Nespresso & K cups Etc

blackbird

Hi Guys,

I just got back from Europe a little while ago and while I was there I came across the Nespresso Salon, it was in Paris, it had two levels, a cafe at the front, shop in the middle and a vip area at the back which was glassed off, this area was full that night and there were no seats left at the cafe bar.

The place was packed and people were spending their hard earned money on cups, machines and personal blends.

When i got back I watched a doco on k - cups, it was interesting, they have achieved significant penetration in usa it appears.

Do they intend on opening a lot of these salons in Aus, has any one heard?.

Do you think it is a fad or will it continue to grow?

Thoughts?

Koffee_Kosmo

If Starbucks as a system of there brand of quality failed in Australia I dont think they will even think about it Also due to the total population in Australia multiplied by the actual percentage of coffee drinkers minus the percentage of drinkers with refined tastes The actual numbers is small This system will be marketed as a home user system or appliance KK

Brett H

on 1327063772:

If Starbucks as a system of there brand of quality failed in Australia I dont think they will even think about it Also due to the total population in Australia multiplied by the actual percentage of coffee drinkers minus the percentage of drinkers with refined tastes The actual numbers is small This system will be marketed as a home user system or appliance KK

Great answer KK!  I agree.  I think also that conducive environmental and climatic factors as well as socio-cultural idiosyncrasies will continue to champion our cafes.  I also hope that the profligate nature of Nes-retcho will be addressed before it finally and inevitably destroys coffee culture and buries us all in a land-fill sea of spent pods and thermoblocks. p.s I'm not a huge fan.

mycuppa

There are a number of Nespresso Salons opened up around the world in the high-fashion, high income areas such as Paris, Qatar and planned for London, Tokyo, NY, etc. It's a show-pony routine intended purely a marketing exercise to create a desirable luxury goods halo that will in turn drive their consumer sales for the naive folks who will believe it's a truly aspirational experience. As to personal blends - I don't think so. This stuff is made in a factory in single-serve capsules. K-Cups. A few Australian roasters have approached Kuerig over the last 3-4 years expressing interest in being their local supplier/agent in AU. The reason I know this is because we made similar inquiries about 3 years ago. My sense is that Kuerig have done their research very well and perhaps formed a view they would have a considerable challenge overcoming the high quality standards and expectation in our local AU market. There are other markets that would be more attractive having greater opportunity than AU - namely Asia and eastern Europe.

WotB

Intriguing. Both quality and price take a back seat to convenience. Seems to be keeping in line with the "Life outsourcing" mentality of late.  Are we that time poor?

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1328744154:

Intriguing. Both quality and price take a back seat to convenience. Seems to be keeping in line with the "Life outsourcing" mentality of late. 

Are we that time poor?

We are made to think we are  :tearhair: KK

blackbird

Noticed in Gloria Jeans the other day they have their own system for this, nestle are also buildling a new plant to supply

Brett H

on 1336742688:

Noticed in Gloria Jeans the other day they have their own system for this, nestle are also buildling a new plant to supply

I had a dream... there was a disturbance in the force and Dark Helmet was overheard addressing his Vanilla Mocha Lime Latte swilling minions: "Hear this, the darkness is upon us.... our product is laughably second rate... we are almost the bottom of a fairly large and impressive barrel... Who can we team up with so that we not only lick the bottom of that barrel but sh!t in it also???" Sad to see great Aussie businesses with the potential for greatness sell out!  I may be wrong and really hope I am!!

