double trouble

cups, cups and cups - you would think it would be relatively easy to choose cups for a cafe. When first starting the business, we found ourselves with about nine different types - it was ridiculous. there were two styles for large hot drinks; three styles for medium-sized drinks; one style just for tea, one just for medium cappuccino, one just for medium lattes, and so on and so on....it was crazy and the staff hated chasing down one type for a particular drink!

so it was time to create some consistency (a word that appears to be held very close to most restaurantaurs' hearts).

over the last couple of months we must have looked at hundreds of different styles from all over the world. From our short time in business (and some insightful words of advice from our good friend Chad), we had a couple of important rules to follow when choosing the right cups:

- for hot drinks you need vessels that can hold the heat (glass is a poor insulator whilst porcelain is excellent).
- a style and colour that fits the cafe
- durable and resistant to chipping and;
- not too costly to replace!

for large drinks we decided on a 16oz thick-walled bullet-style mug that would serve americanos, lattes, cappuccinos and brewed coffee. For medium drinks we went for a simple white tall 12 oz ceramnic mug. these would hold brewed coffee, tea and French Pressed coffee.

we would of course need other cups but these two would serve a great deal of drink orders...

customers were not so sure about the change. some people loved our choice, but others found the bigger mug troubling due to its wide edge. but they are excellent for sipping frothy milky drinks and they hold the heat very well - essential when offering quality hot drinks. but it is one thing i am learning quickly. people don't like change much - they like consistency. customers like to know that they are going to get the same thing every time they come to cafe haven.

lets hope we don't run out of mugs!