All About Coffee, William H. Ukers [short story to read .txt] 📗
- Author: William H. Ukers
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The chain-store men are organized in the National Chain Store Grocers Association, having thirty members, representing 12,000 stores, operating in eighteen states. It is estimated that there are fifty responsible chain-store grocery organizations in the United States, representing about 30,000 stores. The chain-store grocer turns his stock over from twelve to twenty-five times a year, sells for cash, makes no deliveries, and claims to save the consumer an average of fifteen percent in buying. These stores do business on a net margin not exceeding three percent on sales, as against the average retail grocer's thirty percent, while their average gross cost of doing business has been stated as between thirteen and one-half percent (lowest) and eighteen and one-half percent (highest).
According to Alfred H. Beckmann, secretary-treasurer of the National Chain Store Grocers' Association,[337] "Public appreciation of the chain grocery store is rapidly growing. Ten years ago it was estimated that chain stores in what is known as the Metropolitan district of New York did about 121⁄2 percent of the volume of business in their line, while today it is estimated at about fifty percent".
It is estimated that the fifty-odd chain store organizations in the United States distribute through their 30,000 stores 270,000,000 pounds of coffee a year, or about twenty percent of the total amount consumed in the United States.
Starting in the Retail Coffee Business
When taking up the retail merchandising of coffee, the practical grocer learns all he can about the popular grades to be had in the principal markets, and how the coffees are grown, roasted, blended, and ground. He also ascertains the best methods of brewing, testing out each grade and kind on his own table, if he does not have testing facilities in his store. He studies the relative trade values of different varieties of coffee, and the requirements of his particular clientèle.
An interesting analysis of some 250 grocery stores in the United States[338] made in 1919, showed that twenty-nine percent of the dealers bought all their coffee from wholesale grocers, forty-eight percent exclusively from roasters and specialty wholesalers, ten percent got over one-half of their coffee from wholesale grocers, and thirteen percent bought less than one-half from the wholesale grocery houses.
There are two fundamental plans on which a retailer builds a successful coffee business—by buying coffee already roasted, and by buying it green and roasting it in the store. Each plan has its advantages; but its practicability depends upon conditions in different localities.
Beyond acquiring a general talking knowledge about coffees, the retailer buying his stocks roasted in bulk or package form does not generally need the intimate knowledge of his goods required by the grocer who roasts his own coffee. If he grinds the coffee for his customers he must know the type of grind best suited to the way the coffee is to be brewed, and must be able to tell the best brewing method.
The practical grocer who makes up his own blend is acquainted with blending principles and methods. "While he can not expect to be as expert as the large wholesale blender, he should know that green coffees are generally classified by blenders in five great divisions; (1) Brazils, including Santos, Bourbon and flat bean, Rios, Victorias, and Bahias; (2) Washed milds, embracing, as of the most commercial value, Bogotas, Bucaramangas, Guatemalas, Mexicans, Costa Ricans, Maracaibos, and Meridas; (3) Unwashed milds, such as Maracaibos, Bucaramangas, La Guairas, and Mexicans; (4) Javas, Sumatras, and Padangs; (5) Mocha, and Harari."
Close-up of the Miniature Manufacturing Plant, Showing the Roasting and Grinding Equipment
Close-up of the Miniature Manufacturing Plant, Showing the Roasting and Grinding Equipment
APPLYING THE SPECIALIST IDEA TO COFFEE MERCHANDISING
The Pacific Stores Co., Los Angeles, cutting out deliveries, premiums, and solicitors, has built up a business of more than 100 bags of coffee daily, selling direct to the consumer in a chain of 100 booths patterned after the country-roadside gasoline stations; each one having its own roaster]
It has been found by experience that a good assortment for the average retailer to carry consists of Santos, because of price; a natural unwashed Maracaibo or Bucaramanga, because of full body and general blending values; and a washed coffee, preferably a Bogota, which gives quality and character to a blend. In stocking up with these coffees, the practical merchant avoids Santos with a strong or Rioy flavor, bitter or "hidey" Maracaibos, and acidy or thin Bogotas.[339]
A grocer equipped with these coffees has the Santos for his low-priced seller. For his medium grade he blends Santos and Maracaibo, half-and-half. The next higher grade is made up of one-third each of the three coffees; while the best blend consists either of half-and-half Bogota and Maracaibo, or three-quarters Bogota and one-quarter Maracaibo.
