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• Gen Z Workforce
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A global pandemic, a squeeze on fuel costs and the soaring cost of green coffee beans and energy - gee whiz. The cafe and broader hospitality scene has copped an absolute hiding in Australia and it was certainly nobody’s choice

Some operators have lost irreplaceable staff, 80% of their original menu, a large portion of their original customer base and many have lost their livelihoods. The pain and suffering throughout the entire coffee supply chain has been immense, and we all cling to hope while bracing for more woes..

It makes sense that watching our coffee industry begin to rise from these ashes is quite a glorious spectacle to witness and a welcome distraction as we turn our attention from emergency measures to rebuilding a more disaster-proof industry..

Changes of this magnitude can leave us a bit worse for wear, but the reward is an exciting landscape full of fresh possibilities and untapped potential.

It’s been a wild, kind of traumatic ride with a silver lining

Gen Z has firmly arrived in the workforce - the generation who have never known life without the internet - and we are all getting a crash course in their culture and outlook. 

The coffee industry was abruptly left without many seasoned employees to manage or train junior staff and new additions. The strain on café owners and the senior staff who did manage to ‘hang in there’ continues to be intense, left to do too many people’s jobs while frantically trying to train inexperienced new staff.  

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many career coffee professionals to jump into industries seen as more financially secure in a crisis. No matter how much you love your job, your family and basic living expenses aren’t negotiable for most.

But hey – the gloomiest of glooms is behind us. New cafe owners who are brimming with new ideas are moving in to fill the spaces left behind – so much so that we put together a ‘how to open a café’ resource to answer the call.

Much younger staff are replacing their seniors in a changing-of-the-guard not seen in our lifetimes, and injecting a vividly different take and attitude into it. They’re far more comfortable and savvy with technology, and many are bringing those much needed skills to the coffee table and helping cafes boost their online presence, customer engagement and operating systems

That doesn’t mean they don’t need mentors, training and the wisdom of their senior counterparts - few industries survive on dreams and enthusiasm alone. But we are sure to see big changes with menu offerings, coffee products and modes of delivery shifting to be more convenient, novel and far less complicated.

 

What our Aussie cafe survivors and start-ups have done right since 2022

When you can't change or control the things happening around you, all you can do is decide how to respond. It’s one of those things that is easy to say, but much harder to implement in practice. However, it’s safe to say that a number of cafe owners are doing just that. 

Naturally, the effect of having a suddenly much younger workforce increases a willingness to embrace different business models and ideas - many of which have been available for quite some time prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and cost-of-living hikes.

Some of the key changes to cafe operations and culture that are working for businesses and customers alike aren’t ground-breaking and we covered them far more extensively in our Lockdown Survival Guide released in 2021, but they were adopted at a lightning-fast pace when the need arose and few will consider them luxury ever again.

Self-serve is here to stay

Table service took an understandable hit - you can’t dine in if you aren’t even allowed into the building! But for most consumers, the pay-at-the-counter model has not only been completely acceptable - many consumers prefer it. For millennials and younger generations, ordering at the counter and being left to their own devices (literally) until their meal is unobtrusively delivered has been a major upside.

- Table service is not dead - Many younger generations simply don’t expect or want it in their day-to-day haunts when they are very often having a meeting, trying to work remotely or simply wish to be left with their thoughts. Paying at the counter before sitting down removes quite a number of interactions between a server and their customer, and that also removes the need for so many floor staff.

- Same staff, more productive work - This doesn’t necessarily mean cafes will have less staff. It means that those staff can be better focused on high quality food and beverage production and meaningful interactions with customers during service interactions.

- The target market demographic has shifted - It’s what happens in any industry when the largest percentage of customers shifts in generation. We’re simply seeing the cafe market reorganise itself according to customer needs and economic pressures.

While it will understandably be a change that saddens (or enrages) a portion of cafe customers who choose the experience of dining out because they love table service - the good news is that plenty of cafes have chosen to keep table service alive and well as a point of difference.

