Zarraffa's Coffee invests in technology to systematise its growing business
Zarraffa’s Coffee's founder and managing director Kenton Campbell said that IT plays a significant role as the brand expands into New South Wales and further into Western Australia. With 80 stores so far across Australia, Zarraffa's Coffee has invested significantly in human resources and developed an in-house IT team, in addition to a dedicated Business Analyst to interact with real time KPIs, providing clarity for sound decisions across the business.
QSR Media: What's new at Zarraffa's Coffee?
It’s an exciting time for the business as we’re moving to our multi-million dollar head office based at Eagleby, midway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, at the end of June. This will also house a brand new roasting facility, which will double our current capacity and will be the company’s logistical hub for Australia. It’s a massive undertaking for the business that also includes moving 1000 square metres of offices and transitioning to a completely paperless operation.
In addition to this, we are on track to open 17 drive-thru stores this year across Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia.
QSR Media: What's the brand's outlook on the overall beverage industry?
Whilst I can’t speak to the whole industry, the coffee industry has gone through significant changes and we at Zarraffa’s and our franchisees have evolved with those changes. This has included a large focus on being accessible to our customers and delivering what they want - be it a beverage or accompanying food items.
QSR Media: What are some of the product innovations slated to be launched this year?
We’re excited to continue to work on our food offering. I believe we still have some way to go on our food, with the hardest part centred around the logistics of getting the same or similar product, consistently to all our stores in Australia. This is something we will work on over the next 2 years.
We’re also committed to improving our customer experience and the standard of our offering of each instore or drive-thru interaction.
QSR Media: What are the brand's expansion plans and how will technology play a part on the development?
With our growth into New South Wales and further expansion into Western Australia, IT will play a significant role. To that end, we have invested significantly in human resources and developed an in-house IT team, in addition to a dedicated Business Analyst, through which we are able to interact with real time KPIs, providing clarity for sound decisions across the business.
We are opening 17 stores this calendar year and working on our a three year plan to complete our brand business model. This requires a heavy reliance on technology tools to systemise and better integrate the growing footprint of our business.
QSR Media: Any big plans for the year?
This will be the biggest year Zarraffa’s Coffee has ever had.
This includes our move into a new office setting, continual transitioning the business to drive thru operations, emphasis on maintaining and building strong relationships with our franchisees, opening the doors to many more stores, training our teams to provide the same reliable standards, going paperless, integrating software solutions, moving to an in-house IT operation, building our logistics arm, as well as growing the brand in our traditional territories.
All in all it’s an exciting but huge year and we plan to do this once; in order that we future-proof and the lay the foundation for the forecasted 250 drive thru stores by 2020.
