Have you ever thought about running a guest espresso?

I was reading this article from Perfect Daily Grind over the weekend while catching up on the latest from the London UKBC heats and a few other bits and pieces. This article resonated with me for a few reasons but most of all it reminded me of the usefulness of a guest espresso.

Having an alternative to the house espresso gives you the possibility to go out of the box, without alienating your regular customer base. This can not only help improve the knowledge of the team, but also the overall perception and in due course the sales of a coffee shop.

Lots of coffee shops have a great house espresso. Beloved by all, not too off-centre to scare away the more mainstream customers but tasty and tested by the team who have decided this is the best fit for the business. So, if you have a great coffee behind the bar why invest the time, money and bar space on a second (or third) grinder for a guest espresso?

I have a few reasons I’d like to share and to begin I’d like to go back in time to when I owned and operated a local town coffee shop. The main reasons I brought in guest coffees were all very personal. I first chose coffees that my team wanted to try, or coffee I wanted to use to compete in competition.

If it’s something you or your team really want to try, this naturally drives conversation towards the coffee which inevitably transfers over to conversations with customers. 

So, the first reason in my mind is slightly selfish. It’s not about boosting the sales with a repetitive “would you like the guest coffee for an extra 20p?” It’s about helping your team learn more about the coffee they use so they can get into more meaningful conversations with your customers, should that person surrendering their hard-earned cash for a brew be inclined to listen.

This may ultimately create a buzz around the shop, spreading the great experience though word of mouth and social media and result in either bringing more customers into the shop or converting the ones you have from Monday morning coffee drinkers to every morning coffee drinkers. The point though is to enjoy what you are doing.

Why else?

Most café owners want to drive the average transaction value (ATV) by adding bolt on sales to the people already coming in. Again, I’d suggest that a guest coffee is not the way to do this through the sale of the drink. Instead of focussing on an extra 10 or 20p on the coffee having a guest coffee can give you the opportunity to add an extra £5 - £10 on the right transaction, by way of selling a bag of retail coffee to take home. This worked for some shops my team work with recently with Chinese New Year coming in.

Speciality coffee from China has previously been poor to non-existent, so when we sourced a stand out coffee from China with a great story behind it, the shops found it a really topical way to engage with the customer and many bought bags to take home after enjoying a coffee with the limited lot from China (click here if you want to see)

So that takes me onto the 3rd reason – Special events. From Chinese coffee for New Year to Mexican coffee for Cinco de Mayo, or perhaps even a Yuletide blend for Christmas. The right coffee at the right time can be a simple way to show you are doing something a bit different and give yet another reason to talk to your customers about the coffee they are drinking.

More? Well, ok. Sometimes a guest coffee can be driven by your customers.

If you happen to have several customers that, through nothing other than force of habit, like to always add sugar to their coffee it may be time to try something like a super sweet naturally processed coffee from El Salvador. Maybe something like this which you could ask them to try without adding sugar.

Sugar is mainly used to mask the overly astringent flavours of a lower quality coffee, however never forget that coffee is subjective, some people just like to heap in a spoonful. Personally, I’d never make someone feel awkward about taking sugar in their coffee. I have however enjoyed watching people taste great coffee and no sugar and remark how much sweeter it is than they expected. An additional way to move away from adding sugar is to use whole milk, but I feel we’re getting off topic and this may be a whole new post.

So, you want to delve down the guest espresso route, but where to start?

First step, if you don’t have a 2nd grinder it’s time to get one. Don’t be tempted to pre-grind your guest coffee, this is after all something you want to showcase and should be treated with as much care as your house espresso. The beauty of a second grinder is that you can also double up as a grinder for decaf if you open in the evenings or have times when there is a high demand for decaf (click here for a great decaf).

Next – get the team involved. Drumming a specific set of taste notes and origin information into a barista team and expecting them to regurgitate this to everyone that steps in the door is robotic and often boring. Sparking a conversation on the coffee you offer and why it was chosen is electrifying and not only keeps the team happy at work, it also gives everyone coming in a small insight into what you are aiming to achieve.

Once you have the team excited to see what’s going to be coming on the bar and you have the right kit I would highly recommend starting with your current coffee roaster and asking what they can do for you. Your roaster should be able to give you the back story of a few coffees and make sure the guest coffee complements your business and has a point of difference from your house espresso. Maybe they could recommend something like a fantastic coffee from Nicaragua. Or perhaps an organic coffee from Peru where the coffee is grown, processed and traded exclusively by women may be a good fit for you. If blends are your bag and it’s time to switch it up, a seasonal signature blend could be a great place to start. If your roaster can’t offer you a few choices, perhaps it’s time to switch roasters?

Going back to when I ran guest espresso and guest filter in a small shop, I switched to a fantastic roaster about 6 months in who gave me 99% of all the coffee I ever bought from that point on with the odd outside guest coming in. (E.g. One time a customer asked to try Jamaican Blue Mountain, which my roaster didn’t have available.) 

My last point would be that the blue-sky end goal could be for the guest coffee to be the coffee served as standard. Everyone who comes in and recognises your shop as something that resonates with great coffee will be excited to try what you have behind the bar this week / month / season. To really nail it, the house espresso must be the safe option, the fall back for when you have someone come in who “just want’s a coffee” or you have a guest espresso that does cost significantly more and you need to offer a consistent price to the regular crowd.

In reality if you get to a point where your guest coffee is ¼ of your coffee volume then you’re in the right place. After all the house espresso was chosen as it’s a stand out coffee on its own right? If the guest becomes by far the most popular, perhaps it's time to review the house.

I hope this helps you decide to run a guest coffee. If you already use Grumpy Mule then hit your account manager up for some further info. If you’re with another awesome coffee roaster that can offer you exactly what you need then that’s great too, give them a call and start experimenting with how different coffees can bring an additional point of interest to your bar, or maybe you already do?

If you’re looking for options to change coffee roasters then feel free to drop me a line at tom.booth@bewleys.co.uk and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

Thanks for reading,

Enjoy every cup.

Cheers,

Tom.