Eversys’ tailor-made response

While the main attributes desired of any automatic espresso machine are quality and consistency, for the manufacturer of those machines and their clients, flexibility and responsiveness is also key. It is a quality that belies the apparent uniformity of super automatics, but manufacturers know that those machines must be able to be customised in order to really satisfy the individual needs of their customers. Swiss manufacturer Eversys has learned over the years that its success is driven by its ability to address its customers’ individual qualitative as well as quantitative needs. Founded in 2009 by Jean-Paul In-Albon and Robert Bircher, Eversys has been dedicated to producing automatic machines that honour the human side of coffee, offering an intuitive interface and high quality output like that expected of a skilled barista. Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Eversys Kamal Bengougam says that the growing sophistication of coffee consumers has meant that his company has needed to develop a flexible approach to its machines. “Customers have become more demanding, which has driven the boundaries of quality towards refinement as well as choice,” Bengougam tells GCR Magazine. Making its machines by hand, Eversys has managed to respond to this growing demand. “Indeed, throughout our range of machines we can provide coffee shops, restaurants, offices, cafeterias and hotels with bespoke solutions, machines that blend the world of tradition with the modern efficiency of today’s technology,” Bengougam says. The backbone of Eversys’ offering is the e’Barista system, which aims to reproduce the process of espresso making as though created by a human barista. This includes features such as electronic adjustment of ceramic blades in a heat-controlled grinder that is designed in-house to ensure optimal extraction and precision at all times. The system also includes a 24-gram brewing chamber that is controlled by electronic tamping to guarantee consistent quality. The water in the machine is kept at a constant temperature by dedicated coffee boilers, which are separate from the water and steam boiler to ensure total control. The e’Barista system uses a process of reverse gravity extraction vertical infusion to optimise the powder efficiency as the espresso is being produced. Finally, the milk is steam-frothed in a one-step system that produces barista-quality foam every time. The development of this system has been integral to Eversys’ ability to meet its clients’ needs, Bengougam says. “Since our inception, we have demonstrated our unique value proposition by offering the perfect combination to our client’s growing business needs,” he says. “Thanks to the e’Barista system, we provide a market-leading in-cup quality, which is in line with the old fashioned and respected standards of traditional machines and with all the added advantages of a fully automated coffee machine.” With the e’Barista system as its core, Eversys has developed a range of machines to suit just about every environment, from the super compact e’2ct, which takes up just 28 centimetres of bench space and can produce 175 espressos per hour, to the e’6m, which can produce up to 525 espressos per hour and sits on 84 centimetres of space. Using this system as its starting point, Eversys is then able to build outwards to satisfy the individual needs of their partners. “At the request of one particular customer, we recently integrated a different milk dispensing unit besides one of our machines,” Bengougam says. “This milk-dispensing unit allows our customers to dispense exactly the right quantity of milk they need, minimising waste. This way, our client can save costs not only from our machine is productivity and effectiveness, but also from reduced milk consumption.” Bengougam says that, as a manufacturer of high-end machines, he encourages his clients to focus on the total cost of owning the machine, rather than simply the acquisition costs. “People who focus on the mere cost of acquisition of an asset miss the point as this short-term decision could jeopardise future prospects,” he says. “Wise business people focus instead on the total cost of ownership (TCO). This is where true data is produced and return on investment is defined.”  Bengougam tells GCR that due to Eversys machines’ quality and consistency, with minimum downtime, they promote sustainable revenue streams, far in excess of lesser-cost equipment. One of the benefits of the e’Barista system is its capacity to optimise employee efficiency, as well as productivity, through its simple interface and streamlined processes. Eversys’ entire range is also built in a modular format, meaning that any repair of maintenance requirements can be addressed cheaply and efficiently through the simple exchange of modules, minimising any required downtime. Another key feature of the e’Barista system is the e’clean sytem. This patent-pending technology allows Eversys machines to store one month’s worth of cleaning tablets, which are dispensed daily via a laser-guided automatic distribution unit. This automated system eliminates the need for employees to spend their time cleaning the machine, and safeguards the optimal performance and longevity of the machine itself by ensuring it is cleaned thoroughly and regularly. “When looking at a TCO per cup, the whole Eversys range returns a cost per cup – inclusive of maintenance and consumables – lower than US$0.10 per cup,” Bengougam says. Bengougam also tells of how, with a completely in-house electronics division, Eversys has been able to make other bespoke developments such as e’connect. “Through e’connect, business managers can have access to all aspects of information- productivity, quality, drinks profile … all types of KPIs can be data mined remotely and in real time,” he says. “This enables today’s businesses to access pertinent information, make decisions based on facts, from the comfort of their own environment.” In addition to this, Eversys has recently been expanding its offer for operators in the self-service segment. “As a response to our client’s needs in the self-service environment, we have also recently developed the e’4m Self-Service,” Bengougam says. “This machine is basically an e’4m designed with more space allowing two customers to use the machine simultaneously while maintaining the production capacity as well as the in-cup quality and consistency.” As well as this, Eversys has also co-developed a payment solution that can be integrated into its machines. “This payment kit is particularly attractive in self-service environments, ideal for cashless payment schemes,” Bengougam says. GCR