Coffee And Espresso Machines in Gillingham

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918 Coffee Co
Gillingham, Dorset, sp84qa
918 opened its doors to the public on the 13th July 2009, dreamt up, designed, financed and run by Justin & Chanel Cornelius, a husband and wife team. Since then we have spent every minute of every day ensuring the business is fine tuned to the requirements of its customers. Our initial business plan took into account our geographical location being on the commuter route to and from Gillingham Railway station as well as having a car park and roadside presence, however in the first six months it became very clear that the level of custom coming from rail commuters was significantly lower than we would have liked or predicted, we widened our opening hours (6am-10pm!) to try and appeal to the early and late passengers and steadily over a period of 12 months people began to realise that we were a "little different", we were friendly, polite and professional. At around 18 months old our loyalty base had begun to grow and word of mouth began to take affect. It was at this stage we had been approached by the board of trustees for RiversMeet to see if we would consider replicating our coffee shop in their brand new £6M Leisure Centre. We were thrilled and agreed to do this to expand our business and to further promote our young brand. Having started our second coffee shop in Gillingham, we turned our attentions back to our station road branch which had been left in the hands of one of our assistant managers. We took a view that we had to provide something a bit "special" to people of the North Dorset area. It was then we developed our own brand of coffee and began roasting coffee for use in our own shops. It wasn''t long before our customers were asking where this coffee could be bought for their own home use. The 918 Brand had begun and we needed to provide our customers with the same quality of coffee they were enjoying in the coffee shops, so we spent more and more time ensuring our own branded coffee was available to the public in our station road branch to buy for home use, this quickly turned into producing for local farm shops, community stores, a local supermarket, hotels, pubs, restaurants and other coffee shops. The brand had spread from Gillingham to as far as Beijing, Bulgaria, Russia and throughout the UK. We could never have envisaged such a huge growth in what was such a small business initially. Today we roast and blend over 30 different origins of coffee from around the world and sell our coffee in numerous locations throughout the UK. Roasting, Blending and making great coffee has become a passion for me now and we have now started our own coffee training course and on site tuition as well as coffee machine supply and training. Still working 7 days a week to ensure our customers always receive the best possible coffee available from polite friendly and professional staff. Our brand and reputation have grown on the strength of our loyal customers who repeatedly come back for coffee daily and introduce new people, friends & family to us because of our customer service. It is our firm believe that people enjoy learning about the coffee process and at 918 they are always welcome to ask questions watch the whole process taking place. We pride ourselves on our knowledge, professional approach to business and passion for the business. It is this that people recognise and enjoy. We are always enthusiastic and cheerful, polite and friendly which provides the customer an inviting environment to be in. People will often come into the shop a little cautious having not been in before and often spend 2-3 hours in the shop, chatting and talking to one of us about the business, how it has developed and how it intends to expand. One of our customers commented "you have so much energy that it rubs off on me, coupled with the caffeine I always leave here with a buzz", which we feel reflects how our energy rubs off on our customers and they are left wanting to come back. Advertising is a risky business at best, it can cost a small fortune and if not planned properly can have little or no positive impact on your business, which is why our commercial advertising is kept to a bare minimum and the majority of our advertising comes from word of mouth and recommendation. We now roast and blend coffee specific to customer requests which gives it a very personal touch and our customers appreciate the efforts we go to for them. We are always asking for our customer feedback, any short comings are immediately rectified and any positive ideas are duly considered and often implemented, which again, shows we listen and act on the requests of our customers. Our customer loyalty is now visibly growing by the day and we are now running at capacity 7 days a week, which has left us wondering where to go from here. 918 Coffee Co. is a young growing company that has enjoyed an organic growth through the first two years, but having now dedicated its attention to great customer service the last year has seen tremendous growth and has given the business new direction and drive. We have a large community of loyal local customers who all love to come in and chat and enjoy our coffee as well as having a rapidly expanding customer base further a field who enjoy our coffee and great customer service for a distance. In a world that sometimes seems to have lost the ability to provide a great service to its consumers it is wholesomely rewarding to be part of a company that thrives on its customer service. We go to great lengths for our customers as I myself would want to have done for me. People recognise great service and come back for more. "918 Coffee Co is a peoples company" The business has now become very well known, people now travel from neighbouring towns and villages to drink our coffee and we have had to open 7 days a week to keep up with the coffee orders as well as offering our customers an extra day that they can come and enjoy the coffee and conversation! We are as busy in the shop as we are selling and distributing our coffee to people which is a tremendous achievement for us and we now aim to push even further with the coffee sales. Providing our customers with 100% commitment to service and 100% to quality is the only way we will keep growing at the rate we are currently. It becomes harder and harder as we grow bigger, but we enjoy the challenge and see every new order the same way we did the first. Putting the customer first ensures we stay ahead of the competition. We have had to implement new systems and procedures to the business to ensure no-one is missed or forgotten, new accounts packages to ensure the finance is kept up to date and more efficient outsourcing for labels, bags etc. With the company growing the way it is, has made us ultimately much more aware of the economies of scale and the need for reliable suppliers, making us a wiser company. Our business is speciality coffee, from the raw green coffee beans, roasting and blending, grinding and making. We deal with every aspect of the coffee process apart from the actual growing of it. We offer our in store customers a luxurious shop surrounding to enjoy one of 14 styles of coffee from over 50 types of coffee bean, fresh coffee roasting in store for retail and brewing as well as sales of coffee equipment, ancillary coffee items or coffee "know-how". From the home user to the commercial makers, 918 Coffee Co. covers all aspects of the coffee business. We supply and install commercial machines to pubs, hotels, restaurants, clubs, bars, bistros and cafes, supply coffee as far as China and train the art of "The Barista" to anyone wanting to get involved in the business. All with a personal touch, a high level of customer focus and a desire to do it better than anyone else. We have a very small group of competitors in the Dorset area, but we have set ourselves apart from them by having our own coffee shops, this way our customers don''t have to trust the word of a sales person, they can come in and see and taste for themselves. We currently employ 6 members of staff with a view to taking on a further two to assist us with the coffee production in the near future. At the current growth rate we are experiencing, we will look to take on a new unit in the area to develop further production for the growing market. Our passion, drive and determination for the business is what keeps us going and the enjoyment of small success is a worthy reward for the time we dedicate to it. We have great plans for the future, but know we must grow the business organically and not expand too quickly to ensure the successful growth for the future and the involvement of the next generation coffee masters (our two children). We feel that it is important that customers and general public enjoy great coffee, it is available now and they should insist on having it. It is with this in mind that we want everyone to know about 918 Coffee Co, and our passion for the industry and the desire for everyone to have access to great coffee. It is without doubt that our enjoyment and passion for our product has helped us realise the growth we have achieved and will continue to enjoy while we remain customer focused as we intend.
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