“Alexa, brew me a decaf, low fat latte!”
Sound far-fetched? Shouldn’t. Both technology and coffee are huge money makers.
Coffee is big business and over 2 billion cups are poured each year by Tim Hortons alone and they’re not even Canada’s favourite coffee provider. This title goes to McDonalds.
Surprised by this? Many people are, but when you think about it, we shouldn’t be. McDonalds spends millions of dollars on research and development so we would be wise to take a moment to ponder their reasoning for developing their McCafe brand.
Did they spend millions of dollars developing their McCafe program because they wanted to compete with Timmy’s and Starbucks in coffee sales? No, they did it because they wanted to capitalize on all of the money that gets spent on the items that go with that coffee.
There is a lot of money to be made at breakfast, so as a golf club, how do we get our fair share? Breakfast items, including coffee, are relatively inexpensive to produce and people are willing to pay for the convenience of having someone else make what has always been tagged as the most important meal of the day.
The reasoning, in most cases, is simply because people don’t have the time to put together all the elements of a good breakfast when they are trying to get their day underway. Another factor is that most people are willing to tolerate an average breakfast, but they won’t tolerate a less than excellent cup of coffee. So, because of this, people will go to where they can get their coffee of choice and settle for whatever breakfast offerings may be available.
As clubs, until we figure out a way to offer the best cup of java around, our members are going to continue to arrive at the club, cup of coffee in hand, and having already spent their breakfast allowance.
So, how do we change this? Let’s think about what makes a great cup of coffee. Firstly, it’s the beans – both their quality and freshness. Like anything, if you start with a sub-par product, that’s the kind of finished product you’ll end up with. Secondly, it’s the freshness of the cup that is poured. Is it fresh brewed or has it been on the warmer for 20 minutes?
Now, let’s be honest and review the current coffee landscape for a golf club. It’s hard for us to compete in this very competitive market when our customers’ arrivals are so staggered, not to mention we just don’t have the volume or traffic that the large coffee chains draw. With this environment, serving a fresh product becomes even more of a challenge.
So, how do we conquer these challenges without breaking the bank?
You could look at running with one of those individual serve options, almost self-serve, if you will. You would be able to offer many varieties of coffees through the individual pods that are available, but does it really compete with that fresh brew that you get from your favourite barista? Will it be good enough to drive to the club for?
From an investment and production standpoint, will this be something that will stand the test of time if used consistently to brew every cup? Probably not. So, how can we compete and brew a fresher, more flavourful cup of coffee over these coffee giants?
We use our weakness as our strength. Our clients don’t all arrive at once so we do have some time to focus on providing a superior brew. Think about it, if we are able to brew a fresh individual cup for each member or guest who comes in, how great would that be?
So, all that we would have to do for every order is roast the beans, grind them and brew each cup. Reality is, that’s not going to happen. Or is it? Well, maybe not today but definitely in the next couple of years.
Innovation in the single serve brew department has been very minimal in the last 20 years. In fact, when you think about how big a business coffee is, and how little innovation has happened in the coffee industry over the past few decades, it is shocking.
The last big innovation was the K-pod system, and when you look at the waste, environmental impact and the expense, not even getting into the quality, you start to wonder why there haven’t been more developments. Well, that’s all about to change.
Bonaverde, a company out of Berlin, has been developing a brewing system that, on demand, roasts the beans, grinds them and creates a perfectly brewed coffee every time. In fact, this company has gone a step above and added further technology to the mix.
Their Digital Coffee Concierge, which runs on Facebook Messenger, connects you to the world of coffee. It allows you to learn about different roast profiles, the farmers who grow the beans and the experiences of coffee drinkers worldwide.
With their technology, you are also able to order your coffee beans on-line. Every bag of beans comes with a code that you scan on the machine. This tells the roaster the perfect temperature to roast the beans at. Once roasted, the beans are then ground within the machine and filtered through the biodegradable pack the beans came in (which doubles as a filter), helping to eliminate waste.
Although not necessarily single serve, they focus on small batch brewing, if you will. Each brew creates a litre of coffee, so it’s perfect for a foursome. Although not currently available, it’s still being proven in the marketplace. It can be pre-ordered, however, with a price of over $1,000.00 it may not be something you want to invest in with no immediate possibility for return on that investment. It may be something you want to consider when putting together future budgets.
Another system out there that is a little closer to being a real option is the Spinn brewing system. The innovation for this system is in the brewing process itself. This system can create a carafe of coffee or whatever single serve coffee you want: Espresso, Americano, or perhaps just an exquisite cup of regular coffee.
The Spinn system heats the water and the unit is equipped with a nano water filtration system which then filters the water. The Spinn system then grinds the beans and then brews your coffee by spinning the grounds. The rotation speed varies based on the kind of coffee being brewed. This rotation creates intense pressure which extracts every last drop of flavour so that the final product is as the roaster intended your coffee to taste.
The centrifugal brewing process spin dries the coffee residue and the grounds can be either thrown out with no muss or fuss, or tossed into flower beds or planters as fertilizer, eliminating waste altogether.
The Spinn system also has kept up on the technology side by having a sensor in the bean reservoir that will monitor when your beans are getting low and automatically order more for you.
Also, you can operate it by using the touch display on the unit, from the Spinn App or by voice command with Amazon’s Echo. This would be like having a barista on call 24/7!
All kidding aside, this unit offers a unique alternative. The science behind this system is very strong and although they have units in the marketplace, currently there is limited availability. They are currently taking pre-orders for production batch 5 that should be available at the end of 2018.
The units range in price from $299 to $599 USD, going from your base model, up to the latest version which has an extra-large bean reservoir, water supply line compatibility, as well as a milk frother. Unfortunately, like Bonaverde’s product, it is not in Canada yet, but I do think it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Something that is available in the marketplace now, and is brought to us by a name we can trust, is Bunn’s new grind and brew system, or as they call it: “bean to cup”. Bunn’s Sure Tamp system allows for multiple beverage options which you can then customize in regards to hot or cold, regular or decaf, and if creating a cappuccino or latte, it also allows you to choose from one of two milk options.
This unit grinds the coffee beans, comes with a refrigerated compartment to keep two, four-litre containers of milk chilled, can steam up to a half litre of milk in under a minute, and is capable of producing up to 180 shots of espresso each hour.
Using a system such as this, combined with the use of fresh, good quality coffee beans may be the answer to being able to provide your guests with that custom cup of coffee they crave. This may, in turn, put you in the position to capture not only more coffee sales, but also some more breakfast sales as well.
