WHY ADDING A SELECTION OF QUALITY COFFEE IN YOUR MENU COULD BE A PROFITABLE IDEA?
In the past few years, the coffee industry has been making great strides towards the increasing demand for quality, traceability, and sustainability. Now more than ever, coffee is becoming an opportunity to present new experiences and diversify the offer in a restaurant, café or hotel. Alongside the espresso, other alternative and scenographic extraction methods are making their way, which can make for surprising tasting sessions. For the entire HoReCa sector, coffee represents an important element that allows one to differentiate and improve the service and revenue.
In this article we will illustrate the potential of this new wave of coffee by trying to give you some advice on the essential steps to improve your coffee offer:
1. Learn more about coffee
Coffee is a daily life product that has become a commodity, but precisely, for this reason, it is often underestimated or taken for granted. It is an indispensable product for every bar or café, always present in restaurants and hotels, it would be unthinkable not to have it available for our customers. And it is for this reason, that it is important to give the right weight to this product and to obtain a deeper knowledge to be able to adequately offer it to your customers.
The literature on the subject is very abundant: starting from the origins, without taking anything for granted. You can learn more about the anatomy and the various phases of the life of the coffee tree as well as analyse the different processing methods and how these affect the result in the cup.
It is also a good idea to learn why shadow coffees are so treasured as well as high-grown cultivars. Getting a deeper understanding of the different countries of origin and extraction methods can help you decide which coffee can match your business.
Precise knowledge is the basis of the success you can achieve with coffee, it allows you to tailor the offer according to your format and know how to properly explain the product to make the most of it (and improve your revenue).
2. Analise the market
To differentiate your business correctly, it is important to identify the level sophistication of your clients in order to offer them the most suitable product at the right price.
GET TO KNOW YOUR TARGET MARKET
A deep understanding of your target and business strategy can suggest the right actions and the key points to be exploited. With regard to the coffee proposal, different solutions can be identified depending on whether your clientele is consolidated and who regularly visits your premises but who may be looking for a different experience, maybe you want to attract new customers or increase your slice of the market. It is important to ask yourself what the values of your guests are and how much they can value in a product such as high-quality coffee (which is increasingly giving importance to the right remuneration of all the players in the supply chain and the protection of the environment), but also the potential implications that this product may need to implement for it to complete your proposal.
Photocredit: Ben Kolde
BENCHMARKING
It is of equal importance to analyze the other protagonists of the scene and your main competitors, their offer as well as their price list, the communication, and the approach they have with their customers.
This information combined with that of your target allows you to clearly outline the overview within which to make the right strategic choices.
3. Selection of the coffee and brewing methods
THE BREWING METHODS
Adequate knowledge of the different brewing methods and their results in the cup is essential to choose the method that best suits your business. To accompany an afternoon dessert, we can consider an aromatic infusion with the French Press rather than the clean and juicy extraction of the Pour-Over or even an intense cup of coffee extracted with the Moka. We can find the former as an excellent end to a meal as an alternative to the more traditional espresso. We could also replace it with a spectacular preparation with the Syphon or the Chemex if these better enhance the previous courses.
Photocredit: Rene Porter
THE COFFEE SELECTION
The selection of the coffees to be featured in your business, must go hand in hand, and always be based on the analysis of your target. The proposal of a coffee menu, like the wine or dessert list, can prove very successful. In fact, it allows you to satisfy a variety of requests as well as offering a new sensory experience for many. Another example of professionalism is to propose a variable offer that follows the seasonality of coffee (as an agricultural product). Furthermore, selecting coffees among the numerous artisan roasters can be an additional advantage, especially to strengthen the loyalty of their customers.
With such a wide range of possibilities, the fundamental task of our consultants is extremely valuable, who by listening to your needs and framing the context you have analysed, can help you choose the offer of coffee and extraction methods best suited to your structure. (Contact us to find out more)
4. How to insert the coffee menu in your offer
Even the best planning can be made in vain if enough care is not put into practice. For this reason, it is important to devote the right attention to the correct training of personnel and effective communication of the new offer. It is very useful to have the most suitable tools: a coffee list, in the physical sense of the term, which illustrates the offer clearly and completely, outlining the differences between the various coffees. This can provide valuable help for your customer for making the choice, but above all, the stimulus to think outside the box by trying something new. Even the coffee cards, like the collectible ones that accompany the coffees of our selection, can be the ideal companion to guide the tasting and lead your guest on a journey along the entire supply chain for a 360 ° sensory experience.
Most important, is the added value that you can give in first person by giving the best coffee recommendation based on your customer preferences or in the combination of your other dishes, as well as the product’s storytelling by guiding the guests in their tasting in search of incredible notes that range from sweet, fruity or floral, that at times are unexpected to be found in coffee.
Having this offer in your menu comes with many benefits if well executed, that range from profitability all the way to giving a more complete experience and helping your customers discover the wonderful world of coffee!
Photocredit: Allie Smith