A clean start for 2010 (Steam Wand Cleaning)
Harbouring bacteria may be harming your profits
A few seconds spent cleaning a steam wand might be the difference between profit and patrons for coffee shop owners.
All too often coffee shop staff are steaming milk / hot chocolate and not cleaning the steam wand afterwards, resulting in milk residue and bacteria being caked to the steam wand and transferred to fresh milk, potentially leading to a loss of patrons (not to mention the taste and aroma degradation of the drink itself)
5M Coffee, in partnership with a growing number of coffee training companies in the UK, has embarked on a campaign to raise awareness of the effects of a dirty steam wand.
This is a customer led campaign and reminder cards can be obtained directly from 5M Coffee’s website or any of the participating companies.
So far, over 150 cards have been distributed to our campaign partners and we’re actively seeking more companies to join us in giving free advice to those who request it, and to help improve the state of steam wands.
2010 is an important year for the UK coffee industry. All eyes will be on us in the run up to and during the World Barista Championships. We all need to do our part to raise the image and quality of the coffee industry and its members.
To get onboard and help spread the word, or to request your FREE Bacteria Cards contact us via email , Twitter , or visit the 5M Coffee Website to find out more.
2009 Wrap-Up
As 2009 draws to a close we are reflecting on an eventful year for 5M Coffee Company.
Earlier this year we formally welcomed our first customer, and since then 5M Coffee has provided numerous home barista training sessions and have a number of dates already pencilled in for early 2010. In addition to this, we have helped a number of cafes and mobile coffee operators improve their skills.
There has been a growing awareness and appreciation of good coffee and the recession has helped grow the drink at home market. Thankfully though, people are still drinking coffee in cafes, restaurants and meeting venues. Although times are tough and a number of well known coffee companies have ceased trading or had to reinvent themselves to meet an ever-evolving market, there remains an air of optimism.
An opportunity arose in October for Glenn Watson to attain the SCAE Level 1 Brewmaster status, and we are now talking to a number of interested parties who wish to attain SCAE Gold Cup accreditation for their filter coffee in the New Year. To find out more visit our Gold Cup pages and view the short animation we have put together.
To fully enjoy the spirit of Christmas we will be closed between 24 December and 04 January. However, online reservations for training can still be taken during this period. Just click to search for available dates and times and you will be guided through this process. We will do our best to respond as quickly as possible.
Our 2009 home barista training rates will be held until 31st March 2010. For more details visit our Training page.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all 5M Coffee’s clients in 2009 for your support, and to acknowledge the encouragement and feedback of all whom we have come into contact with.
2010 promises to be an exciting year for 5M Coffee Company and the coffee industry in general, and we hope to share our ups and downs with you.
Footfall (can you rely on this alone to turn a profit?)
“Location, location, location”, a phrase we are all familiar with. Many cafe owners would have spent countless hours searching for just the right location, near a bus stop, opposite a pedestrian crossing, at a junction, opposite a hospital (and the list goes on), but not everyone seems to have that mindset.
I have visited a small number of cafes recently who on the face of it do not seem to have given the aforementioned concept much thought, but seem to have adopted the ‘build it and they will come’ approach.
I must confess to not having had the time to sit at some of these cafes for any extended period of time - over days, weeks or months - and it very well may be that when I visited it was an unnaturally quiet period. However, that said, it must be very difficult to break even or turn a profit when consistently selling less than 10 coffees per hour.
When you consider that the wages bill, rent, electricity, insurance etc would dramatically eat into the already tight, and ever shrinking profit margins (as the cost of consumables increases but the price of a cup often stays static for many years, or may be dictated by what those in the immediate vicinity are charging for a ‘cup’) you start to question the economic viability of the venture. However, bubbling just under the surface is optimism, and more often than not, a strong belief that the quality of the product being crafted in their premises will bring in repeat business and referrals.
Those in the know (or have acquired the taste for a decent cup of coffee) will often take short detours to get their fix, but when starting out, a new cafe owner cannot be sure just how far people will come from to drink their beverages. Therefore, the obvious choice would be to pay a little more for a guaranteed footfall past, to, or through the main entrance of the shop or stall.
Can you rely on footfall alone to turn a profit?
In the next article I will explore demographics, and show that you cannot rely on footfall alone to draw in the customers.
Piccolo heaven in the East End of London
Yesterday I spent the day drinking Piccolos, Cortados, Flat Whites and Espressos in the East End of London.
Starting my day at Gwilym’s cart in Whitecross Street, I spent an enjoyable hour and a bit chatting to Gwilym and Jenni. My first coffee was a flat white with a beautifully poured Rosetta, accompanied by a delicious chocolate croissant.
From my vantage point I could see people approaching the cart and it was a great place to see how peoples mood changed when they realised that they were only a few steps away from a great coffee. Their moods transformed, lifted, and you could sense the excitement and expectation as they approached, smiles forming and ready to place their order and banter with the baristas.
A trend I have noticed is that passionate cafe / cart / shop owners seem to effortlessly impart enthusiasm for their product onto the consumer, and Gwilym’s clients were no different. They asked questions about the coffee, the milk, the rosettas or tulips and even about the machine, eager to learn what made them want to return time and time again.
After a lovely creamy Piccolo it was time to head to Spitalfields market to meet up with Photographer and Podcaster, and ex-Barista, Brian Jones (starbarista).
Brian introduced me to Taylor Street Baristas, at 1A New St, London, EC2M 4TP, opposite the entrance to Liverpool St station, where I was treated to a lovely Piccolo (image here). Taylor Street had a good vibe about it and made good use of space. Taylor St uses a bespoke blend from Union Coffee Roasters. You have to try it!
Our next stop was Present on Shoreditch High Street where we ogled the stunning Victoria Arduino lever machine, expertly operated by Mattias Björklund, the current Swedish Barista Champion, and enjoyed a finely crafted Cortado.
I waved goodbye to Brian at the top end of Brick Lane and made my way to Nude Espresso, for a bite to eat and to try their new East blend, being formally launched to their clients. This was my first visit to Nude and I was surprised at how big the cafe was, bucking the trend of ‘micro-cafes’ that we have come to know and love. With plenty of seating, ranging from 2 person spots to communal tables and wi-fi, there is a space to suit everyone here.
There were a number of well known industry figures in attendance and I got the opportunity to meet Instaurator, the author of Espresso Quest as well as Jeremy from Union Coffee Roasters, whose blend I had enjoyed earlier at Taylor St Baristas.
My final coffees of the day were a Piccolo and and Espresso before heading into Covent Garden to meet a friend for dinner.
I can thoroughly recommend a walk in the East End and will be sure to return the these cafes in the very near future.
Surrounded by coffee porn…
Yesterday I paid Paul at CoffeeHit a visit at his new premises in Brockley.
The showroom was larger than I expected and it was great to see so many products and parts in one place.
Most of us are familiar with coffee suppliers websites, with nice images of the products, but many of us never imagine the scale of the operation behind the scenes.
Having the ability to touch and feel new parts and products that are often upgrades from the standard offering is an important part of the buying process. Throw in the knowledge and passion of the retailer and you have a winning combination.
I was in awe of the (at least) 3 dozen teflon coated portafilters laid out nicely on the newly fitted workspace and although my credit card was twitching in my pocket it remained under control (for the time being…)
Teflon Coated Portafilter available to purchase from CoffeeHit
It’s not often you get to explore the beauty of the high end domestic use Vibiemme espresso machines, but I was shown not one, but 2 fine specimens that are available for purchase (more twitchiness from aforementioned credit card…), as well as items from the Cafelat range.
Whilst CoffeeHit are not the only online supplier to the UK cafe industry, they maintain a highly visible presence, often sponsoring barista events such as UBF and have a Twitter account with regular tweets and contributions.
Visit the CoffeeHit website to browse and buy at extremely keen prices. Check out the continually changing web specials page too.
