QSR July 2023

SPONSORED BY SEB PROFESSIONAL

How Automation in the Coffee Space is Improving Both Operations and the Customer Experience

With the simple push of a button, operators can provide consistent, delicious coffee.

When the pandemic hit, beverage sales plummeted. With restaurants relying on off premises sales, not all consumers were add ing beverages to their orders the way they had done pre-pandemic. With more diners return ing to restaurants in 2021 and 2022, beverage sales have returned for the most part—espe cially when restaurants offer something that isn’t easily made at home. Still, operators face a considerable number of challenges in today’s environment, such as inflation and continued labor concerns. As consumers are increasingly turning to food service for specialty beverages, operators have bolstered their operations. By introduc ing automation into their coffee programs, res taurants are offering consumers consistent, top-quality coffee that would be challenging to make at home—all while improving speed of service and cleanliness. Speed of service has always been important to consumers, but during the past few years the stakes have risen—especially as oper ators see sustained traffic at the drive-thru window. According to the 2022 Drive Thru Report by Intouch Insight, “Technology and innovation have turned [quick-service] drive thrus into something hardly recognizable, and it has become the industry’s most innovative arena… Customers continue to prefer drive thrus when interacting with brands.” Improving Operations: Speed of Service and Cleanliness

serve customers quickly and efficiently— allowing operators to serve the freshest cof fee at top speeds. Not only can restaurants improve speed of service, but they also no longer have to worry about whether staff has cleaned the machine, thanks to fully automated cleaning daily via calendar programming. With growing competition when it comes to coffee, inconsistency from day-to-day can cause consumers to look around and grab their coffee elsewhere. One problem opera tors face is drinks are made differently from barista-to-barista, or staff forgets to make a new batch of coffee and ends up serving customers out of a stale batch. When operators introduce automation, consistency is guaranteed whether equip ment is set to staff-operated or self-serve configuration. Consumers appreciate know ing exactly what they will receive day-to day: a top-quality coffee, ground fresh from whole beans. This type of quality and preci sion builds customer loyalty. A Partner for Coffee Programs While introducing automated coffee equip ment will certainly improve a coffee pro gram, it takes more than equipment to take coffee programs to the next level—it requires the right partner. Improving Customer Experience: Consistency and Top-quality

The new Curtis Genesis Skyline was designed with operational efficiency in mind—especially applicable in the drive thru. This new machine brews fresh coffee from whole beans and is the first of its kind. The Curtis Genesis Skyline has the ability to automate coffee output based on demand. Maximum speed can

SEB Professional is three brands in one company—WMF, Schaerer, and Curtis. This allows SEB Professional to be a part ner who has the resources and knowledge an operator needs to create a custom, on-demand coffee experience for their custom ers—no matter the size of an operation. RET

Learn more at wilburcurtis.com .

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JULY 2023 | RESTAURANT EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY