There are a few glimmers of commercial light in beverage service From classic Italian espresso machines to the simple coffee machines there is a handsome gap between beverage cost and selling price.

Ingredients represent just a part of the overall cost of producing a cup of coffee, a fact conveniently airbrushed out when ingredient suppliers quote bean cost per cup at a few pence and selling price above £1. But there are good profits in tea and coffee, and the way to them lies in choosing the right machine.

Cafetiere

They don’t come much simpler than this system, but a cafetiere is useful for delivering a pot of freshly made coffee to a restaurant table. They are sized by the number of cups they hold, and a restaurant may have to carry a range of sizes. Check to see if the model being selected is dishwasher-safe, as some are not.

Pour-over Coffee Machine

This is the familiar balloon-shaped glass jug unit, usually two jugs to a unit, one being filled from hot water run through coffee grounds held in a filter while the other is kept warm on top of the machine with a heat pad. This system is inexpensive and provides a good cup of coffee, providing the coffee is not allowed to stew on the heat pad for too long. One hour is considered the maximum time to hold coffee in this manner. Pour-over systems are ideal for catering operations such as pubs, cafes and small restaurants, where demand is steady, but not huge.

Espresso machines

These are the machine of choice where coffee quality is of paramount importance, such as in quality restaurants, cafes’-bars and busy food-led pubs.

The semi-automatic espresso machines need dispense staff to be well trained in machine operation to provide coffee with the best flavour and the trademark creamy topping on espresso called the crema. Inconsistencies in the drink come mostly through incorrect loading and manual compression of the grains in the dispense head before it is locked into the brewing position.

Fully automatic espresso machines require less operator skill, but staff still need proper training. These machines deliver quality with consistency and speed. They are not as quick as high-speed soluble machines, but the quality of the coffee is every bit as high as with traditional semi-automatic espresso machines.

In an automatic machine the coffee is held either in a hopper already ground, or as whole roast beans which are ground by the machine and held in a small enclosed secondary hopper.

Tea-making / water boilers An on-demand supply of very hot water is essential for every catering operation, and while tea making may be the main function of a hot water boiler, it has many more uses in a catering environment.

Airpots

This is the industry term for vacuum flasks that have a DIY dispense facility. They work with a pump mechanism, a lever-pull or by just unscrewing the top to allow air into the vacuum jug and pouring into a cup.

Milk warmers

It is very retro to offer customers warm milk to go with coffee, but there is still a niche market for silver service with the table staff holding two jugs, one of hot coffee, the other of warmed milk. Milk warmers are available from beverage equipment suppliers. The standard of operational and cleaning hygiene when using milk warmers must be high to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination.

An online magazine can be called by many names including ezine, e-zine, disk magazine, electronic magazine, cyberzine, hyperzine or an online journal. They are similar to online newspapers but have more of the traditional magazine format and tight control by editors or editorial boards to manage content and uphold their quality standards. Editors or boards review any submissions and make approvals of those accepted for publication online.

Online magazines are produced in digital format and are presented on their own websites. They could also be distributed via e-mail or mailed out in disk form on CD or DVD. These are highly competitive to traditional magazines because they do not have the expensive costs of production on paper and mailing costs. More creative time is devoted to content and layout and production costs are minimal. This may be the cause for some magazines shutting down their print operations today because they cannot remain cost competitive with an online magazine.

This type of publication is ideal for certain industries such as science and research. Current discoveries and research are published quickly and widely distributed over the Internet. Mainstream magazine names are also published online in an effort to remain in business. Going online is a natural progression for print publications if they want to stay in business and be competitive. Design and image manipulation tasks are much faster and easier in digital format than with print production. Making changes even after publication is possible with online electronic magazines.

The benefits of online publishing to the consumer are in the speed and accessibility of receiving these publications. There is no need to go to a store and spend time looking for wanted content. A simple browser search will bring up many suggestions to fit a search for a particular topic in magazines. Delivery is not even necessary for many electronic publications; the audience can simply read it online at that website. If the consumer is paying a fee for a publication it is instantly delivered to their online mailbox.

One drawback to online publishing of magazines may be that persons without computer and Internet access will not be able to review the magazine or receive delivery via email. This can be overcome somewhat by borrowing someone else’s computer or going to a library to read the online magazine.

An online magazine is easily started up by virtually anyone who has a computer and Internet service. A website is helpful but ezines can be sent out by email and be in a short and simple form. Expenses are minimal.