La Cimbali learn about how the rise of branded and independent coffee shops is helping boost the British High Street

Coffee Boosting the UK Economy!

Cimbali learm that the UK is slowly coming back from the economic crisis, and although the high street hasn’t fully bounced back yet, a recent report by industry analysts Allegra Strategies has shown that Britain’s high streets are enjoying significant economic and social benefits brought on by the rise of branded and independent coffee shops.

The study was conducted amongst 2,000 consumers and local businesses, and discovered that the role of coffee shops on the high street in 2014 typically boost the local high street economies by 2-4% through a combination of increased footfall and dwell time. In-depth footfall studies showed that branded coffee shops can increase high street footfall by up to 28%, and over half of the consumers interviewed were found to be more likely to shop for longer when there are good coffee shops nearby.

The key findings of the report showed that coffee shops: 

•       Have a highly positive impact on local businesses, in that they now attract more people to their business and a 20% increase since 2010, plus 43% of local businesses were positive about the contribution of coffee shops to their individual trading.
•            Create a valuable regenerative effect, with 85% saying that they improved the visibility of the local area.
•             Play a significant role in driving high street visits, as 58% of consumers said that they planned a visit to a coffee shop as part of their trip.
•       Are fundamental to the well-being of the British high street with 95% of responders feeling that coffee shops improve the vitality of the local area.

Customers are getting more knowledgeable about the coffee they drink, and as such are starting to favour the smaller, specialist independent coffee shops as opposed to the bigger high street chains.

If you are one of these, then Cimbali have 5 ideas to help you boost your coffee shop takings:

·         Expand your menu - customers are becoming more adventurous so wanting to try new things. Having a ‘special’ or ‘coffee of the month’ can prove very popular.

·         Be different - by checking out your rivals and offer something that they don’t.

·         Reward Loyalty - as it encourages repeat visits and can create a buzz on the high street.

·         Build up your online presence - buying social media to connect and interact with your customers will add a bit of fun and personality.

·         Do plenty of research - regarding your customers and location before you invest in any property or equipment.

Note: Report findings previously published by the Beverage Standards Association. 

Cimbali and water treatment for coffee

Cimbali and Water Treatment

The quality of drinking water in the UK is specified in the European Union’s Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) and in England and Wales is regulated by the Drinking Water Inspectorate. The Directive is very specific about microbiological and chemical composition but interestingly states that taste and odour should be ‘acceptable to consumers’. 

From the coffee maker’s perspective there are two reasons to treat water before it enters a coffee machine – to improve the taste of the final drink and increase the reliability of the coffee machine by reducing scale build up. 

There is no doubt that the composition of water will affect the taste of coffee. The extent to which various dissolved solids and their concentration exactly play out against the different taste sensations has always caused some debate. The water specifications required to give the expected taste for any given coffee is probably best left to the coffee roaster. Where Cimbali can offer some insight and advice is how to protect a coffee machine from scale build up.

Coffee machines with steam boilers are inherently vulnerable to scale build up because the high temperatures encourage the deposit of scale and then this scale can lodge in various components causing blockages. Descaling machines is expensive and often requires the machine to be taken off site, the boiler treated with acid descaler and the replacement of many parts such as the heating element and level probes.

There are a number of water treatment systems on the market, principally: cartridge systems, sodium water softeners and Reverse Osmosis systems. Whichever system you choose there will be a number of factors to consider and weigh against each other – cost, effectiveness, corrosiveness of output water, waste water, taste, capacity and environmental considerations. At Cimbali we favour the use of sodium water softeners because we believe they offer the best compromise of all these considerations.

Whatever system you choose we can share some of our experiences when maintaining water treatment systems.

•       Capacity. All systems have a defined maximum capacity and it is important to size them correctly to avoid running out of treated water or paying too much for an over specified unit. A double espresso cappuccino uses about 150ml of water which for a busy machine servicing 200 drinks per day would equate to only 30 litres per day. But be careful – water usage could 50% higher than this if you take into account water for Americanos, tea and machine cleaning. We have even found cases where staff are using the coffee machine hot water to fill buckets for floor cleaning. In order to know exactly how much water is being dispensed by a coffee machine it is vital to fit a water meter. We recommend individual water meters for each machine that are non-resettable and count up because the water usage history is never lost.

•       Water Hardness. It is surprising how many people do not test the hardness of the water entering their coffee machine. There are many regions of the UK that do not have hard water and if you are happy with the taste and odour of the local supply, save some money and do not fit a water treatment system.

•       Installation. Often water treatment systems are located at the back of an under counter cupboard and are soon are obscured by cleaning materials, paper cups, ingredients and so on. It then is all too easy to forget about routine exchanges and maintenance. 

It is also worth reviewing water treatment for the whole operation. It makes sense to consolidate the water supply to all machines that require scale-free water such as dishwashers, steam ovens and water boilers.

•       Systems. Scheduling service and maintenance is vital. It is not unusual to service the water treatment system every 6 months or so. With such a long gap between each visit it can be difficult to incorporate this in the daily operating routine of a business. Water treatment should have the same status in the business diary as significant events like boiler inspections and equipment preventative maintenance visits. It is all too easy to forget about water treatment service because the damage being done by scale is unseen until it is too late.

Not a pretty site – scale build up in a boiler without adequate water treatment.