Ask any techie and I think you will find that machines start to fail more frequently after about 18 months when they are in a high volume establishment. Say for example sake, 50 kg a week. After that clients seem to be forever calling for service as one thing goes wrong after another. And I am not talking bottom end machines, I'm talking machines built using components of good name, in high turnover situations. Failing pressurestats, steam valves, electovalves, touch pads, anti vac valves...etc. And may I say this is because, thank heavens, the machine is being used to its full capacity to run business with. An aged machine in pristine condition hasnt been used enough...not good business. The downtime is a legitimate business inconvenience (if inconvenient), and whoever is paying for the service would rather not. Also the service provider runs out frequently, and if the service provider is also the bean supplier there is more likelihood of the client jacking up at some point and refusing to pay for the callouts. Its just as inconvenient for the servce provider because of the angst from the client. It becomes self limiting, and at what point does anyone call it quits. This is business reality, not the "oh isnt coffee wonderful" side of coffee. And so it becomes a business decision as to when its then time to change over to a replacement machine. Also if you leave a machine too long it starts to look very tired, trim falls off, panels are scraped etc. They dont look good, and they dont necessarily work well either if proper maintenance isnt kept up. The busier the client is, the quicker all that happens. Big psychological effect on everyone including clients, staff and the service provider in addition to money spent on service. This isnt the fault of whether a machine is or isnt what some people think is "high end", its a fact of life with any tired coffee machine, and there is no doubt that many cafe owners contribute to this by not effecting ongoing maintenance but rather, waiting for breakdowns to just happen. Machines at that end of their cycle need to go in for major refurbishment after which they can go out again and it can mean that machines have 2 or 3 separate stages to their effective working life. Also what people in these forums dont seem to realise, is that a coffee machine was nothing more than a means to an end, a work horse just like a taxi, and it is only of late that they have been turned into desireable iconic fashion statements. In addition, while a lot of discussion does the rounds of these forums, the fact remains that the greatest majority of coffee drinking is done in cafes that are never spoken of in these circles, not seen as iconic places to visit and experience the coffee, they are just run of the mill cafes turning out browned milk to the masses. No contradiction in the last quote. Its the cafe owners that decide what kind of image they feel they need to portray in their total fit out to win custom over competing businesses. And if you take a look at the cafes that are seen to be "in", they are adopting the same new equipment fashion statement. If you did the rounds of the clients in a cafe and asked them what kind of equipment is on the bench, do you think they'd know and of they did, do you think they would be able to tell you if they think the coffee in this establishment might be better than elsewhere simply because of the equipment used? Is their coffee any better than anyone elses or are we all drinking labels, fashion, image and the spin on the packet? And if it is better, is it because of the brand name on the end panel of the equipment or is it because the operator has a better standard of education in coffee making than ever before? Only you can decide. Hope that helps.
