In a recent article by David Schepp that appeared in the Daily Finance by AOL entitled, “Coffee perks up July sales at McDonald’s”, he credited the positive performance of McDonald’s to their increase in sales of brewed beverages, mainly premium coffees. McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts can compete with Starbucks and other premium coffee houses because of the advancement of technology in the coffee/espresso markets.

Coffee remains a religious war; in that, the making of espresso/coffee is art vs. science. Most coffee/espresso machine manufacturers have been in the business over a century. These manufacturers from Italy, Switzerland, and Germany (mainly) crafted machines that were meant to be manually operated by artisans with proper skills and training that could craft the perfect cup of coffee. Coffee requires that many variables be taken in to account and adjusted to produce that perfect cup.

To the perfectionist, the coffee aficionado, technology can never replace the artisan but to a person like myself and 90% of the population a good barista can, in fact, tune a more automated coffee machine to produce a consistent almost perfect but maybe not quite, cup of coffee all day long.

Semi-Automatic or the newer Super Automatic espresso/coffee machines are coming into the modern age and taking advantage of science and computer controls. With the advantages provided by the newer technology Dunkin Donuts can produce and very solid, good tasting cup of coffee, espresso or cold coffee drink. Chain restaurants are successful because they can produce a consistent product, no matter where the location. It may not be the perfect meal but it is consistent.

I have interviewed Jerry Leeman formerly from Perk Dynamics, Inc. (www.posstrategies.com), a software company in Oklahoma, that is taking the technology to the next level. They have developed a software package, “AutoPerk™”, that connects the Point of Sale (POS) software directly to the newer Super Automatic coffee/espresso machines to interface with this software. Embedded in the machine is a display to provide drink queue and customer information. Having all the information about the drink and customer visible on the front of the espresso machine allows the barista to focus on preparing the next cup of coffee or add syrup for the next queued drink that the machines are not capable of adding (as far as I have seen).

The AutoPerk™ software also provides load balancing across multiple coffee machines and time-release queue for orders placed in advance. The software also allows the transmission of customer information stored in a loyalty system to be provided to the person serving the brewed beverage. This connection of the POS to the coffee machine will increase efficiency, reduce errors in ordering, reduce labor costs, decrease shrinkage, and increase overall customer satisfaction.

At least that was the message I got as I walked the trade show floor at the HotelWorld Expo convention in Las Vegas last week. I stopped counting the number of energy drink booths when I hit twenty.

A few of the more interesting energy drinks—

Jimmy Hendrix Energy Drink
A new energy drink called Liquid Experience, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, is being released this spring by Beverage Concepts. The drink, which is named after Hendrix’s breakthrough album, “Are You Experienced?” is nonalcoholic and uses the guitarist’s image as part of its promotional materials. Being a Hedrix fan, I personally think this is just going too far and really means nothing to the 18 year old the distributor is targeting who probably could not name one song by JH, including the drink’s namesake.

Playboy Energy Drink: “A Taste of the Good Life”
Really? Apparently Playboy Bunnies are no longer exciting enough.

Turn On Energy Drink
“TURN ON contains erotic herbs that when combined in this unique way gives you a feeling of warmth and sensuality, a nice tingling sensation flowing through your body, increased sexual energy and desire, and a delicious sensation of euphoria. TURN ON has a smooth, very good and different adult pleasing taste with a sparkling mouth feel and foamy carbonation.” – website product description.

This is Austin Powers “Mojo” in a can.

By the time I made it past just a few of these booths, my brain was about to explode. The barely dressed models pouring me generous samples of caffeine and gaurana infused syrup was just too much for my senses. So I moved on to a tequila booth to get my system balanced. Then it was off to the coffee area to get my now chemically saturated body back in check.

So what is it about energy drinks that get everyone so excited?

One word—PROFITS.

These drinks are cheap to produce. For pennies a can, you can make a lot of money peddling this stuff. The makers and distributors are making a lot of cash.

The basic ingredients are about the same. Some of the sales people even admitted to me that this was the case stating “Hey, it’s all about the marketing.”

I get that. Hype in a can. There is a sucker born every minute.

For someone tasked with sourcing the best new energy drink for their establishment, which products does one choose?

I suggest taking a look at each one and aligning the “marketing of the can” with your specific customer base. There is most definitely a can that is designed just for you. If not, there is a company that will design a custom label just for your establishment.

If you think I need another energy drink or think that I need to write about your latest and greatest, please feel free to send me a few cans!! I will happily (and probably with a lot of energy and “renewed focus”) write about your product on my blog.

I’m even thinking about an över5 energy drink.

Perhaps–

“över5 hours of jitters”?

Maybe you will see me at the next show; I will spare you the bikini.