How can franchise and chain stores pick up recognition for their roasted coffee?
If I was to create an emotive, sometimes nostalgic moment in life; can I take you back to the old batch brew coffee served in franchisee restaurants?
You know, the black stuff that sat on the hot plate, which might not have been terrible for those opening few minutes of freshness, but quickly became ghastly and over-stewed?
Now, let’s bring you back to the modern day where even franchisee coffee can be fresh, well made barista coffee.
In a weeks’ time Hungry Jacks are bringing barista-made coffee to Canberra for trials, while McDonalds have been serving coffee from their drive-thru’s for over a quarter of a century.
So, how can franchise and chain stores pick up recognition for their roasted coffee?
Whereas independent cafes have been picking up awards from a myriad of competitions judged by consumers and the industry, the franchise and chain stores have little chance to compare their coffee of excellence, or not so excellent in a competitive environment.
This opportunity is now necessary in the Australian coffee industry, which is worth $15 billion and growing, selling more than 4.4 billion cups of coffee every year from 175,000 espresso coffee services.
One such competition which is inclusive in this area, The Golden Bean has for several years, opened up its categories to include a Franchise/Chain Stores option.
Popular chain Aldi, has won Gold in the Franchise/Chain category at The Golden Bean (the world’s largest coffee roasters event), for 2 years running!
This is an incredible feat, when you consider their winning Lazzio Medium Roast coffee can be purchased for only a measly $6.99 for 500g. This aromatic blend was procured and produced by Black Bag Coffee Roasters/Veneziano Coffee, based in Melbourne.
They are the commercial division of the Nomad Coffee Group responsible for supplying cafes, restaurants and franchise networks across Australia.
This partnership between Aldi and Black Bag started in 2014.
Their award-winning coffee has seen the Lazzio blends grow from strength to strength, jumping off the shelf as Aldi coffee customers purchase the multi-award-winning coffee, featuring The Golden Bean award medal sticker on their packaging.
It is a fine example of how The Golden Bean winning coffee can help market a brand to stand out from other coffee brands.
Other franchisees who have fared well at The Golden Bean are: Foodco – Jamaica Blue, winning Overall Large Franchise in 2017; Espresso Room for Overall Small Franchise in the same year, roasted by ONA Coffee; Mantle & Moon have won a multitude of medals in Golden Bean since 2013; and Gloria Jeans took out a Gold for their Colombian coffee in Franchise/Chain Filter back in 2017.
With most other coffee industry competitions and events being postponed or cancelled this year, The Golden Bean team have put their heads together to come up with a Covid safe plan, to abide by the restrictions from the pandemic and still run The Golden Bean Coffee Roasters Competition in Port Macquarie this coming weekend 27th-29th Nov.
They have stripped back the number of categories from 11 to 5.
- Milk Based
- Espresso
- Filter Pour-Over
- Milk Franchise
- Alternative Milk
They have also had to restrict 1 entry per roaster in each category, as well as restrict the roasters to a max spend of $60 per kg of green beans (this one I specifically like, and in future years can see more categories being created, by green bean spend).
After a challenging year for most businesses, this will offer a great opportunity to celebrate the Australian coffee roasting industry, along with a chance for the roasters to hang an award-winning hat!
All categories are full to independent roasters, however, there are still a few entry spots left in the Franchise/Chain Store category. If you would still like to get involved, please contact Tilly Edwards on 0400 289 420. or email tilly@goldenbean.com
