5 minute read
Guest Column Coffee expert Tim Sturk offers his advice.
COFFEE CONSULTANT AND LEADING COFFEE TRAINER TIM STURK HIGHLIGHTS THE VITAL ROLE THAT GREAT QUALITY COFFEE PLAYS IN TODAY'S CATERING ENVIRONMENT.
Tim Sturk is Director of Coffee Education at Cherry Coffee Training and is an official trainer working regularly with Booker's team. Tim is an industry leader in coffee training, development and education.
WHAT’S IN YOUR CUP?
Coffee is a huge contributor to your business's bottom line with enormous potential to grow footfall, sales and profits.
Put simply, coffee is one of the biggest contributors to your bottom line! The potential to grow profits solely from coffee is enormous – but realising that potential really depends on just one factor: quality in the cup. That may sound like an old story but it is amazing just how often it is overlooked, and how simple it is to make a great-tasting cup of coffee. Conversely, it is just as easy to make a poor tasting cup that will never encourage a second visit.
Let’s get one thing straight: coffee is food. I saw an ad this morning claiming that ‘barista quality’ coffee was coming to UK drive-thru outlets. What exactly is ‘barista quality’? This is marketing speak/ spin trying to confuse consumers and capitalise on their fascination with all things barista.
Anyone who makes coffee can be called a barista because it is actually the Italian word for bartender! There is no training required to be a barista. Just as there is no training required to be called a chef. We do not talk of food being ‘chef quality’ because consumers would laugh at us. But it seems with coffee, consumers are often happy to be led down the most popular path towards the biggest voices.
What we do know is that a skilled, well-trained, passionate barista – or chef – can make their ingredients sing!
I reiterate, coffee is food, and it should be handled with care and attention, with an eye towards proper health, safety and hygiene practices. That statement alone should resonate with many operators. A decent chef knows when they have got it wrong and will not serve a dodgy dish to a customer. A decent barista also knows when the coffee is not right and will most likely not serve it and remake it. The alternative is the barista who knowingly serves a poor-quality coffee because either he is ‘too busy’, doesn’t know how to fix it or is being pressured by his line manager/boss to just ‘get the coffees out’.
There are two types of baristas (or employees for that matter): the ‘don’t knows’ and the ‘don’t cares’. The ‘don’t knows’ can be taught, the ‘don’t cares’… well it is your business, you will have to decide who you want to employ. Any business hoping to maximise its potential is spending the time, energy and money on their food service to ensure it is the best that it can be. I appreciate that there will always be variable levels of quality based on cost/price of menu, but really, this is the difference between fast food and Michelin-starred food. However, both levels of service start with the exact same health, safety and hygiene standards – those are non-negotiable.
What varies as you climb the ladder will be quality of ingredients, decor of the premises, quality and levels of staff training, long term business vision vs short term business vision. Short term vision (taking money) focuses on cramming the till full of money today, without any forethought to tomorrow. Long term (making money) vision focuses on what the business will look like in one, two or five years down the road.
What kind of business are you?
YOURSHOUT
BE A PART OF BOOKER’S GROWING COMMUNITY OF CATERERS AND HAVE YOUR SAY
SEASONAL OPPORTUNITIES
With a host of major seasonal opportunities on the horizon, how do you suggest caterers go about maximising the opportunity now that lockdown restrictions are being removed? Omur Yoldas, Joy Bar, Eastbourne
Simon King, Sales Director – Catering, said: "Seasonal
occasions like Easter are great opportunities to grow sales and profits – and this year could be extra special. Booker has put together a package of promotions, activities and support to help you really cash in on the first restriction-free Easter since 2019." See p40
CALORIE LABELLING ON THE CARDS
I am aware that new legislation is due to come into force over the next few months requiring caterers to highlight the amount of calories that are in everything that's on their menu. Can you advise on what this will mean for caterers and how we get ready for the change in good time? William Sloan, The Number 10 Hotel, Glasgow
Simon King, Sales Director – Catering, said: "From the 6th of April this year, caterers will indeed be required by law to display the calorie content of their food, although the rules only apply to large businesses – those with 250 or more employees. Under the new regulations, qualifying caterers will need to clearly and legibly display the energy content of the food in kilocalories, reference the size of the portion to which the calorie information relates and display the statement that ‘adults need around 2,000 kcal a day’. In practice, this will be a reasonably straightforward process with calorie labelling on menus. If you operate a delivery service, the rules will still apply and calorie information must be made available to the customer when the food is delivered in the form of, for example, a calorie-labelled menu with the order or stickers on food containers displaying calorie information. For more information, turn to page 9.”
The growth of home delivery over the last couple of years has been phenomenal with many industry colleagues having great success with it during the difficult lockdown periods. Do you believe it will remain an opportunity in the long term with restrictions removed? Mark Such, The King & Queen, Brighton
Simon King, Sales Director – Catering, said: "According to Lumina Intelligence, foodservice home delivery will have grown by an enormous £5.7bn between 2019 and 2022. It's flourished under lockdown but current data suggests the removal of Covid restrictions is not having a major impact on consumers' use of delivery services, perhaps because they've become used to the convenience and will continue to use the service into the future. It's not for everyone, but it works well for many caterers and is worth considering. Turn to p54 for more insight."
