Kopi is changing into costlier, in order that they turned to merchandising machines to make it extra accessible
Singapore has a wealthy and saturated espresso scene, from heritage manufacturers like Killiney to native aesthetic cafes. However for Leow Jun Heng and Loh Jian Yuan, the nice ol’ usual cup of kopi is their go-to caffeine repair.
The duo first met in early 2024 by way of frequent buddies and bonded over their love for the beverage, however quickly got here to grasp how the COVID-19 pandemic had elevated the working prices of companies, together with Singapore’s kopitiams, making cup of kopi much less accessible.
“I believe getting a constant cup of kopi is getting more durable. The pandemic accelerated it, with some areas stopping operations,” lamented Jun Heng.
Decided to make it extra accessible, the duo determined to discover merchandising machines as an answer. Drawing on Jun Heng’s three years of expertise within the merchandising machine area and Jian Yuan’s self-taught barista expertise, they launched Kopi Close to Me, a kopi merchandising machine enterprise that has expanded to 70 areas throughout the island inside only one yr.
Vulcan Submit sat down with the duo to find out how they differ from different merchandising machine manufacturers and what their recipe for fulfillment is.
Brewing kopi persistently
At the moment, Kopi Close to Me’s merchandising machines serve three sizzling drink choices: Kopi, Kopi-C, and Kopi-O. Prospects also can customise the drink to be thicker (gao), much less candy (siew dai), or with out sugar (kosong), which ranges from S$1.10 to S$1.70 relying on location.
Whereas espresso merchandising machines usually are not a brand new idea, they usually provide Western-style espresso choices. Jun Heng and Jian Yuan believed that having localised choices is extra appreciated by shoppers in Singapore, and follows the evolution of the merchandising machine trade.
“It’s not the very commonplace prepackaged meals. These days, merchandising machines try to push the boundaries of what’s truly doable to be served,” defined Jun Heng.
However attaining the appropriate style and consistency for his or her kopi proved difficult. Completely different merchandising machine fashions have various calibrations and techniques, which made standardising recipes tough.
Therefore, to check their idea, the duo determined to buy 10 completely different merchandising machines, which required a S$200,000 upfront dedication.
“If it have been something much less, then we would not be giving it a good probability to succeed, whether or not it’s a machine or location-specific problem,” shared Jian Yuan, including that the transfer made the operation asset-heavy.
Jun Heng and Jian Yuan additionally took the time to determine the “Golden Ratio” for his or her kopi, which I ultimately discovered wasn’t in relation to particular numbers, however is used as a method to describe how the enterprise tunes its recipe reasonably exactly, all the way down to the gram, to make sure consistency throughout all their merchandising machines.
Small adjustments may cause espresso to style completely different. Even in kopitiams, the place the identical espresso powder and recipe are used, a slight variation in the way it’s brewed can result in noticeable variations in flavour. That’s why the duo pays such shut consideration to precision.
Rising their fleet with new options
Jun Heng and Jian Yuan took roughly 9 months to excellent their recipe and supply the appropriate beans from native suppliers. Finally, in Oct 2024, the duo efficiently deployed their first merchandising machine at Sunshine Plaza.
Only a yr after its launch, Kopi Close to Me now operates over 37 machines throughout the island.
Jun Heng defined that deciding on areas includes each technique and experimentation. Their core focus is on areas with frequent merchandising machine customers, resembling workplace buildings and industrial zones, whereas their secondary goal contains extra area of interest audiences, like round the clock hospital workers and personnel at military bases.
This strategy additionally helps offset downtime. “Throughout vacation durations, areas which can be within the workplace or industrial areas would do poorer, however our deployments, for instance, at Tanah Merrah Ferry Terminal, the place persons are touring to Batam or Bintan, then gross sales there are doing extraordinarily nicely.”
To this point, take-up for Kopi Close to Me’s choices has been promising. “Till as we speak, I believe we’ve got crossed a couple of quarter of one million cups of espresso served,” shared Jun Heng, including that the corporate has generated month-to-month revenues of roughly S$80,000 to S$90,000 over the previous two months.
The enterprise has even obtained a number of enquiries from institutions trying to provide their espresso in workplace pantries—however the merchandising machines needed to be tailored, as these corporations usually lack the area or sources for a standard espresso setup.
This led to the launch of tabletop machines in Mar, that are smaller, extra moveable variations of Kopi Close to Me’s merchandising machines. The corporate has deployed 33 of them, bringing the overall variety of merchandising machines it operates to 70.
Introducing these machines allowed the enterprise to extend the variety of touchpoints and use instances, which has additionally helped diversify its income streams and opened the doorways to partnership alternatives with a number of corporations.
Amongst its companions are Japanese drugstore big Welcia, Singaporean well being meals chain Grains & Co, and Chinese language quick meals buffet model Hundred Grains.
Conserving issues measured because it grows
Whereas the pair has expressed ambitions to extend the overall variety of touchpoints to 300 by 2026 and introduce extra native drinks resembling Teh and iced choices, they’re additionally adopting a extra pragmatic strategy to make sure Kopi Close to Me’s long-term sustainability.
Specialised merchandising machine companies, resembling Kopi Close to Me, require resilient and well-developed techniques to make sure a constant provide of components, which is a extra complicated operation in comparison with stocking canned drinks and packaged meals. As such, the corporate will give attention to strengthening its workflows and crew construction to help the enterprise’s progress.
With extra companies rising with their very own merchandising machines, buyer expectations have been raised, and it has pushed them to introduce extra progressive but handy and contemporary F&B choices. The barrier for the pair proper now could be getting the economics proper, however to Jun Heng and Jian Yuan, it’s a problem they’re itching to sort out.
Be taught extra about Kopi Close to Me right here.
Learn extra tales we’ve written on Singaporean companies right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Kopi Close to Me
