18 Oct 2018 by Charles Manners

I attended the annual Caffe Culture show this week, although smaller in size than previous years the visit was still worthwhile.

There were two products that caught my attention, the new Turbochef which is smaller, 13amp plug and less expensive at £4500, and. A flavoured water Loveau which is on tend and tasted good https://drinkloveau.com/

I then listened to two talks, firstly on barista versus automated coffee machines, there was no great revelation except confirming that the decision depends on many factors, above quality of staff, and above all the quality of coffee does matter.

Secondly I listened to Boston Tea Party’s team explain how they made the decision to ban all takeaway drinks in disposables, which was was worth £1m a year across 22 outlets (they have an excellent offer for an al day cafe), a brave decision which appears to have paid off, with great PR, improved customer and staff loyalty.

Yes it has cost them £250k in lost sales, but customers have migrated to reusable cups, a really good case study in innovation and one which others will follow.