Café Biz Brisbane – Making profit out of cold beverages

Spiro Bellas sees far too many café businesses miss out on profits by failing to capitalise on customers’ thirst for cold beverages. It’s something he’s learnt over almost two decades in the industry, first owning three separate businesses in the heart of Sydney before moving on to work as International Coffee Trainer for Pie Face. It’s something he works to rectify each day for client franchises as Applications and Menus Specialist for DaVinci Syrups, owned by Kerry Ingredients, and it’s the reason he’s champing at the bit to speak at Café Talks at Café Biz in Brisbane.

Spiro says there is one simple reason café businesses let the profit from cold beverages slip through: education. “They don’t know about it. People don’t know or understand cold drinks can be made much quicker than coffee, the profit margins are greater than coffee and the drink maker doesn’t need to be skilled in the way a barista has to be now.”

Fortunately, the solution is as simple as the problem. “Most businesses could make great beverages, and a wide variety of them, with the ingredients and equipment they already have,” Spiro says. He suggests using a product like DaVinci’s Vanilla Syrup, already stocked by many cafes for flavouring coffee, in vanilla milkshakes rather than buying a separate product. “Milkshakes are massively on trend right now, and even if a café has to buy a milkshake maker it’s not a large outlay.”

Coming to Café Talks at Café Biz is crucial for businesses that are serious about making profits, Spiro says. “Many businesses, whether they’re starting out or have been around a while, they don’t necessarily have lots of resources on the ground when it comes to things like education. That’s why they need to attend things like the Roadshow, otherwise they won’t learn and grow. And that’s essential for bringing in profits.”