MILAN, Italy – The polarisation of the market and rising costs, but also the return of office working and big events, are leading to an increase in the automatic vending of coffee. The focus now needs to be on efficiency and connectivity, and also include the premium sector.
Whether coffee is served to take away or dispensed from a vending machine, speed is of the essence. Self-service coffee has been around for a long time but now companies are working to develop it further.
“I see an accelerated focus on self-service and on more efficient production, due to rising costs across all areas. But also a return to offices, events and exhibitions, so a return to large-scale coffee,” says Paul Whitehead, Regional Sales Manager UK at BUNN.
The American firm has launched a machine that can serve coffee in 30 seconds: “it works well in any self-service setting with full connectivity and a range of payment options.”
As for HostMilano: “we found it much busier than we thought it would be, so credit is due to the organisers for creating the format last minute and filling it out.”
“You felt that everyone really wanted to get going again and do business. At HostMilano we negotiated and did deals in a way that we honestly could not have done remotely. It also made a big difference that we were able to present our coffee machines live and give people a hands-on experience,” says Cristian Bertuletti, Ho.Re.Ca. operative marketing specialist at Evoca.
As for trends: “I see a polarisation in the demand for machinery. While on the one hand there is strong interest in very high-end products, there is also a big demand for entry-level solutions. In the world of Ho.Re.Ca. and Office Coffee Systems (OCS) we are expecting a growth in investments. It is important to consider that – even though they have been subjected to less stress –coffee machines have inevitably ‘aged’ over the last two years and need to be serviced or even replaced. And everyone is waiting for those big tenders to go out: they have been on hold since 2020.”
At the less expensive end of the market, the Evoca group is about to launch a new product it previewed at HostMilano: a semi-professional machine for use in small premium locations. For its range of super-automatic coffee machines, it is working on a new entry-level or borderline model with the OCS segment.
