COFFEE LOGISTICS AT VICAFE
Every day, dozens of small and large packages leave the ViCAFE roasting plant in Altstetten. The roasting team pulls out all the stops to provide baristas in households across Switzerland with fresh ViCAFE beans.
In the past few days, more and more people have received mail from ViCAFE. Envelopes and packages filled with coffee from all corners of the world. Where do the black coffee bags with the white logo and colour band come from? The team at the ViCAFE Roaster gets most of the credit: The two roasters, Ruben and Christoph, ensure the replenishment of freshly roasted coffee. Among other things, Fabian takes care of the operation of the roasting plant, the purchase of green coffee and quality control. Benjamin is responsible for logistics at ViCAFE. His career in the Vi-world began at our sister company Vivi Kola . If you can orchestrate the seamless movement of Vivi Kola bottles, pallets and jars, you will also be able to manage the ViCAFE supply chain. Benjamin crossed over to the coffee side last year and is putting all his efforts into keeping the gears in motion.
In normal times, the Roastery supplies our ViCAFE Espresso Bars , offices and our online customers with fresh coffee. At the moment, however, we are not experiencing normal times: The corona crisis has turned operations upside down. The Espresso Bars remain closed and offices need less coffee. But home offices across Switzerland have become small Italian or Scandinavian coffee bars. The ViCAFE Online Shop has been very popular in the past weeks. In order to meet increased demand, we’ve completely relooked our workflows at the Roastery. Since last week, we’ve only been roasting “on demand”. This allows flexibility and optimal freshness for the customer (find details on freshness in our FAQ section ). This means that every order reaches the right mailbox within 2-3 working days.
After roasting and quality control, the beans are first packaged, then prepared for dispatch according to the orders and finally handed over to the post office. In addition, our employees are available on the phone to answer customer questions. The biggest challenge? To juggle all the tasks at hand. There are currently 98 product variations in the online shop, which in turn can be combined with one another in almost any possible way. Benjamin’s systematic approach is crucial. Errors need to be reduced to an absolute minimum.
The team at the Roastery is up to almost any challenge. They know each other well and help each other out. A quote from the SRF Tagesschau fittingly declares: “Now is the time to tackle”. The music in the background sets the pace for the lively bustle. A small chalkboard as well as self-developed software that regularly shows the latest orders are used. A new message pops up on the cellphone: “Jepa, a new client”. Now the most critical part of the work begins: The best quality coffee must arrive at the nearest home office coffee bar as soon as possible.
Do you want to learn more about roasting at ViCAFE and why sweetness is so important in coffee? Then read our blog post “ Sweetness is a must for me ”.