Eversys is expanding its presence in Southeast Asia where the region is booming with coffee shops and passionate people who want to grow the potential of high-quality coffee.
If the Italians invented espresso and Australia is credited in taking specialty coffee to the next level, Asia is considered the next mecca for coffee innovation, according to Swiss espresso machine manufacturer Eversys.
“It’s where we see the next level of innovation and where people are really committed to experimenting with specialty coffee in the form of menu development. It extends to beverage creations with syrups, cold coffee recipes, signature drinks, and mixology,” says Eversys Global Marketing Director Andre Eiermann.
Eversys coffee machines have a strong footprint in North Asia, including Korea and Japan, and a growing one in the Southeast Asia. As such, it opened a Singapore office in December in 2022 and a showroom in Indonesia just a few months later to support many of the rapidly expanding hospitality businesses and coffee shops.
“Eversys’ presence in Southeast Asia is critical to building engagement with the local coffee community.
We want to be close to the innovation melting pot, and we want to have an active role in the coffee scene,” says Eiermann. “Together, we can collaborate with the next generation of baristas and coffee professionals, learn from each other, understand their future needs, and support their innovative ideas with Eversys machines and technology. We are confident we can grow jointly together, and build a future that enables baristas to reach their potential with beverage pride and mastery.”
What’s really enabled Eversys’ growth, says Eversys Commercial Director Christian Haueter, is its ability to bring the brand closer to people. “Indonesia has a population of more than 270 million people, Malaysia has around 33 million, and then there’s Thailand and Vietnam, all these very interesting markets that are just jumping into coffee and adapting to higher specialty qualities, and we’re growing with them,” Haueter says. “It’s going to be an intense movement over the next couple of years, and is the reason we want to give a special focus to Northern Asia and the Southeast Asian markets.”
Eversys Regional Director, APAC, Fabian Fredriksson, has witnessed first-hand the increase in specialty coffee shops and methods of consumption, having moved to Indonesia to open the Eversys office.
“Competition is fierce. COVID-19 has helped boost delivery coffee methods. Markets that already had the infrastructure for delivery services had a big advantage, like Indonesia. Equally, in-cup quality is very important and so is consistency,” Fredriksson says.
“What’s been interesting to notice over the last couple of years, is that the locals are also really proud of using their own locally sourced coffee beans from surrounding producing regions. In fact, they prefer it.”
Eiermann adds that Indonesia in particular, with its close proximity to Australia, has seen baristas travel across the Timor and Banda Sea to learn their craft, then return home with a renewed energy.
“Southeast Asian baristas learn from the best in Australia. They are amazing students, eager to work hard, very disciplined and passionate. When they travel back home, they apply their learnings, mix it with local needs, and then take it to the next level with their own twist. Because competition is fierce, beverage innovations are important, and so is the way it’s communicated, especially via social media. As such, local baristas move and act fast on many levels, in a very professional way,” Eiermann says.
“There’s also lots of innovation in coffee producing regions when it comes to post-harvesting processing methods. And specialty coffee shops are focused on serving high-volume, high-quality specialty coffee. Chain operators in Indonesia are pairing tasty espresso with the mixology of super exotic syrups that are sweet, colourful, chilled, intense-flavoured espresso drinks. The results are some really interesting beverages that go beyond an ordinary cup of coffee. In fact, they have become the new standard.”
One such customer willing to develop new drinks and attract new customers is TOMORO Coffee. It opened its first store in August 2022, currently operates 70 stores across Indonesia, and by end of June 2023, hopes to have 100 stores open for business. With the future aim to operate more than 1000 stores, TOMORO Coffee VP, Products and Supply Chains, Fish Sun, says standardisation, consistency, and high-quality output is the key.
“TOMORO coffee is a new venue. We considered the market of entry for some time, being Indonesia, one of the most populous countries in the world, with a high rate of coffee consumers,” Sun says. “Starbucks sits on top of the market with about 500 stores, and on top of that is various independent coffee shops, all committed to serving quality coffee, delivering customer service and providing a total coffee experience. At the other end of the scale is more than 40,000 convenience store outlets, which have started adding a coffee business with zero rental costs but represent convenience and affordability.”