FreshCoffee2

Ahh but as with everything we always need to go back to basics to understand. We here in these forums are people with a special interest in quality coffee. Others think of coffee as a commodity that they enjoy. There is a vast difference between these two types of outlook of course, and the commoditieurs greatly outnumber the specialisti. Because of their "hobbyist" interest in coffee and equipment, Specialisti often forget that coffee forms part of a large business industry. There is a "disconnect" between the fact that coffee is at once nice, and also that coffee is an industry. And companies / businesses / industry will do whatever they do, to exist, develop and grow. They look at what the market as a whole wants, and gear themselves to give the market what it appears to want now or into the future. There are some very influencial interests that think pods are the way of the future, and they will keep trying to point  us in that direction regardless. Australia has been of particular interest. As a market it is miniscule, but within it has a well developed espresso/coffee culture where there is a strong interest in the theatre of espresso, "cafe's" and "baristi" which has kept the market into conventional ways of making coffee rather than jumping on board with automatic and capsule equipment in the past.  It will be interesting to see what will happen with pods. And of course dont all forget.......what's real quality got to do with anything. I mentioned above the word "theatre", and the fact remains that the greatest majority of eateries with conventional coffee machines and grinders will continue to make swill out of coffee beans no matter what their favourite brand of roasted coffee beans is. Some of the worst offenders, have by far the largest weekly turn over of coffee beans, and no one in their right mind refuses to supply a client on the basis of quality in the cup, when the client buys 100 kilos or more a week, or even 10 kilos a week........ The answers lie in the fact that coffee is business, and is driven by what business people think the right direction is to go next...... The thing about pods, is the supplier CAN control to a greater degree (than with clients with a std machine and grinder) what happens to their name when their product is brewed into the cup.  Then they only need train so called baristi to properly texture the milk to a silky smooth finish and put nice pict-chures on the top and complete the theatre for those of the public that are drinking the image together with the quality of the brew in the cup. And when you compare swill made in the conventional way with a pod, the pod certainly offers a better middle ground and certainly better consistency..... And after that, we all do what we gotta do to stay afloat, pay our employees and big brothers taxes, and have something left over for our trouble. Anyone reading this that has never visited a next spresso shop of any siort should do so. Its a real eye opener and any minute you expect to see George Klooney bring your ristretto out to you. Is all about image / theatre, and these days its cool to be associated with a high fashion image. And what does real quality have to do with it? The clientelle are not that discerning, and neither are most of the cafe owners when alls said and done. I am not presenting stuff that I do or dont agree with one way or the other, just commentating on a subject near and dear to my heart. That's reality.  As to the cups.......people in these forums do go on about their favourite cup brands. In reality, and in a market saturated with cafe clients that want everything presented to them on a plate for nothing, who always know more than their roaster supplier about coffee, who demand supply of equipment, sugar, cups, uniforms, wind barriers and umbrellas, refuse to pay for service to the equipment that they use and wear and sometimes damage wilfully, and want to pay their coffee accounts a couple of months past due but not before some kind of argument, you will find very few coffee suppliers jumping on board to pay more for cups just to give them to their cafe clients for nothing, and as long as you are drinking your coffee in a nice clean unchipped or damaged cup of whatever brand probably made in china, that's about as good as it gets in most cases   The USA market is not the Oz market. And....composing these little ditties certainly makes me time poor :stir

Brett H

We are all the better for reading your posts Attilio! Even if the time you've lost composing them forces you switch to Aldi Pods!  :rofl:

on 1336790310:

Ahh but as with everything we always need to go back to basics to understand. We here in these forums are people with a special interest in quality coffee. Others think of coffee as a commodity that they enjoy. There is a vast difference between these two types of outlook of course, and the commoditieurs greatly outnumber the specialisti. Because of their "hobbyist" interest in coffee and equipment, Specialisti often forget that coffee forms part of a large business industry. There is a "disconnect" between the fact that coffee is at once nice, and also that coffee is an industry. And companies / businesses / industry will do whatever they do, to exist, develop and grow. They look at what the market as a whole wants, and gear themselves to give the market what it appears to want now or into the future. There are some very influencial interests that think pods are the way of the future, and they will keep trying to point  us in that direction regardless. Australia has been of particular interest. As a market it is miniscule, but within it has a well developed espresso/coffee culture where there is a strong interest in the theatre of espresso, "cafe's" and "baristi" which has kept the market into conventional ways of making coffee rather than jumping on board with automatic and capsule equipment in the past.  It will be interesting to see what will happen with pods. And of course dont all forget.......what's real quality got to do with anything. I mentioned above the word "theatre", and the fact remains that the greatest majority of eateries with conventional coffee machines and grinders will continue to make swill out of coffee beans no matter what their favourite brand of roasted coffee beans is. Some of the worst offenders, have by far the largest weekly turn over of coffee beans, and no one in their right mind refuses to supply a client on the basis of quality in the cup, when the client buys 100 kilos or more a week, or even 10 kilos a week........ The answers lie in the fact that coffee is business, and is driven by what business people think the right direction is to go next...... The thing about pods, is the supplier CAN control to a greater degree (than with clients with a std machine and grinder) what happens to their name when their product is brewed into the cup.  Then they only need train so called baristi to properly texture the milk to a silky smooth finish and put nice pict-chures on the top and complete the theatre for those of the public that are drinking the image together with the quality of the brew in the cup. And when you compare swill made in the conventional way with a pod, the pod certainly offers a better middle ground and certainly better consistency..... And after that, we all do what we gotta do to stay afloat, pay our employees and big brothers taxes, and have something left over for our trouble. Anyone reading this that has never visited a next spresso shop of any siort should do so. Its a real eye opener and any minute you expect to see George Klooney bring your ristretto out to you. Is all about image / theatre, and these days its cool to be associated with a high fashion image. And what does real quality have to do with it? The clientelle are not that discerning, and neither are most of the cafe owners when alls said and done. I am not presenting stuff that I do or dont agree with one way or the other, just commentating on a subject near and dear to my heart. That's reality.  As to the cups.......people in these forums do go on about their favourite cup brands. In reality, and in a market saturated with cafe clients that want everything presented to them on a plate for nothing, who always know more than their roaster supplier about coffee, who demand supply of equipment, sugar, cups, uniforms, wind barriers and umbrellas, refuse to pay for service to the equipment that they use and wear and sometimes damage wilfully, and want to pay their coffee accounts a couple of months past due but not before some kind of argument, you will find very few coffee suppliers jumping on board to pay more for cups just to give them to their cafe clients for nothing, and as long as you are drinking your coffee in a nice clean unchipped or damaged cup of whatever brand probably made in china, that's about as good as it gets in most cases   The USA market is not the Oz market. And....composing these little ditties certainly makes me time poor :stir