Getting Things Brewing
Designing the new espresso machine began in October, 1991. By Memorial Day, 1992, they had a boiler, a handle, a vessel, and a brewing head bolted together, and screwed onto a work bench. “It was very crude with no casing or switches. We had two plugs, one for the boiler heating element and one for the water pump.” This prototype brewed great coffee. It took a total of a year-and-a-half to complete their commercial espresso machine.
Six months later, they introduced it to Armando’s coffee dealer contacts in the Boston area who were surprised to see that it looked like a real commercial product. They loved the coffee, and agreed to carry the product. In December, 1993, they shipped their first machine to a Boston customer.
Just what makes an Espresso Armando machine better than the competition? “First there is the dual boiler which is a great key to ensure controlled temperature.” The machine also has a unique heating element system on several points of the water flow path, maintaining a consistent water temperature throughout the entire process. “All of our materials are a high level of stainless steel that is great for taste control and for safety. Existing machines all use copper and brass in the brewing system mainly in the piping and feeding.” The last significant technical feature is the brewing head that distributes the water through the coffee. “Some machines are not very good at distributing the water through the bed of coffee to ensure an optimal use and even extraction of the elements from the coffee. I feel ours does this very well.” The Espresso Armando machine is a triumph of layout and design. All of the components are neatly laid out, and the wiring and tubing is numbered for easy reference. Furthermore, the majority of the components are sourced from the U.S. which provides Armando with a steady supply source.
The Coffee Industry – Taste and Technology
cup of joeThe production and sale of espresso machines is dominated by Italy, France, and Spain. Apparently, espresso was developed by the French for a World’s Fair in the 19th century. The Italians quickly adopted it as their preferred way of preparing coffee. The first commercial manufacturers of espresso machines were Italians. By the 1950s, it was the main way to drink coffee in Italian coffee shops. This fashion resulted in a big demand for these machines. Armando estimates there are 200,000 commercial coffee bars in Italy. Apparently there is no dominate brand of espresso machine. Regional manufacturers dominate their territory because of their proximity to customers.
“This is a new thing in the U.S. therefore all of the expertise comes from Italy so it makes sense to import their machines over to here.” Surprisingly, the large distributors in the U.S. allowed foreign manufacturers to control the domestic market, rather than developing their own technology and expertise. This was an advantage for Armando. “They were all bringing it over from Europe. To the U.S. this was a commodity business therefore there was not a lot of expertise on these issues for developing fine coffee preparation in the U.S.” The most significant lack of experience lay within the marriage of the two most important elements to this entire business according to Armando, “The lack of experience in the combination of the tasting expertise to understand the quality of the coffee beans themselves, with the expertise in the manufacture of the machine development.” Armando considers this combination to be one of his company’s strengths.
Armando educated himself on coffee, largely by practice. “I am a fanatical personality and when I get into something I want to learn everything about it, on the fast path.” He believes that self teaching is an effective way to learn . He felt his tasting ability was just as accurate as the coffee experts.
When Armando started meeting more influential people within the industry, he refined his coffee tasting expertise. He regularly tastes coffee with the founder of a New England coffee store chain called Coffee Connection. It was acquired by the larger Starbucks chain a couple of years ago. The Coffee Connection’s founder is considered one of the top five coffee people in the U.S. “It being a passion, the love for espresso and tasting it a nd enjoying it, makes the work to build my expertise on tasting and evaluating it much more enjoyable and fun. If it were work I would not enjoy it nearly as much or be as good at it.”
Current Operations and Early Successes
All production – assembly, quality control and shipping – goes on in their New Hampshire facility. Sheet metal, boilers, and brewing heads are fabricated to their specifications. Armando does all of the design work, and all of the coffee tasting relating to the design. The management of the business is divided between Armando and Geri. She does the parts ordering and accounting. Armando also handles most of the sales with the remainder handled by a part-time sales associate. “Anything other than the ordering functions, the accounting functions and the assembly functions is my responsibility. Steering the business, dealing with customers, much of the sales efforts and design and prototyping is my responsibility.”
Unlike many entrepreneurs who have learned these various functions by trial-and-error, Armando’s prior professional experience has guided him along the way. “I worked for a small company that did electronic devices all for the aerospace industry. My jobs were design, manufacturing, sales, engineering, production management. It really was a great primer for running my own manufacturing company because I did virtually everything there at one time or another except for accounting.” He was there for five years, and it was his last job before he went on his own.
One of Armando’s most potentially lucrative customer is Starbucks. He met Starbucks through his work with Coffee Connection. “There was a chance before the buyout for my machines to be used in the future stores of Coffee Connection, but just before that began the deal went through with Starbucks.” Starbucks saw his test machine in the Coffee Connection lab, and continued its testing. They have purchased several units for field testing. As far as Armando knows, the machines have performed very well. Someday they hope to be a supplier to Starbucks.
Current dealers are coffee roasters working primarily out of Alaska, Colorado, Texas and Boston. “We have made direct sales and are in a national French bakery and cafe chain called La Madelaine which are experiencing positive results from the machine’s use.