That’s where TOMORO coffee saw a “huge gap” in the market to offer 100 per cent Arabica specialty grade coffee, which has since become a brand promise printed on all TOMORO Coffee cups.
“We knew what we wanted to offer to the market – affordable, specialty coffee – but we didn’t know how to get there,” Sun says. “In the past, there was really no quick solution, but now, thanks to partners like Eversys, it can help us achieve the growth we want to achieve.”
Thankfully, through his previous experience with a China-based specialty coffee chain which also partnered with Eversys, Sun convinced TOMORO Coffee’s other founding partners it was the right decision to succeed in the thriving Indonesia market.
“We became friends with Christian [Haueter] over time, gave Eversys machines a try, and it completely changed our understanding of what a super automatic machine could do. It’s revolutionary. It’s a tool for empowerment and it opens the doors to allow more wonderful people to be part of the coffee industry,” Sun says.
“Eversys machines have all the different parameters you can ever think of to customise the recipe, but ultimately, the barista or shop owner is still in control of every single element. What Eversys does, is allow the user to be more consistent and spend more time with the customer. Eversys is not trying to get rid of the barista. It’s just trying to redefine what a barista does, and that’s someone who takes care of the customer and shares the coffee experience with them.”
Currently, TOMORO Coffee shops use the Eversys E4 two-group machine and Cameo models, pending the shop’s size and output.
“The E4 is working out perfectly. It’s produces very consistent quality and is especially good for our high traffic stores. One machine can handle over 1200 cups per day at a single store. The Cameo model as a single-group workhorse. It can handle up to 500 cups in store. We especially like the design of the machines, to the point that the customer doesn’t even realise that it’s not a traditional model,” Sun says.
“We especially like the 1.5 step feature because our other promise at TOMORO Coffee is to source the best and freshest milk it can on the local market for traditional beverages. We love that the 1.5 step creates the atmosphere you expect from a coffee machine. It sets the scene. Customers need to hear grinding of coffee beans, smell the aroma of freshly extracted coffee, and see and hear the steam coming out of the steam wand. These are all essential elements of why a customer comes to a coffee shop.”
TOMORO Coffee has also tested Eversys’ new Légacy machine, which Sun says is ideal for Indonesia’s hot and humid climate.
“There is really no winter. A large majority of our coffee beverages are served cold. Therefore, the steaming requirements are not so prominent as say China or Korea or the United States. The Légacy is engineered to perform and built to last. It fits our business model in Southeast Asia perfectly,” Sun says.
A benefit to the Légacy, using the latest technology and heavy duty grinder, is its reduced power consumption. In Indonesia, and in most Southeast Asian countries, Sun says local power is not equipped to handle the needs of powerful coffee machines, and power upgrades are a costly and necessary investment.
“We can use Légacy in a street shop outlet doing between 300 to 500 cups a day, and we don’t need to update the power, which is a huge cost saving. It’s a small detail that really matters,” he says.
“We are bound in the direction of technological solutions, and Eversys really has been the best for us.”
Eversys will officially launch its Légacy model to the market at the end of 2023, and already Eversys’ Fredriksson anticipates huge uptake for Indonesia and Malaysia with coffee shops seeking solutions that embrace quality and efficiency.
“Training is still time consuming and difficult, and venues are looking to optimise workflow further, and that’s where Eversys’ Légacy fits in perfectly. Price wise, it’s competitive, but it also automates workflow, as do so many of our other models,” he says.
“We can’t wait to watch the Southeast Asian market grow. We’re passionate about being closer to our customers. We want to help our customers create the perfect espresso, and see it replicated in all their outlets. That’s what’s exciting for us.”
For more information, visit www.eversys.com/en/
This article was first published in the July/August 2023 edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.
