coffee drive thru

[Newbie]

Hello, I'm in the early stages of opening a coffee drive thru. I've never worked in the coffee buisness, but I have bartended and worked in restauraunts. My partner and I are in the midst of purchasing some prime property for a location. Does anyone have any input on what brand of machinery to purchase?

I spoke to a Rancilio rep and he also sells Tully's coffee. Are these worthy products? Any input on how many machines,etc. would be greatly appreciated. Oh yea, we are opening the drive thru in central California, no name yet.

 

[everydaygourmet]

Hello, I'm in the early stages of opening a coffee drive thru. I've never worked in the coffee buisness, but I have bartended and worked in restauraunts. My partner and I are in the midst of purchasing some prime property for a location. Does anyone have any input on what brand of machinery to purchase?

I spoke to a Rancilio rep and he also sells Tully's coffee. Are these worthy products? Any input on how many machines,etc. would be greatly appreciated. Oh yea, we are opening the drive thru in central California, no name yet.

having just went through it, spend some time and do your homework. I would suggest (personal preference) a system with a double boiler if you are going to do any volume.

LaMarzocco is the name over and over that kept surfacing for espresso machines...and I ended up buying one. Very happy with it.

Coffee choice is like taking a wine tasting tour through NAPA.

Know what I mean?- there is that much difference, and I would suggest treating it as a wine tasting, and try a lot of different coffee.

Fresh is the key- I use coffee this week that was roasted on Thursday or Friday of last week- ONLY, and that makes a huge difference in my opinion.

I tried for a local roaster, but settled on a regional roaster, sot he beans are here the next day.


Good luck, post lots of questions, there are some really knowledgeable people out there, who are very good at what they do.

 

[Newbie]

Thanyou very much for the response. I met with a gentlemen tonight who was informative and had similiar ideas. He sells both LaMarzocco and Rancilio machines. He spoke very highly of LaMarzocco but said the Rancilio is an awesome machine at a cheaper price. He also sells beans from a roaster named "The Supreme Bean" and said the beans are roasted when ordered. Thanks again for your reply.

 

[barefoot]

coffee equipment

our prefferences are:

espresso machines:
LaMarzocco and Synesso, Rancillio makes some good machines but LaMarzocco are great machines.

Espresso grinders:
Mazzer/Rio

Bulk coffee grinders:
Malkoenig
Fetco

Coffee brewers:
Fetco extractor series
Bunn brewwise

spend as much money as you can to get the best equipment you can on the coffee side and skimp if you have to on the other stuff that does not make you money.

Supreme bean makes great coffee. One of our wholesale cafe customers uses some of their coffees along with ours. They are dedicated and high quality. If you are looking for an organic and fair trade roaster maybe check us out. I would try to use a local roaster if you can within a few miles of you but if not then look at a whole bunch. Get coffees from at elast 6 roasters and choose the best tasting coffee, the best people and the best partner.

 

[Newbie]

Wow! Another response with positive info, thankyou. I appreciate the advice. Unfortunately there are no local roasters that I know of. The gentlemen I spoke with supplies for a couple of local coffee house and the drive thru buisness are Java Detour, Supreme Bean (they don't use Supreme Bean roasters product) and Starbucks. To my knowledge they purchase their product out of the area. Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my inquiry and I will check out your website.

 

[everydaygourmet]

Wow! Another response with positive info, thankyou. I appreciate the advice. Unfortunately there are no local roasters that I know of. The gentlemen I spoke with supplies for a couple of local coffee house and the drive thru buisness are Java Detour, Supreme Bean (they don't use Supreme Bean roasters product) and Starbucks. To my knowledge they purchase their product out of the area. Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my inquiry and I will check out your website.

then start hitting the net for coffee roasters...look for them in the immediate area (100 miles to 250 miles so shipping is close and quick, and less expensive, then start extending out from there)

Try some of the big names....Barefoot, Intelligentsia, try some of the small roasters as well. It was an awesome experience when we went looking, so much so, that I am thinking about doing a hand crafted coffee of the month. (Micro-roasters type thing) as soon as I can afford another grinder.

mail order is a great thing, and ask if they will roast to order, and make sure they ship that day, so you get fresh beans....it makes all the difference, and most your competition does not have fresh beans(and does not have a clue that it matters.....)


good luck

 

[Rockcreekcoffee]

LaMarzocco is the best machine on the market and is what is in my coffeehouse.

Coffee Brewers hands down go with FETCO. They are by far the best that is out there. We have the grinding system for our whole bean brewed coffee and we use their Extractor Series brewing system. The best thing about FETCO is that I have never heard anyone ever being dissappointed that they purchased their equipment.

As far as coffee - we are in the beginning stages of roasting our own. We haven't perfected our espresso blend yet - so we use Cafe D'Arte. It is more expensive than most espresso blends on the market, but by far they have a superior product.

If you get a chance, go to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) show in Seattle next year in April. You can find out quite a bit of information in 3-4 days. The trade show can allow you to meet with vendors for everything you need. It will be money well spent

 

[Newbie]

Thankyou for the response. I'm pretty sure I'll be going with Rancilo and I'm doing research on FETCO for a coffee brewer. Right now we're dealing with purchasing the property, which is our biggest expense. I'll post my progress with the buisness periodically. Thanks again for everyone's input, I sincerely appreciate it.

 

[NW JAVA]

Please PM me your phone number and I'd love to talk...I hate typing...I'm a roaster, drive-up owner, distibutor..and love to help.

 

[wlltx]

good luck in your new venture.
we did research for about a year and the best thing we ever did was attend the coffee fest in las vegas (and it was fun to see how vegas has changed) the majority of the vendors where there and we had the opportunity to taste and try many different types of coffee and equipment. my advice is to spend the money to attend an event like this. the money we spent on the trip was well worth the time it saved having to find a lot of these vendors and resources.

Good luck

felix

 

[wlltx]

did google search and here is the coffee fest website

http://www.coffeefest.com/

easy enough

good luck

felix