TECHNOLOGY PROFILE
Ready to roll The coffee market is waking up after a challenging twoyear period, and Rancilio Australia wants the industry to know that it’s open for business.
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ith the start of a new year and renewed optimism in the Australian coffee market for a return to business as usual, Rancilio Australasia General Manager Paul O’Brien is fuelled with excitement for what lies ahead. “We know roasters and cafés have really struggled over the past two years, but the message we want to convey to them, is that we’re here to support them. Rancilio is open for business. We want to engage in conversations and already there’s a real buzz about the opportunities we can partner on,” Paul says. Experiencing little to no supply chain delays over the past year, in what Paul describes as “an extremely vigilant production process” at the manufacturer’s Milan base in Italy, means Rancilio Australia is in a fortunate position to assist new and existing customers with available equipment. “Milan was the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, but even through the thick of it, our production has not stopped. We have managed with skeleton staff the whole way through. We had stock in our Melbourne warehouses the entire time, and have been ordering regular containers without delay,” Paul says. “What this means, is that we have good stock of both machines and spare parts across Australia, including our range of premium grinders, homeline machines and specialty models. It’s all available today and we are open for business.” Rancilio Australia has been busy building local capability to support its products and customers. It recently hired a dedicated technical support manager based in Melbourne to provide technical
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An RS1-style group handle will soon be available on Rancilio’s entire range.
assistance for the range nationally. It also has a parts and labour warranty, meaning the manufacturer will cover each machine in its range for 12 months. A large reason Paul says Rancilio has remained busy throughout the past year, is thanks to the backing of Moffat Group, which it joined in November 2020 and established Rancilio Group Australasia. Both companies belong to Ali Group, one of the largest leaders in the global foodservice equipment industry. Paul says the partnership with the “powerhouse company” has provided the brand with the capability to dream big. “They’re an absolute powerhouse which has helped Rancilio Group Australasia guarantee the highest customer care to support, distribute, and develop our portfolio of products across Australia and New Zealand,” Paul says. This includes Rancilio Australia
supporting the national rollout of Jack’s Café under the Hungry Jacks brand, installing more than 350 Classe 7 isteam machines across the country. Paul says this was no mean feat amid a two-year global pandemic. The Rancilio Classe 7 continues to be the brand’s biggest seller globally. Paul says the model is “everything to everybody at the right price point” with the best balance of performance and reliability which the company is renowned for. An updated Classe 7 model will be launched in Q3 of 2022 as part of a full range refresh coming later in the year. This includes a number of barista-focused features such as the RS1-style group handle from the Rancilio Specialty brand, which is being rolled out across Rancilio’s entire range. For the Australian specialty market,