Embracing technology

With reduced staffing capacity and a host of restrictions, many cafes were finally pushed to take up existing coffee and POS Systems technology that streamlined their operations. Prior to COVID-19 much of this technology was already developed and available, but seen by many cafe owners as wanky, unnecessary or simply unaffordable.

The difference between those who took early advantage of more efficient technology and those that didn’t was seen very sharply during the early days of Australian lockdown, between those who managed to stay open for take-away options and those that had no capacity to do so. They simply didn't have the equipment or cafe layout for it.

These technologies, equipment and adjustments look like:

- Smarter coffee grinders with digital dosing based on time and weight such as the Anfim Practica and Mythos One

- Automatic tamping equipment with digitally set pressure and magnetic sensing like the Q2 Puqpress

- Coffee machines with built-in LCD digital timers, flow and steam adjustment capabilities and temperature fluctuation controls like the Rocket Espresso R9

- Automatic milk steaming stations like the Uber Milk Commercial Milk Frother

- Delivery systems and online ordering software such as HeyYou and Eatsap

- Integrated POS systems that connected seamlessly to bookkeeping software, EFTPOS facilities, online ordering software and customer rewards schemes

- Automatic dispensing equipment for things such as Acai, soft serve, and cold brew keg systems to keep things extra speedy

“Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?” Gen Z would ask us all, if they even know who Avril Lavigne is. If not, we can look forward to her vintage band t-shirts in the next 5 years.

A new look with improved experience

Many cafes had to drastically change the layout, entry and exit points of their stores when lockdowns and restrictions hit.

To minimise people being confused about where to order and where to wait without grouping together, many cafes have brought their barista stations and customer service points to the very front of the store. This allowed punters to both order and wait outside for their coffee and snacks, creating a real ‘walking drive-through’ effect.

Post-lockdown, many of those changes have stayed in place after showing cafe owners and customers alike that it was actually very loveable for a number of reasons:

• Less indoor space being taken up by customers waiting on take-away orders
• Reduced noise levels for customers dining in and staff working in the venue
• Reduced WH&S issues, with diners and staff less likely to bump into furniture or other people
• Increased space for equipment that supports faster, better quality production of coffee and food
• Decrease in labour time spent on in-house cleaning, re-stocking and non-necessary interactions, redistributed to time spent on direct customer service, online marketing and engagement, and product operations
• Faster coffee and food turnaround time for customers
• Online ordering and delivery options becoming more common place and well serviced

But arguably the biggest cost-saver for cafes and small business owners in general? Without a need for so much space, there’s now the option to save money by leasing or buying a much smaller commercial property.

Shipping container and shed set-ups are on the rise for reasons other than being excruciatingly trendy, and you may have noticed much smaller spaces in offices, banks and other venues too.

Get help with cafe design ideas that ensure you stay in business

Whether it's questions around the ideal cafe layout, what equipment to purchase, cafe menu ideas or how to train great baristas after such a big turnover - we’re here to help.

The team at Crema Coffee Garage has been well ahead of these changes for two key reasons:

1. It’s literally our job to be. Our business is built on staying informed.

2. We have a front-row seat to what works and what doesn't. Our cafe and restaurant clients vary wildly in business models.

After 20 years in the wholesale coffee roasting business, we’ve seen a lot. And while we felt significant pain alongside our clients during the last 2 years, our ability to quickly pivot towards different technologies and operating systems was hugely supported by our access to information. Knowing these options existed in the first place and knowing how they worked in practice was a huge advantage.

We work hard to ensure that all our clients can move just as fast as we do, and a pretty big part of that is education and explanation. So if you’re feeling lost or frustrated - don’t. For every problem there are people who make it their business to offer solutions.

Give us a call, flick us an email or march yourself in store to speak to one of our truly excellent team members. It’s not too late to start minimising expenses and maximising revenue in a tough climate, but sooner is always better.