It’s no secret that rising rates, higher bills, and staffing woes are taking a big toll on the Australian hospitality industry, which, outside of Europe, is the biggest in the world per capita.
That’s why we’ve crafted this special series of articles based on our findings from MICE 2024 (Melbourne International Coffee Exhibition), where expert industry panelists gathered to speak about how cafe and venue owners can run better businesses.
In Part 2, we cover the human element of coffee: why it’s intrinsic to both the customer/venue connection and the venue/supplier connection. Our commentators on this topic are Dave Makin, the founder of Axil Coffee, and Jamie Thomson from Silverchef, a company that provides flexible funding for commercial kitchen & restaurant equipment.
Hospitality, by definition, is just as much about the people and the service than the product. Of course, having a decent product is important - especially when you’re talking about coffee. The issue is, that you can refine and re-refine your coffee making process until it’s perfect - but it’s much harder to control the variables that govern human interaction.
“I'd rather go to a place with a slightly lesser product, but where I enjoy the people,” says Jamie Thomson from Silverchef. “I really value service. Some baristas keep their head down when they’re making coffee, but what works is when they’re more conversational and adding a service component. People remember that and want to go back for the experience, not just the product.”
The issue for many venue owners though, is how they should foster the connection between barista and customer.