We're all set to open the Decent Espresso Factory Cafe on tuesday morning, at 9am.  There's a TV news crew coming on tuesday, and a video documentary crew on thursday.  We're trying out several ideas at once, here in this space.

Online menu, Payment, Order fulfilment

All ordering and payment is done via your phone, at https://decentespresso.com/factorycafe and we'll have that page translated into a few languages.   On the right side of this photo, left of the two white Niche grinders, you can see a tablet. That's an order tracking system that I've written.  As people place orders with their phones, their orders appear there. They can be made in their entirety, or partially and tracked, via this tablet.

My plan is to use the cafe to develop an cafe IT system that integrates well with our espresso machines, and to make that available to our customers.  My next step is to have the pending orders appear on the Android tablets above the espresso machines, when they're not actively making coffee, so that everything can happen on one screen.  By "eating our own dog food" (as the expression goes) I hope to create something that works well, in the real world world, and is "battle tested".

We essentially have created a four-group espresso machine setup, scalable to 4 people working independently behind the bar. With ordering and payments fully automated, we think we can very efficiently serve a very large number of people.

The DEN

The Decent Espresso Nook, in the back left corner of the cafe, is a simulated home setup where we'll leave you alone to play around.  You've got cabinets above you, a Niche grinder, and all the accessories you need to make coffee. The idea here is to let you hide in a corner, not be judged, so you can take your time deciding if this machine is for you.  Apologies for the slightly sad photo: we'll flesh this out a bit more this week.  All our accessories will be there for you to try, and you can buy them in person, taking them home with you.

Book a table

We're located in a district that used to be all factories, but now mostly converted to white collar jobs.  There's a shortage of nice places to meet.  We've intentionally built out meeting areas, with seating for up to 12 people, and these will shortly be bookable online.  We'll charge HK$100 (USD$13) per hour, per-person, for locals to reserve a table for their meetings. That includes all the coffee and cookies they can consume during that time.  Timberyard Cafe in London, had executed brilliantly on that business model, and they were always packed.  They sadly sold their business to a bigger company that went bust, but I've always wanted to follow through on what I'd seen them do.

Bengle for you

There's a Bengle "Alpha 3" espresso machine, plugged in an available for you to try, on its own podium.  We'll replace this with Beta 1, in a few weeks, and the release model when it's available.

Watch the action and participate

In a few days have a 4k TV mounted behind the bar, as well as ceiling mounted video cameras mixing live footage of the barista's moves, onto the big screen.  You'll be able to watch the de1app, as well as puck prep, espresso making, latte art pouring, all on the big screen.

I'd like to have frequent "youtube live" shooting of the live cafe, with viewers at home being able to ask questions of us.

We'll be hosting coffee events here, and we're planning for Scott Rao's visit, as well as other ideas.

#ideas #FactoryCafé