What`s brewing?

What’s brewing?
January 2013
Happy New Year from Carl Bjorkstrand
In this issue...
• Party on!
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2013.
What a pleasure it was to be involved in the Cimbali centenary celebrations and the opening of the Museum of
Coffee. I was fortunate enough to be invited to 3 events in our home town of Binasco. At the first, the guests
were local dignitaries, leading lights of the coffee industry and old friends of the Cimbali family. I met first second
and even third generation of Italian families who have been associated with Cimbali from all over the world.
At the second event our distributors from every corner of the globe mingled with our most important customers.
And finally at the Family Day many of you had the opportunity of meeting the ‘voice at the other end of the line’
and being guided around our manufacturing facility. The one thing that ties together all of these events is the
constancy and passion of the Cimbali Family. Working for a family firm that is 100 years old is very different to
being employed by a faceless bureaucracy and I am sure the Museum of Coffee will be a fitting legacy of this for
another 100 years.
•Christmas cheer at Frankie’s
•Lilly’s Tea & Coffee House
• MacMillan coffee morning
•A jammy flat white anyone?
•Being prepared!
•Make a date with us in 2013
•Back to school for Dan
•At your service
Party on!
Cimbali’s MUMAC museum, a homage to the development of coffee
machines from 1900- 2012 is now open!
This 1500 sq m development is located alongside the Cimbali production
site at Binasco, Italy and was built to mark the company’s 100 years
in business. Over 200 coffee machines and 15,000 archive documents
telling the production, cultural and design history of coffee equipment are
on show for the general public to enjoy.
The team from Cimbali UK attended the VIP opening night party which
extended well into the night. Much fun was had by everyone!
A bit of Christmas cheer!
Just when all the baubles and tinsel are back in the loft and the Christmas
tree has seen far better days, Marcel Franke of Staplehurst Nurseries
starts thinking about the following festive season. For Marcel supplies
50,000 Poinsettia, the red flowered plants which are
popular at Christmas time, to the retail sector.
So what has this got to do with coffee I hear
you ask.
After 16 years in the nursery business, Marcel
was ready for a fresh challenge and this year
embarked on a new venture – Frankie’s Coffee
shop – a gourmet coffee shop and deli in the
heart of the Kent countryside.
Read more on page 2.
Left: Michele Cecchini (Area Sales Manager, La Cimbali).
Right: Marcel Frank (Owner Frankie’s Coffee Shop)
Feeling social? Connect with Cimbali through:
@Cimbali_UK
/CimbaliUK
/LaCimbaliUK
t: 0208 2387 100 • [email protected]
www.cimbali.co.uk
What’s Brewing?
A bit of Christmas cheer!
(continued from page 1)
Within one year, Marcel had built a traditional Kentish style barn, a light and airy space complete with an oak
framed interior creating a real WOW factor. Contained within the 415 sq m floor space is a 48 seater coffee shop,
a deli counter and retail area which sells local produce wherever possible, Taking pride of place is an open plan
kitchen which makes all the food for the café and take out service.
“Our approach has been to always have the best that the budget allows and we wanted to create a home from
home environment.”
“We saw the coffee equipment as an investment and when we heard about the Cimbali Bluetooth Grinder and
M39 we thought it was perfect for our setup as we have weekend and part-time staff who come and go and the
continuity of quality was important, irrespective of who was making the coffee that day.”
“I admit to having known very little about this market before we opened and it has been a real learning curve. We
invested £250k in the business and our projected turnover in year one is £500k. We must be doing something
right because the coffee shop is full every day and we even have people who reserve tables for lunch. It is just
incredible.” Says Marcel.
A UK first for Lilly’s Tea and Coffee House
Lilly’s Tea and Coffee House, Wickham, Hants has become the first
operator in the UK to take delivery of La Cimbali’s new Bluetooth
Grinder. The Grinder incorporates intelligent wireless technology that
‘talks’ to the M39 Dosatron espresso machine to ensure consistent
espresso quality with every brew.
A sophisticated algorithm ensures that the dosage and timing is adhered
to every time an espresso is created. In the event that the flow gradually
starts to deviate from these parameters, the Bluetooth grinder will
automatically adjust the grind and dose accordingly to bring it back
into line. “It is this ability to respond to changes in the coffee’s state,
compensating for when beans are perhaps not as fresh as they were
earlier in the day, or when the tamping technique varies from one operator
to the next that results in a great tasting cup of coffee with each grind.”
Explains Matt Tuffee, sales and marketing manager at Cimbali.
Simon Daysh, owner of Lilly’s says that “Since using Cimbali’s new
Bluetooth Grinder we don’t have good coffee days and bad coffee days.
Now we just have excellent coffee days. We no longer have to rely on the
skills of one individual because the technology does all the work for us. So
it doesn’t matter whether the barista is working that day or not. Using the
Cimbali Bluetooth Grinder has significantly improved the quality of what
we do and now the coffee always tastes just great.”
Move over Nigella!
Cimbali UK head office in Elstree, Herts played host to
The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and invited local businesses
to drop by for coffee and cake in order to raise money for
MacMillan Cancer support. Roberta ‘domestic goddess’ Hall
made a fabulous iced Cimbali cake complete with logo which
tasted delicious and disappeared in seconds. Well done everyone
for supporting one of the nation’s favourite charities.
Feeling social? Connect with Cimbali through:
@Cimbali_UK
/CimbaliUK
/LaCimbaliUK
January 2013
A jammy flat white anyone?
