Working With Restaurants

JohnJoe

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Aug 28, 2017
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Hey Guys,

I'm a home roaster/farmers market type guy, but I'm expanding and going into a few places. I'm looking for advice for working with restaurants. What are the typical arrangements as far as equipment rental and sales. Pretend I know nothing, as I probably don't.
 

John P

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Jan 5, 2007
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Salt Lake City
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My thoughts...

You're in the coffee roasting business, not in the equipment rental business... keep it that way.

Your coffee, and everything you bring with it, has a value. Know what your value is relative to the market. Don't ever try to "beat" someone on price... beat them on value.

You should strive to acquire accounts through hard work and based on reputation and provable quality.... make them coffee, have them taste the difference. Sometimes best to do a side by side comparison. What they serve vs. what you have to offer. (Be prepared!) If it's not clear in the first few sips or the first cup, then you might want to rethink things. The level of your quality and reputation will dictate how much control you have.

Equipment: Be aware of the standard of or specific equipment from brewers (including restaurants that would like to brew "by the cup") to grinders to water filtration -- needed to execute your coffee properly. Have a solid idea of what equipment they are using. As I mentioned before, those first couple of sips will tell the story of your coffee. The restaurant owner/management should be happy to invest whatever equipment is necessary for YOUR coffee to be executed properly. Those who would not do so are not a good customer, and cares little about what you have to offer.

You can have a simple contract with them that lays everything out, clearly communicate what is necessary -- including proper water chemistry -- which you should have the ability to test with TDS meter -- scheduling plumbing installs, that sort of thing. Be willing to put in the work and get them results and they will be willing to pay.

Don't lease equipment. They should own their equipment, they need to be responsible for it. You should however know who the commercial coffee equipment repair people are in your city and make sure that information is known by said customer if it isn't already.

Provide (free) training for everyone associated with their coffee program. It's not just about selling coffee, it's about selling the VALUE of your coffee by implementing a coffee program that includes brewing standards, service standards, and pricing. Yes.. you should be able to dictate what the coffee served should be priced at... it's part of the program. Base on coffee, brewing method, type of restaurant, etc. It's because you have quality coffee, and/or great reputation plus the ability to show how you can increase their revenues by providing them with better coffee -- that's the differentiation you need to get the account AND to have them have no qualms about spending $$ on equipment (if need be).
 
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Be prepared to offer equipment, be cause the coffee supplies you will be replacing will likely pull their equipment. That doesn't mean you have to buy $1500 Brewers for the local cup of joe. Find decent used equipment. Tear it down. Remove the tank and heater, clean it up(haven't found a clean one yet) and make it look and run great. And be ready to train them. If you don't have an espresso machine, tell them no. I don't charge for equipment as long as they are active customers ordering consistently. But, I also don't have alot off commercial accounts, yet.
 

BrianD

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Jan 20, 2017
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I would suggest using some kind of POS - Point of Sale system for restaurants. It allows you to track down all orders, create customer database and so on. You can find all about POSs on Google, or if you need any more info I would gladly help.
 
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