YOUR TEAM’S NETWORK By creating Wi-Fi accounts that separate your team from your customers, you can ensure your network provides a higher level of security for all parties.

Each network can be allocated with a certain amount of bandwidth which will help to meet their separate demands; your staff account should not need a lot of bandwidth, while the guest account may well have much bigger needs as it’s likely more people will be connecting and may want to access more demanding content.

Allocating a larger bandwidth to your guest network provides visitors with a better, stronger and faster Internet connection that can attract customers to your business and encourage repeat visits; by setting up a password on your

CONSIDER CREATING A HOTSPOT GATEWAY In simple terms, hotspot gateways require each and every guest to log in to a virtual portal in order to access the network, providing a more secure Wi-Fi connection for both you and your guests.

The gateway creates an extra barrier between cybercriminals and the network while also allowing you to put firewalls in place across your network, meaning you’re still protected even if hackers are able to break your network’s encryption. Guests will need to accept terms and conditions in order to access your hotspot gateway, and in turn this covers you with some legal protection whilst they are connected to your network. Hotspots also provide instant Internet access without the customer needing to configure device settings even if their IP or proxy settings differ from those of the network, so all devices should connect without issue.

One of the easiest ways to install a hotspot gateway is to purchase dedicated hardware.

These devices range in price and offering, and can cost anything from around £50 to £1,000, depending on how many people you expect to be accessing your network at any one time. The top-end hardware may be expensive, but it will radically simplify the whole hotspot process for you and make your Wi-Fi management much easier.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT SECURITY Whilst creating separate networks and putting gateways in place are all essential steps for securing your network, they alone won’t be enough to keep your business safe and secure.

When accessing an unsecured network, users have the ability to hack and extract potentially sensitive data and install spyware, which hides on a device and keeps track of every move that is made and can allow bank account details and personal information to be stolen.

When creating an open access Wi-Fi network, you need to make doubly sure that you have the right security measures in place in order to protect yourself from cyber criminals, as anyone could be logging on to your

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WI-FI

connection. WPA2, which provides a unique encryption key for every wireless device that makes a connection, comes as standard with all modern routers and is the most up to date Wi-Fi security – just make sure you have this set up.

It is also good practice to take further precautionary steps such as changing your passwords often, making sure you keep the router located in a private location away from public access, adding additional firewalls to your network, ensuring that the strength of the

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Wi-Fi covers only your premises and doesn’t leak into other locations, and turning off Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) which can allow users to connect with the router without logging in.

Additional broadband security software will further help to protect all corporate computers when your employees are downloading or browsing the web. It will also ensure viruses and online threats are kept at bay, including identity theft, spam, spyware, hackers and much more.

Most broadband providers will provide security services as part of your package, but some providers will require you to pay extra. If the latter applies, you always have the option to purchase specialist software from a developer such as Norton, AVG, or McAfee. Whenever you use a software service, make sure you keep it updated in order to ensure it provides you with optimal protection at all times.

Hotspot gateways also offer their own levels of protection, however each one is slightly different to the last, so make sure you follow the supplier’s advice on exactly how yours works.

Once you’ve checked that your network meets an appropriately high level of security, you can start handing out the Wi-Fi password and help your customer satisfaction reach new levels.

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WATER

Maintaining water quality Mark Taylor, managing director at Abbeychart – a liquid dispense company - has the following advice in connection with establishing, and maintaining, good water quality for the beverages you serve.

INVEST IN A WATER FILTER Limescale build up is responsible for around two thirds of beverage machine breakdowns.

Over time, calcium and magnesium deposits form a solid mass around the heating elements which makes the equipment less efficient. Water takes longer to heat up and the machine uses more energy. The pipework within some machines is extremely narrow, so even a small amount of build-up can cause a headache.

Investing in an appropriate water filter system to eliminate lime scale build up can help reduce machine down time and lost sales and therefore makes sound commercial sense.

QUALITY CHECK THE WATER SUPPLY If in doubt about the quality of the water supply in your area, then have it tested. With over 60% of the country in a hard water zone, the chances are that you will need a filter system of some sort to regulate the quality of the supply.

TAKE ADVICE BEFORE BEFORE CHOOSING A WATER FILTER Making the decision to invest in a water filter system is one thing, deciding what type of kit you need is another!

There is a huge and often confusing choice of products on the market. Where will it go? How do I change the filters? How do I recycle the cartridges? Probably the most important question though is which type of system is right for my business. It’s always best to seek expert guidance on water filters to avoid costly mistakes later on.