Six months ago Jason Oslar was an IT manager working in the public sector. Today Jason’s ‘daily
grind’ has taken on a whole new meaning. As the owner manager of new business start up
Oslar coffee shop, Wokingham, Jason has been working 12 hour days, seven days a week to get the
venture off the ground.
In terms of equipment, Jason went along to Caffe Culture last year to see what was on offer. In the
end he opted for two Cimbali HD 39 traditional espresso machines which were supplied in a ‘special’
cream coloured finish to complement the decor. “The skill of the barista aside, there is no doubt that
the traditional machines definitely make the best possible espresso. We took a lot of time to choose
the most appropriate supplier for us, taking into account not only the equipment but the service,
training and finance on offer. They definitely steal the show in the designated barista zone. We have
four on demand grinders, two Magnum and two of the smaller Enea grinders, also supplied by Cimbali
who organised some on site barista training too”.
Jason purchased the equipment on a finance plan over three years to ease cashflow in the critical
start up phase of the business. The Vat paid on repayments can be reclaimed which also helps the
finances.
Oslar’s beverage menu includes the usual range of speciality coffees in a choice of standard and large
sizes, with a regular coffee priced at £2.10 and £2.30 respectively. At this price point Oslar is able to
undercut the chains by about 40p per cup. The most expensive drink on the menu is the Flat White
at £2.40.
Oslar offers two South American coffee blends which are medium bodied and 100% Arabica beans.
Plus two single origins, a full bodied Monsoon Malabar from India which has chocolate notes and an
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe which is spicy and fragrant and develops sweet, jammy flavour with the addition
of milk. “Thanks to Twitter and a local Gossip Girl Facebook group we now have customers coming in
asking for a ‘jammy flat white’ which is great.”
Being prepared!
Eighteen months ago, the Cimbali field service team based in London
started preparing for the impact of the Olympics. The key question was
how would they be able to attend service calls when a huge surge in
traffic was anticipated, compounded by numerous road closures.
Darren Pinfold, field service engineer explains: “We put a contingency
plan in place to ensure that whatever happened we would be able to get
to our customers when needed. This included creating a special bag of
essential kit that could be carried on foot when we couldn’t use our cars.
All engineers were given Oyster cards for easy travel and extra equipment
was stored in strategic locations across the city as additional back up.”
“The reality was that the roads were extremely quiet. In fact my travel time
into work was reduced by 50%. However, customer support is our key
priority and it was very reassuring to know that had there been the chaos
as predicted we had plans in place to deal with it.”
Cimbali going for gold
As well as working behind the scenes to maintain service levels
throughout the Olympics, Cimbali also provided hot beverages to friends
and family of the GB rowing team at Eton Dorney.
The Cimbali M39 and Bluetooth Grinder were supplied as part of an
onsite contract catering facility to provide hot beverages throughout the
games. With staff of various skill levels coming and going and crowds all
wanting different food and drink lines, the Cimbali kit was put to the test.
However whilst the GB team was achieving great things on the water,
the Cimbali M39 provided a gold medal winning performance,
undoubtedly providing the best coffee in town.
Left: Carl Bjorkstrand, Middle: Roberta Hall, Right: Darren Pinfold
t: 0208 2387 100 • [email protected]
www.cimbali.co.uk
What’s brewing?
January 2013
Make a date with us in 2013
Cimbali is attending the following exhibitions in 2013. So if you
plan to visit, then please do drop by to see us. There will be all the
latest equipment to try out, with a few surprises thrown in. And, of
course, you will be guaranteed a decent cup of coffee!
Hospitality 2013
21-23 January, NEC, Birmingham
Stand 1125
www.hospitalityshow.co.uk
The London Coffee Festival 2013
25-28 April, Old Truman Brewery
www.londoncoffeefestival.com
27 - 29 April 2012
Caffe Culture 2013
15-16 May, Olympia, London
www.caffecultureshow.com
Matt Tuffee at Cafe Culture 2012 (Sales and Marketing Manager, La Cimbali)
Back to school for Dan
At your service
It’s been back to school for Dan Clarke, business development manager
at Cimbali, as he recently completed the SCAE Barista Skills Level 1
training course as part of an ongoing personal development programme
to further extend his knowledge and skillbase within the coffee sector.
The course covered everything from the origins of coffee to roasting,
brewing techniques and judging the quality of the finished drink.
“I have gained a thorough understanding of the process of grinding,
brewing and presenting coffee and this insight will be really useful when
working with clients. The more information and understanding I have, the
better equipped I will be to advise them.” Says Dan.
Inspired by what he has learnt
so far, Dan plans to continue
increasing his knowledge by taking
the SCAE Level 2 training course
later this year.
Well done Dan!
Cimbali has put additional resources into
the customer support team with new recruit
Roberta Hall who joins as service desk
manager. Roberta is the first point of contact
for all service related calls and is responsible
for allocating the nationwide field service team.
Five months into the job Roberta is “Enjoying
getting to know the customers and leaning
about the industry. We have several new
ideas in the pipeline to further develop a
seamless service experience which we are
looking forward to implementing in 2013.”
A new customer service welcome pack
has also been produced complete with
membership card and
log book as part of the
enhanced support.
The Cimbali sales team
is also expanding with
the addition of Neil Johns
who joins as National
Account Manager and
Mike Abrams, as Area
Sales Manager – North.
Dan Clarke
(Business Development Manager)
Neil Johns
(National Account Manager)
Feeling social? Connect with Cimbali through:
@Cimbali_UK
/CimbaliUK
/LaCimbaliUK
Mike Abrams
(Area Sales Manager - North)
t: 0208 2387 100 • [email protected]
www.cimbali.co.uk