The chief advantage of these three coffees is that they blend well in any way they are mixed; and the dealer with a little experience, and working with the two necessary ideas in mind—satisfactory coffee and price—can make up various combinations.
In view of the fact that the United States imports coffee from more than a hundred different sections of the world, and that there are wide variations in flavor among the coffees produced in each of the hundred, it is easy to understand that the blender has an almost unlimited supply from which to make up a blend with a distinctive individuality. Practically all coffee importers, and most wholesalers, are thoroughly acquainted with the relative trade values of the different coffees, and help their customers make up desirable blends.
Small Roasters for Retail Dealers
While the wholesale coffee roaster is obliged to instal a large and somewhat complex equipment, the retailer must use a small, compact, self-contained unit that does not take up much space in his store, and that is easily operated. Retail roasting machines are constructed on the same general principle as the wholesale roaster. The roasting cylinder is generally revolved by electric power, and the heat is derived from gas or gasoline fuel. Cooling is by air suction in a box attached to the roaster. The capacities of the machines range from ten to three hundred pounds, the operating cost running from approximately eight cents per hundred pounds for gas fuel and ten cents for electric power. The roasters cost from three hundred dollars for the smaller sizes, to fifteen hundred for the one-bag type; and to two thousand or three thousand dollars for the two-bag type.
One coffee-roaster-machinery manufacturer has recently brought out a gas-fired, electrically operated fifty-pound miniature coffee-roasting plant designed for retail stores, which comprises a roaster, a rotary cooler, and a stoning device, that sells for six hundred and fifty dollars.
Retail coffee roasting is similar to the wholesale operation. When the cylinder has become heated, the green coffee is run in and allowed to roast in the revolving cylinder for about half an hour. If the coffee is the average green kind, the full heat may be applied at once; but if old and dry, a lesser degree is used. When the roast begins to snap, the flame is turned lower to allow the beans to cook through evenly; and when nearly done, it is almost extinguished. During the operation, the roasterman, who may be the proprietor or a clerk delegated to the work, frequently "samples" the coffee by taking out a small quantity with his "trier" and comparing the color of the roast with a type sample. When the colors match exactly, the coffee is dumped automatically into the cooler box just below the cylinder opening; and when sufficiently cooled off, is ready for grinding to order.
A large number of retailers roast coffee in their stores; and the most successful find that besides being able to make a feature of freshly roasted coffee, they can save money and increase their sales. One progressive grocer found that he was able to get eighty-eight pounds of roasted coffee out of one hundred pounds of green coffee, as compared with the wholesaler's eighty-four pounds; that he could buy green coffee at a closer price than roasted; and that it cost him less for labor, fuel, overhead, and similar items, than it did the wholesale roaster to turn out a roast.[340]
(Capacity fifty pounds)
A chain of coffee specialty stores in which the coffee is roasted fresh every day was started in California about the year 1916; and according to reports, it met with almost instant success. In this system, the proprietor buys the green coffee in large quantities, and it is roasted in each of his specialty stores, which are located in public markets, store windows, and alongside heavily traveled highways. The roasting machinery is invariably set up in front of the store where passers-by can easily see it in operation—and also smell the coffee roasting. Four years after starting the first store, there were fifty in operation along the Pacific Coast, doing an annual business of about $600,000, some units taking in more than $7,000 a month.
Model Coffee Departments
Authorities generally agree that a well laid out coffee department not only increases a grocer's coffee business, but speeds up sales in other departments as well. Coffee lovers, and they are legion in the United States, are inclined to "shop around" for a coffee that suits their taste; and when they have found the store that sells it, they buy their other groceries there also. Another argument advanced in favor of a coffee department is that coffee pays more money into the retailer's cash drawer than any other grocery item.[341]
Most successful retail coffee merchandisers establish the coffee department near the entrance to the store, where it can be seen through a window by
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