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MAINTAIN BEVERAGE MAKING EQUIPMENT Given that water makes up around 97% of a cup of coffee, there is no doubt that improving the quality of the water will have a positive impact on the finished drink. However, even if you invest in an appropriate water filter system and change

HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

WATER the cartridges as per the manufacturer’s instructions. the quality of drinks can still be in jeopardy if the beverage machine is not maintained properly.

Routine maintenance should extend from an end of day clean up to regular deep cleaning and refurbishment if necessary, to keep the equipment in tip top condition.

tablet, powder and liquid format for various tasks such as descaling, backflush, milk line cleaning, and de-tannin plus surface wipes and hand gels.

Coffee tannin and stale milk have a significant impact on the taste and aroma of beverages and eliminating residue build up is essential - your customers will thank you for it!

INVEST IN SPECIALIST CLEANING PRODUCTS Maintain the best possible in cup quality by investing in specialist cleaning products (Abbeychart’s new Bioguard range, for example, has been created in conjunction with industry professionals specifically for use with traditional espresso and bean to cup coffee machines).

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Adding ice cream

Georgia Alston is a Sussexbased businesswoman who runs Pinks Ice Cream (www.pinks-vintageicecream.co.uk) with her mother, Katy, after running a multi award winning mobile ice cream van business (Pinks Vintage Ice Cream Vans & Tricycles) specialising in private events, the pair recently decided to hit the high street with their customer focused experience.

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GIVING BACK Having opened our first ice cream parlour in Bognor Regis, West Sussex we are producing our own delicious artisan gelato, and with equality being at the heart their business Pinks Ice Cream we are also employing people furthest from the employment market, including adults with learning difficulties, people with long term health issues, and people who have been out of work for a number years.

Giving back to the local community and raising awareness of how we can all treat each other with a little more respect, is important to us, and of course ice cream is a great way to deliver happiness to our customers as well as increase profits.

Working in the ice cream industry for the last seven years, and having ice cream in my family for the last 17 years means I live, breathe (and still eat) ice cream all day every day! And needless to say, I have built up my own ideas about how to best introduce ice cream into your business in the right way so as to make a positive impact on customer feedback as well as profits.

ICE CREAM MAIN OFFERING OR EXTRA? If you are thinking of opening a dedicated ice cream parlour, then you’ll need to consider what will make you different from everyone else.

Is it your offering, your service, your theme or concept?

Conducting plenty of market research will be the first real indicator to see if what you have planned aligns to what your potential customers want. It is easy to come up with an amazing concept and convince yourself it is going to be a success, the hard part is moulding it to what potential customers expect.

Adding ice cream to your café or restaurant can help to drive up footfall and increase revenue. Particularly in the summer months or when experiencing a heat. Adding ice cream also means the opportunities to offer products like milkshakes (opportunities to upsell a scoop of ice cream to accompany products that you already sell is a great way of increasing profits with little added labour).

CHOOSING YOUR FLAVOURS Deciding on which flavours to offer and how many can be tough. First off, look at your resources. If you are thinking of installing a 28-flavour cabinet you need to have the room, the extra labour and of course the footfall to ensure a good turnover of product.

So start small, look at how you can utilise space and resources you already have.

Different flavours are popular at different times of the year. In the summer, lighter flavours and fruit sorbets are very popular. In the winter months, chocolates, pistachio and coffee flavours sell more. Think comforting flavours for winter and refreshing flavours for summer.

It’s also worth considering trends in the market and your location. Bognor Regis has a high student population therefore vegan products are becoming more and more sort after, so we will be offering a dairy free, vegan friendly product to appeal to that market. If you can, pick a flavour that can also appeal to other intolerances like gluten allergies.

MACHINERY/EQUIPMENT Producing your own ice cream and sorbets can come with a high price tag. The equipment is costly, and profit margins vary considerably

when compared to buying ice cream in from a wholesaler.

If you are uncertain on the investment, you could start by using a reputable ice cream wholesaler and building up your ice cream trade, then taking the leap into producing yourself. We have worked with a few wholesalers over the years, including a local dairy farm.

If you buy your ice cream from a small-scale producer this can help with your story and gives your staff plenty to discuss with customers when met with the question ‘do you make your own ice cream?’

The other alternative is to try a combination machine (I’d recommend the Bravo but there are plenty of other great brands out there). This comprises of a pasteuriser and a batch freezer.

