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Recommend a coffee machine for a pub/restaurant

Weave
Weave Posts: 178 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
edited 18 July 2023 at 3:06PM in Small biz MoneySaving
Hi All

My brother-in-law has just taken on the tenancy of a pub/restaurant doing about 80 covers a day, on a good day, and they need an efficient coffee machine that is ideally bean to cup with the press of a button but not super expensive. We estimate 40 to 60 cups a day.

Any one out there with experience of commercial coffee machines willing to make a few recommendations or point me to an industry specific forum that might help as I am yet to find a pub landlord forum that is active.

We spoke to Rijo and they quoted a hefty purchase price of £5400 + vat to buy with a 3 year service and full warranty and 1000 cups of ingredients included. They would not offer a lease as he is a new sole trader. It is a low maintenance machine and very easy to use but it's a lot of money for a new business to find.

Also considering buying a cheaper £1500 + vat more basic machine which requires more cleaning and maintenance and more filling etc. and only has a one year warranty but obviously could last way beyond that.

Any help/advice gratefully received. Thanks

Comments

  • MikeJXE
    MikeJXE Posts: 3,755 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Have you looked at the ones in Wetherspoons they do a roaring trade 
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,576 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    What do you want? To be a great seller of coffee or a pub that does food and can make a basic coffee at the end?

    Our local pub is under new management and they got a £1,000 Delonghi machine. Most say the coffee from it is terrible but a couple of people say it's the best coffee they've had. 18 months in and it broke and now they are down to instant coffee. 

    They sell a lot less than 60 cups a day despite having a good reputation for food and so not intending to spend a lot more. The other local has a much more advanced machine but half the time they claim its bust or they are out of beans/water/milk because it takes far too much time for a member of staff to make a coffee 
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 46,899 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    What do you want? To be a great seller of coffee or a pub that does food and can make a basic coffee at the end?

    Our local pub is under new management and they got a £1,000 Delonghi machine. Most say the coffee from it is terrible but a couple of people say it's the best coffee they've had. 18 months in and it broke and now they are down to instant coffee. 

    They sell a lot less than 60 cups a day despite having a good reputation for food and so not intending to spend a lot more. The other local has a much more advanced machine but half the time they claim its bust or they are out of beans/water/milk because it takes far too much time for a member of staff to make a coffee 
    I'm with DullGreyGuy on this: if a pub / restaurant says they only do filter coffee, then that's fine by me. And I believe you can get very good and simple machines which make filter coffee and keep it hot without ruining it (I'm not enough of a coffee snob to know, so feel free to disagree). You can certainly set it running and leave it for a few minutes, and they're simple enough to use. 

    I don't go to the pub for coffee, and if the food's good I won't care if they only serve instant coffee ... And there's a few brands which have a few grounds in them which it could be worth investing in. 
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  • Mnoee
    Mnoee Posts: 914 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 500 Posts Photogenic Homepage Hero
    I can attest to Jura being durable and very easy to use - I first encountered one in an office setting, and have used them at home too. They do a few different 'commercial' machines, starting at about £1600 for something recommended for around 30 coffees a day. My home machine (C60) has been doing 3-10 a day for 5 years with minimal maintenance, friends and family have had machines last 10+ years. 

    I think your estimate on how many you'll serve may be off? Having worked in a few restaurants there's been none where 50-75% of covers had a coffee. Obviously you know that particular business better, but it just seemed wrong to me. 
  • Exodi
    Exodi Posts: 3,421 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    MikeJXE said:
    Have you looked at the ones in Wetherspoons they do a roaring trade 
    I'm pretty confident they use Franke machines, but no idea of cost: https://frankecoffeesystems.co.uk/perfect-products/
    Mnoee said:
    I can attest to Jura being durable and very easy to use - I first encountered one in an office setting, and have used them at home too. They do a few different 'commercial' machines, starting at about £1600 for something recommended for around 30 coffees a day. My home machine (C60) has been doing 3-10 a day for 5 years with minimal maintenance, friends and family have had machines last 10+ years. 

    I think your estimate on how many you'll serve may be off? Having worked in a few restaurants there's been none where 50-75% of covers had a coffee. Obviously you know that particular business better, but it just seemed wrong to me. 
    Likewise, I'm a big fan of Jura machines and will +1 to this recommendation.

    One thing I will say as someone who's owned a fair few coffee machines (though in a personal capacity as opposed to commercial), I would not understate the importance of convenience.

    While a coffee shop may elect to use a 'proper' coffee machine (one in which you're loading grounds into a portafilter and tamping them down), once the novelty dies off it soon becomes a hell of a lot of faff discarding the grounds and cleaning the portfafilter after every drink. I can understand why a coffee shop would do this, as this is their whole offering, but I wouldn't rush into it if coffee is just one item thrown on the end.

    If I had to give any advice, it would be to avoid any machine with a portfafilter, and use a bean to cup (with a removable used grounds tray) or even consider a capsule machine with a milk wand (appreciate that's controversial), though pods are only 25p-ish and the machines are cheap.
    Know what you don't
  • Weave
    Weave Posts: 178 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Thanks for all the input. I will revisit this when cashflow allows, he has just had to replace some other expensive items that stopped working unexpectedly so needs to bolster the coffers for a little while. Using pods for the time being.
  • coffeehound
    coffeehound Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 15 August 2023 at 8:35PM
    A bit late, but would suggest a BUNN bulk filter brewer plus dedicated grinder like this (not my auction)

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285429757066

    https://commercial.bunn.com/23001.0021

    They are plumbed-in and have a fast workflow delivering up to 3 litres (12 cups) per cycle directly into an airpot.

    This is what JD Wetherspoon used before going with fully auto machines, and it was much better coffee.  

    £220 is a bargain price for that combo.  You'd need a couple of good airpots, water hose possibly, water cartridges depending on your supply and coffee filters.  Probably worth replacing the plastic basket with one of their stainless ones too.

    See also

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275995946782
  • goled
    goled Posts: 33 Forumite
    10 Posts First Anniversary
    What about buying a simple machine which makes filter coffee for start? It is not expensive. Later, you can buy a coffee machine if needed. I mean you can save money and buy a better machine with the time.

  • Find your local commercial cafe leasing company. We use Coffee Cup Equipment in SW London. They will have something for every budget and scale. 

    What we did is lease a machine and grinder from them for 12 months whilst we worked out profitability and saved up over a year, and have just bought our own new £8k machine after the 12 months.

    They also have unlimited servicing and call outs which is good for peace of mind if you don't know what you're doing like me. 
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