Cafe Tips: Own Your Equipment
Cafe equipment: coffee machines and grinders - Why it’s important to own your gear
I mean if I can get it free from that other coffee company, why should I pay for it?
It’s something we hear a lot.
I’m opening my cafe next week and it’s going to be very coffee focused and do lots of coffee but I haven’t budgeted for the equipment.
We would like to think all it takes is our beans and you'll be serving up award-winning coffee, but the reality is, the machinery you work with makes a huge difference.
If your coffee company does provide the machinery for free you may have limited choice, and you are likely to be locked into purchasing a certain amount of kilos of coffee (and usually other items like cocoa and chai and cups) per week at a fixed price. You will also be locked in for some time - usually two years.
Why is that a bad thing?
You will be locked in for that period and not have any flexibility or freedom. If the quality of the coffee worsens, the service is not what was promised or you want to do something different, you can’t.
With Rumble, we must provide exceptional coffee and service every week. Or our customers can leave and use someone else. It keeps us honest and striving to improve.
Own your gear and control your coffee destiny
If you don’t own the most important part of your coffee business, the coffee machine, then who’s really in control?
If coffee is going to be the driving force of your business then you need to own the equipment. It keeps your coffee roaster honest. We need to deliver outstanding, consistent coffee to you every week or you’ll use someone else.
If you own the equipment then you are fully in control.
How does Rumble do it?
We pass our roasters discounts on wholesale machinery direct to our customers. We recommend La Marzocco machines and Mythos One and EK43 grinders so you get world-class gear at the best possible prices.
What if I can’t afford it? We work with Buddy Capital to help you finance the equipment you need to make amazing coffee. It’s always cheapest to buy outright but if you can’t do that then paying for it with the future cash flow of the business is a smart way to go.
What if I don’t know how to use the gear/make coffee? We provide you with world-beating training and ongoing support. We want you to be making exceptional coffee every time and will show you how to do it.
What about fixing it? We run a comprehensive preventative maintenance programme to make sure you don’t run into problems and most importantly that you are always able to make coffee.
Our in-house tech Stan, is one of our directors and he’s also your delivery guy - he will be with you every week to answer questions, provide support, and help with the maintenance of your machine. If the worst does happen and you have a breakdown we work with the best La Marzocco technicians (and our neighbours in Kensington) Brewtech to offer tech support seven days a week.
So, if you are looking for world-class equipment at great prices, personalised weekly support, training and gear maintenance and knock-out speciality coffee with no lock-in contracts - get in touch!