It has high efficiency and costs a considerable amount less than buying the two machines separately. As with everything there are a few downsides to this machine in my opinion, but to get yourself started for a smaller investment this would be a great option.

MARKETING Now this is where I really start to enjoy myself, as I am a massive marketing geek! When it comes to marketing your new business or new ice cream offering, start with the basics. Spread the word on social media and to all your existing customers through your email newsletter or flyers in your premises.

Then start approaching your local newspapers and magazines. My top tip is to write your own press release along with including some good promotional photos as that saves the journalists a whole load of work and ups your chances of being featured.

Now everything I’ve mentioned so far shouldn’t cost you a penny (or not very many pennies), which is great if you are a start-up, or operating on a shoe-string budget. If you have a budget to invest into your marketing you could purchase signage, advertise on your local radio station or take an ad out in some local publications.

My biggest bit of advice when paying for marketing is that you need to track where your custom is coming from, ask your customers how they heard about you for starters. If you aren’t getting a response from your adverts, then

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ICE CREAM change them or invest in something else. SEO and social media are great as you can easily track how people are finding you and more importantly how many people are finding you without even having to leave the house!

CHALLENGES There will always be challenges when it comes to starting up a new business or introducing a new product range. The key is how you overcome those challenges and being resilient is going to be vital to your success. If you don’t have competition when you start out, you will as soon as you start to experience success. This is normal and don’t get hung up on it. It’s more important to focus on what you are doing well and how you can improve on your business, not what other businesses are doing. Trust me, your time is valuable, and you will wish you had an extra

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few hours in the day, every day, so don’t waste your precious time worrying about what others are doing. Seasonality is also a challenge, even if you don’t see it as a problem, your customer base might. It’s worth thinking of hot sauces and sundaes that are tailored to each season to keep in the forefront of your customers mind regardless of the weather.

SUPPORT Find your tribe! Build a group of alliances that help you with business advice and provide you with support when times get tough. We have found the Ice Cream Alliance incredibly helpful, for example, and have used the divisional meetings to make friends and business contacts who have provided us with endless amounts of advice and backing when we have really needed it.

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Refreshing profits from tea Allan Pirret, sales director of Novus Tea (www.novustea.co.uk), explains how operators can innovate their tea offer to improve sales and profitability.

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THE OPPORTUNITY There are huge opportunities for all operators to enhance their tea menu, whatever their starting point. Whether it’s moving from a classic ‘dust’ teabag offer, or looking to innovate an already high-end tea menu, there’s always room for improvement.

TEA And the benefits of providing a better value tea proposition include increasing your customer base, driving revenues and improving profitability.

We would suggest three simple steps for enhancing any tea menu - premiumisation, innovation and diversification.

To ensure success, each of these steps should be supported with staff training and effective promotion, ideally with the help of a supportive supplier.

MARKET TRENDS Before looking at each of those steps individually, it’s worth noting the key market trends currently driving tea’s popularity. Tea is still the UK’s most popular hot drink, and reports suggest out of home tea sales will grow 10.3% yearon-year for at least the next five years, with total value expected to reach £439m by 2022 (Allegra Tea Out of Home UK 2018).

Healthy infusions are one of the fastest growing sectors.

Consumers are looking for innovative blends that not only taste great, but that also have clearly defined functional benefits targeting key concerns such as health, weight and beauty. The demand for healthier drinks is also being driven by the move away from drinking alcohol and a backlash against sugary soft drinks. Many consumers are also now looking for a less caffeine-fuelled lifestyle, after two decades of being part of the burgeoning coffee sector.

Tea, hot brew or cold brew, is definitely the new ‘cool’ drink.

ensure it’s always brewed to perfection. It also adds a sense of theatre and gives customers ‘ownership’ of their drinks; they can vary infusion times according to taste.

PREMIUMISATION Almost regardless of your current tea offering, by introducing high quality premium whole leaf teas, brewing them with accuracy and serving them with style, will uncover a completely new flavour experience for your customers which they are more than willing to pay a premium price for.

There are plenty of fresh taste adventures for your customers even from classic blends they thought they knew well. A ‘traditional’ English Breakfast tea for example, blended with three different Assam leaf rather than the usual Ceylon mix, delivers a deliciously fresh, rounded and full-bodied taste. Or Organic Puttabong First Flush, rare and seasonal, made from the youngest leaf and silver tips, producing an almost floral, musical Darjeeling.

