| Burns Half-Bag Gas Roasting, Cooling, and Stoning Outfit |
Lambert Junior Gas Roasting, Cooling, and Stoning Outfit for Retail Stores (Capacity fifty pounds) |
A chain of coffee specialty stores in which the coffee is roasted fresh every day was started in California about the year 1916; and according to reports, it met with almost instant success. In this system, the proprietor buys the green coffee in large quantities, and it is roasted in each of his specialty stores, which are located in public markets, store windows, and alongside heavily traveled highways. The roasting machinery is invariably set up in front of the store where passers-by can easily see it in operation—and also smell the coffee roasting. Four years after starting the first store, there were fifty in operation along the Pacific Coast, doing an annual business of about $600,000, some units taking in more than $7,000 a month.
Model Coffee Departments
Authorities generally agree that a well laid out coffee department not only increases a grocer's coffee business, but speeds up sales in other departments as well. Coffee lovers, and they are legion in the United States, are inclined to "shop around" for a coffee that suits their taste; and when they have found the store that sells it, they buy their other groceries there also. Another argument advanced in favor of a coffee department is that coffee pays more money into the retailer's cash drawer than any other grocery item.[341]
Most successful retail coffee merchandisers establish the coffee department near the entrance to the store, where it can be seen through a window by passers-by, especially if there is an ornamental roasting and grinding equipment. It has been found that a department situated at the left of the entrance is almost certain to draw attention because people are inclined to glance in that direction first. Some merchants, having the space, erect attractive booths, designed somewhat like the familiar food-show booths, directly in front of the door, after the fashion of department stores when holding a special sale on a certain article. Such a booth is generally used for demonstration purposes, and is decorated with signs and possibly with bunting. A permanent department is usually less ornamental, but still attractive. In telling how he made a success of his department, one American grocer said that he was careful that his fixtures were not so ornamental as to draw attention from the goods. While the decorations were always attractive, they were subordinated sufficiently to form a background for his coffee display.
Faulder and Simplex Gas Roasters in an English Factory
The Faulder (on the left) is a 28-lb. indirect machine and the Simplex (also 28 lbs. capacity) is of the direct-flame, quick-roaster type
The most popular layout is the conventional counter system behind which the clerk stands to serve the customer on the other side. There are many advocates of the counter that is built into the shelving, believing that the closer the customers are brought to the coffee, the more they will be inclined to buy. This system also makes for cleanliness, doing away with the possibility of the runway behind the counter becoming a catch-all for dirt, torn paper, bits of wood, and the like.