Posted March 23, 2018 8:48 am by Tony Hogarth
Coffee machines supporting fundraising for sports clubs
Fundraising through coffee sales in sports clubs is on the rise, with many clubs becoming aware of the need to keep their members and parents at the club grounds during the season. It is not enough to simply serve coffee it needs to be good quality coffee if you want to keep your customers at the club supporting your fundraising efforts.
I have spoken with several Junior football clubs recently who were offering coffee previously but losing out on the sales due to poor quality coffee. Their members simply went elsewhere, and many coffee van operators started to poach their sales.
What are the best coffee machines for sports clubs?
Below is a list of the most commonly asked questions and concerns clubs have and how they have overcome them.
Issue: The coffee quality needs to be good for our members to purchase from our club canteen
Solution: Fresh bean machines are a must, find a local roaster like Little Owl they can support your club and discuss wholesale prices.
Issue: We have volunteers who are not trained baristas and they can change during the season.
Solution: A manual Espresso machine can make great coffee but only if the person running it is experienced. Automatic machines have come a long way in the last 5 years producing barista quality coffee at the touch of a button, limiting the need for training. A machine that lets you push a button next to your selected drink and then does the work for you is a good solution. Many clubs have gone with Jura’s Giga range of coffee machines.
Issue: A common issue is a demand for up to 200 cups a day at short intervals, keeping up during these periods is paramount to profits.
Solution: While a manual Espresso 2 group machine can produce 2-4 cups at one time, the speed with which the drinks are completed comes down to a highly trained barista who can juggle many coffee requests at one time.
An automatic machine will produce 1-2 coffees by simply pushing a button and can take from 40 seconds to 1min depending on the type and size of the coffee. I recommend 8oz cups for optimum flavour and profits. A bonus with an automatic machine is that you can be preparing food and other customer requests at the same time, as the machine prepares coffee for you.
Sports clubs making coffee fundraising a success
Several clubs in Perth and WA have overcome the capacity for large volumes at once by purchasing or leasing two machines during the season. While this may seem excessive they have done their homework and realised the costs of equipment are outweighed by the revenue they will earn especially if they can pay off the machine over several months.
For example, a machine might cost from $3,950.00 to $5,500.00 + to purchase, if you are charging $3.50 per cup and making: $2.80 to $3.00 each time you sell a coffee that equals $560.00 – $1,200.00 dollars each weekend if producing 200 cups a day.
An example of how successful clubs have made selling coffee is (BZFC) Brunswick Zebras Football Club, the President has opted for a manual machine and keeps their volunteers The trained, in his own words “Coffee is our biggest fundraiser.” as mentioned in an interview with the Funding Centre
If you want advice or to discuss and sample the best options for your club whether it be an Espresso machine or Automatic, get in touch with us. We can supply all your coffee needs as a one stop solution.
Café Corporate supplying WA for over 20 Years.
Written by: Letitia Pearcy
Café Corporate.