Premiumising your equipment should go hand in hand with a quality leaf tea offer. Any equipment should not only be chosen for its ability to improve the serve, but also to add ‘theatre’ to your tea offer. When serving tea it’s a good idea to present it in a clear teapot with an hour-glass timer alongside to

INNOVATION Consumers are constantly looking for innovations in drinks, and there are many ways of satisfying this demand through tea. Innovation can come in the form of new flavours, new blends, new brewing methods and new ways of serving.

So even if you already buy premium teas, you can still look at ways of innovating your overall offer.

In terms of seasonal flavour innovation, it’s hard to beat something like a Strawberry & Cream blend, for example.

First and foremost it’s still a tea, a light blend of black leaf teas with subtle strawberry and cream notes. It’s a unique blend, reminiscent of summertime, best enjoyed without milk and perfect for afternoon tea (or at any other time). Innovative green tea blends, and other herbal blends including organic options, can meet the joint demands for innovation and healthy infusions. These include favourites such as Beetroot & Apple and Turmeric Citrus.

Beetroot is rich in antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, iron, and magnesium. Turmeric has been used for its medicinal, antioxidant, and antiinflammatory properties for centuries.

Under the heading of new brewing methods, we would suggest offering cold brew

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Caf

TEA tea. This uses cold, rather than hot, water for the infusion. This means the tea infuses more slowly over a longer time. This slower process extracts more flavour and antioxidants from the tea, and produces a milder, richer, smoother taste, which is usually sweeter, with no hint of the bitterness associated with over-brewed hot infusions. Cold brew tea is sugar-free but has a gentle, natural sweetness; it has no calories and contains all the well-known health benefits of tea; it is deliciously refreshing, excellent for quenching thirst and hydrating the body; and it’s perceived as an ideal soft drink for ‘grown-ups’.

The importance of offering lower sugar and lower calorie soft drinks can’t be overstated.

Figures show that sugar intake from overall soft drink consumption is down 18.7% since 2013. In addition to this, low- and no-calorie beverages now account for 64% of the total soft drinks market.

In terms of innovating the serve, look no further than nitro cold brew tea. Adding the concept of a Nitro infusion introduces a creamy, viscous mouth-feel to the flavours of the tea, raising cold brew tea to an even higher level. The finished drink has a similar feel to a café latte, which has long been a favourite with coffeeloving consumers. Nitro adds a new textural dimension for tea drinkers who will quickly become fans.

Counter-top nitro systems are now available which just need a 13 Amp socket to operate (and no bulky gas bottles). Bag-in-a-box cold brew tea, either bought in or

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made on the premises, can be connected to the all-in-one chilled serving system. Then it’s just a question of turning on the tap and watching as the silky-smooth chilled drink fills the glass.

DIVERSIFICATION Offering a high quality range of teas and infusions provides plenty of opportunities to diversify your menu into new, highly profitable, value-added food and drink areas. For example, if you don’t already do so, why not introduce a top-quality Afternoon Tea, which gives the chance to sell teas alongside a variety of sandwiches, finger foods and fizz. Or breakfast, with pastries.

Or brunch, with mini quiches and cheese scones. Every cup of tea you sell provides an opportunity to up-sell or cross-sell other products, so think about imaginative food pairings.

Cold brew tea offers plenty of scope for drink creativity, either as a soft drink on its own (with ice and a slice maybe), or used as the basis of a tea cocktail. Tea is a natural botanical that fits perfectly with the latest ‘foodie’ trend for herbal flavours, adding different flavours and layers of depth to new and traditional cocktails. Examples include G&Tea (good quality botanical gin and Egyptian Mint cold brew tea); Vodka and Persian pomegranate cold brew tea (a vodka cooler, so long on pomegranate, rather than the vodka!); or gin and Earl Grey.

TRAINING AND PROMOTION It’s vitally important to involve

HOW TO START AND RUN A COFFEE BAR I VOLUME 4

and train your staff in any premiumisation, innovation or diversification measures you introduce. They need to understand the detail and value you’ve invested in, and be able to enthusiastically ‘sell’ the menu to customers, as well as serve with style and accuracy.

It’s a good idea to write your menu very carefully in order to fully explain the flavours and/ or functional benefits that your teas and infusions offer. To boost sales and to ensure good take-up of new flavours and concepts, it’s helpful to carry out tastings to give customers a chance to sample products before they buy.

Promotion and presentation are also key to success.

Equipment such as tea chests are an excellent way of presenting your tea range, as are leaf display boxes which allow customers to see the whole leaf teas before they buy. Other promotional opportunities include table talkers, posters and loyalty cards.

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