An opportunity missed
Whilst out shopping today (loitering around the coffee machines section of a major department store, checking out new features and familiarising myself with new domestic models on the market) I watched a transaction take place for the sale of a brand new Gaggia Classic.
The elimination process of which machine to buy had begun before I entered the store and the first words I heard were “If you won’t be too stressed trying to learn how to make coffees with this machine then I will buy it for you”.
As the transaction was taking place in a store where I do not have a commercial deal I did not feel it was right to offer my services, but this has bugged me all the way home.
The proud new owner of a brand new Gaggia Classic machine, who appears to have used a pod machine before and has seen people in his local cafe use a coffee machine, is expecting ‘cafe quality’ results from a machine that he is unfamiliar with, and some of the fundamental items bundled are not fit for purpose (to achieve making a coffee to his expectations).
At the tills the question was raised “If I am unable to make good coffee with this machine can I bring it back for a refund?”
Sadly the answer was yes, with an administration fee attached (presumably for claiming this is now an ex-demo machine?)
I have started to research the commercial managers’ details for the store in question to see if there is an opportunity for me to assist their clients in learning how to use their new machine.
Surely there must be instances like the above taking place across the country on a daily basis.
If the machine ends up back on the shop floor then there is a cost element to the business, but also an opportunity (and a liability) to re-sell the machine.
However, referrals of new clients, who book a training session in their own home, leads to a referral payment to the store and a much decreased likelihood of seeing the same machine again.
More money for the store, less paperwork to deal with and the chance of getting the clients custom for updgraded parts / accessories has to be the preferred option. Lets hope Monday’s discussion goes well.
If you know of a store that sells home coffee machines that could benefit from an alliance with 5M Coffee then please drop me an email. You will be rewarded for your efforts
Introducing people to new coffee and brewing methods
This weekend I went fly fishing with the members of a UK fly fishing forum. We camped overnight at a fishery in Leicestershire and spent 2 days trying to outwit the residents of the lake (Rainbow Trout).
My boat partner on each day both had an interest in coffee so I purchased a number of coffees from different roasters and brought them along to try and for them to take home afterwards.
In addition to these I had been enjoying a Cascara from Square Mile Coffee Roasters and for ease of brewing brought this along with me, knowing that 100% of the people I was camping with would not have tried this before and could benefit from a caffeine boost in the morning after a heavy night on ‘alternative beverages’ the night before.
As we were camping we had an abundance of heating devices, ranging from gas burners and hobs to Kelly Kettles (also known as Volcano Kettles – which are rapid boiling kettles using fire through the main cylinder and the water contained in an outer shell), so hot water was not going to be a problem.
I bought along my Bodum Assam Teapot which is great for brewing loose leaf tea. This had sufficient room for the dried coffee cherries to expand and rehydrate and holds enough water for at least 2 cups.
The Cascara was a hit and no-one could believe the range of flavours in the cup. Many had no idea how coffee was produced so a number of people were educated in the process.
The smell of the whole bean coffee that I had bought as gifts for my boat partners filled the car and was a talking point as many had not experienced the smell before, knowing coffee only through their instant coffee fix every day.
The look on peoples faces when they smelled both the roasted coffee and Cascara and the debate that followed about the aroma and taste was encouraging.
I can’t wait until next year when I will bring along a hand grinder, aeropress and a moka pot and give some people their first experience of coffee that is not from a jar.
Sadly the coffee didn’t help us catch any more fish than we usually would…
Pay attention to your keywords
Enquiries and referrals come in many different forms, and today’s phone call from a Search Engine AdWords Consultant was a complete surprise. When the consultant introduced himself I was braced for a sales pitch but instead was asked to describe my business as they had a prospective client for me.
Completely caught off guard, I happily discussed how we could work with them in providing coffee consultancy services and was able to recommend a supplier who should be able to meet their clients needs.
The reason we had been noticed is because we appeared in searches relating to the coffee market that this companies client was operating in.
