Culinary - Coffee Solution

Fact: coffee is the most profitable product offered in most restaurants, however most restaurants don’t make half the profit they should.

In a nutshell, coffee snobs and solutions experts crowd out sound practice in the coffee world. With the former, too wrapped up in plans to modify the machine’s group head to ensure 100% puck pre-infusion and the latter, sure to pass off second rate beans to make up for the capital costs of the machines they’ve just rented to their client - restaurateurs are in a losing game.

Coffee experts agree; owning your own machine is the key to turning a profit in your hot beverage offering. But with so many offers of “free machines”, “free installation” and “free delivery” this fact can become crowded out by confusion.

Here’s the skinny; getting the most out of your cappuccinos is about consistency. This simple goal is hard to achieve, though. With untrained baristas, litres of milk wasted, and expensive beans that seem to vanish, business owners are justified in their frustration. The answer to this quandary begins with the equipment. An espresso machine with a pre-programmed frothing system (auto-steam) will ensure consistent and accurate aeration as well as temperature of your “micro foam”. The benefit? Milk at the right temperature tastes sweet, and the correct volumetric aeration means you use only what you need; simple to use and no waste.

Next up is an on-demand grinder which puts out coffee grounds fresh from the bean and most importantly at preset rates, again with no waste. A brilliant addition to this line-up is a dynamitic tamper, which will compact coffee grounds to the perfect puck and help with even infusion. Lastly and arguably most importantly: an espresso machine, like the Italian thoroughbred FAEMA with adjustable group head temperature, will let you tweak the water temperature for different beans. This small adjustment makes all the difference to the taste of an espresso. All together this equipment works towards an inevitable conclusion; measurable outcomes.

Minimized waste through automation and accurate settings ensure every espresso, cappuccino, caffè latte tastes the same.

So what’s the plan? Snobs tend to like doing everything with the most basic equipment, this puts more onus on the barista’s skill and helps infuse their ego. Solutions experts (machine renters) are out to minimize their capital outlay, so buying more equipment for your restaurant is out of the question. But for the business owner, quality and consistency are the two factors that will keep customers coming back. A coffee setup like I’ve detailed isn’t as expensive as lost business. In fact for a little more capital expenditure at the outset the benefits are in the brew and your pocket.

At Culinary (Culinary Equipment Company), we’ve been supplying and supporting winning businesses with the world’s finest espresso equipment for a decade. Our approach puts the power of producing the best cup of coffee firmly within reach of business owners and their staff.

- Written by Stefan Gutstadt

Culinary Equipment Company – Lanseria showroom and demonstration kitchen
R512 (Pelindaba Road) Lanseria
tel 011 701 3355 / 701 2200 , email info@culinary.co.za
www.schulphoek.co.za