TECHNOLOGY La Cimbali
Supercharging automatics
La Cimbali’s S20 features a new Milk Precision System that creates pressurised milk flow to obtain consistent milk temperature.
HEAD OF GRUPPO CIMBALI’S ASIA PACIFIC SUBSIDIARY MILLIE CHAN TALKS ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF SUPER AUTOMATIC MACHINES AND HOW ITS TRADITIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC IS EXPANDING TO MEET MARKET NEEDS.
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hen Millie Chan worked in the food service industry for German cooking appliance supplier Rational International for 12 years, the name La Cimbali was synonymous with automated hotel and restaurant coffee machines such as the 1969 Superbar and later the M50 La Cimbali Dolcevita workhorse. Fast forward to Chan’s new front-of-house role as Gruppo Cimbali Regional Director Asia & Pacific, and she is once again connected to the food and beverage industry with La Cimbali’s new generation of super automatic machines. “The market for super automatic models has certainly evolved and there is a resurgence to the machine category in ways we haven’t seen before,” Chan says. “On the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, labour is getting more expensive in markets such as Australia, Korea, Japan, and China, and as a result, we’re starting to see strong interest in super automatic machines because of their reliability and level of convenience in the workplace.” In 2021, a large international bank wanting to improve its coffee offering for employees contacted Chan for guidance. Recognising the need to incentivise the office space after a period of remote working, Chan proposed the La Cimbali S15 as the ideal machine to cater to the company’s needs. “Prior to working with Gruppo Cimbali, the bank’s office staff of discerning bankers would walk down 50 flights of stairs to a nearby specialty café, which equated to half an hour of lost work 32
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time, multiplied by 5000 employees. When I proposed the S15 and its comparable output to what is produced in a specialty café, it just made sense,” Chan says. The multinational company now has S15s integrated into its Korea and China offices, and soon Thailand as well. The S15 is the latest addition to La Cimbali’s super automatic range. This flexible and smart model is compact, intuitive and serves up to 150 cups per day via 96 recipes. It features a new grinder, two-litre boiler capacity and can dispense hot foamed milk via an integrated soluble system. It also offers the benefits of IoT technology, and can be managed and customised remotely via the Cup4You App via tablet or smartphone. For Gruppo Cimbali, 2020 and 2021 have