Using AdWords can be one way of gaining market exposure and a future blog post will cover this in more detail.
However, pay attention to your keywords, titles of pages on your websites and all meta tags and data, which are scanned regularly by ’spiders’, little automated web robots who go searching for content. If your page is laid out correctly and is ‘on topic’ then you are likely to achieve better search engine rankings than if you tag words or phrases that are not present in the header or body of your text.
We are often asked about the effectiveness of using AdWords, and in previous ventures they have achieved great results.
Using a number of keyword generators, and powerful analytical tools, we have been able to pinpoint which words and phrases are most commonly searched for and avoid those which are saturated with companies vying for their attention.
Many of our leads come from long tail search words (searches containing 3 or more words within a phrase) and we find we often rank higher for these than more established companies who have simply overlooked (or may not be aware of) the values of these types of searches.
Spend a little time understanding ‘how’ people use search engines (broad match vs phrase match) and you’ll soon start to achieve better rankings.
We have a very competitively priced offering to help you understand your market (aiming to get you noticed and ranked above your competition for similar words / phrases), and after providing you with an initial report, can put you in touch with a number of specialist companies that can help you to improve your search engine placement should this be deemed necessary.
Until 30 November we are offering a keyword analysis of your website for only £45.
This report will detail the current words you rank for and suggest alternatives that could be used to achieve better results.
Having your keywords analysed and recommendations of alternative words to use could increase your market exposure and conversion rate
The first 5 companies to take up this offer will receive an extra £5 discount
Contact us today and request your report before your competitor does!
An unexpected bonus
Today we visted a castle in Suffolk and decided to have a coffee at one of the cafes nearby.
It was relatively busy when my wife and I ordered our drinks but we were served with a smile and by the time our drinks arrived we were engrossed in conversation, not really taking the time to study them.
Not more than a minute later the friendly barista (whom I shall nominate for best dressed barista of the year – a subject of a future blog post) offered to repour my wifes cappuccino as she had noticed that the milk was not frothing as well as it had been earlier in the day and wanted to produce a better drink.
We politely declined as the coffee was perfectly drinkable, but managed to get into discussing the subject of variables in milk quality, seasonal differences and on possible ways to achieve consistency, thus revealing who we are and what we do.
We were inspired by how passionate this young lady was and asked a few probing questions to try and understand more about what the root cause might be, resulting in an offer to check out the milk, steam pressure and see if I could stretch the milk with any greater success.
Never one to pass up an opportunity I popped behind the bar and stretched 7oz of milk, achieving a little more volume which held well. I demonstrated how I had achieved this and worked through a few more scenarios and steaming techniques, before settling back down to finish my drink, leaving the barista to try out the new methods after we had left.
I was really impressed with the passion and service delivered and will certainly pop back when in the area next. Its nice to see that some people are willing to go the extra mile and really take pride in the work they do, making sure that they stand by their products.
There is coffee outside of Soho…
In the past week we have visted two great cafes outside of Soho, one in Fitzrovia (Kaffeine, 66 Great Titchfield Street) and the other in Hampstead (Ginger and White, 4a-5a Perrin’s Court).
Both cafes have exceeded our expectations and have combined great food with good coffee and have a funky vibe about them, yet they are both distinctly different.
Kaffeine is light and airy and serves healthy food in a relaxed atmoshphere. The staff are charming and attentive and appreciate all aspects of customer service.
Healthy food and mouthwatering pastries
Ginger and White has table service, rarely found in a cafe in London, and serves honest food. The recipes are inspired by the in-house food stylist and produce is sourced from within the UK where possible, from known farms and sources.
Menu & Ingredients
Cakes & Pastries
Reviews we have written for both cafes can be found on Coffee Forums UK, and Beanhunter, a dedicated cafe review site
Both cafes use Squaremile beans and at the time of writing the Summer Espresso was being served. We have tried this at many London locations and the quality of the espresso based drinks at these two cafes is right up there with the best we have had.
