Automatic drink dispensers increase hospitality businesses’ service speed, help them cut labour costs, and improve the quality and consistency of the beverages they serve.
Modern automated beverage dispensers have advanced dramatically compared to the seemingly antiquated fast-food soda fountain machines or cafeteria vending machines of the 1980s and 1990s.
The Flo-Smart automatic drink dispenser, for example, is sleek and elegant. It is the product of award-winning engineering and design and is backed by best-in-class software to enhance user-friendliness and make coffee shop operations seamless.
Cafes, coffee shops, and restaurants will see a multitude of benefits from installing an automatic drink dispenser for their beverage preparations.
To learn more about the advantages, we spoke with Chris Gaag, sales director at Truth, Tribe and Origin in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Decluttered counter-tops and enhanced aesthetic
As a coffee shop owner or manager, you will immediately see one key benefit of installing an automatic beverage dispenser before pouring your first beverage: your workspace or countertop will be transformed.
Younger consumers are more demanding than ever when it comes to their coffee beverages. Customisation is the norm, and successful operators have to offer a diverse menu to keep customers satisfied.
Indeed, a recent 2024 report from Drive Research found that only 18% of American consumers drink their coffee black, down 56% from 2022.
Of the same group polled, 77% indicated they drink their coffee with some form of dairy or dairy alternative, cow’s milk, cream, oat milk and almond milk being the most common additions.
For coffee shops, this presents a real challenge: managing a wide variety of milk types – both dairy and plant-based – all of which must be stored and prepared differently while working within space constraints.
Countertops with numerous different milk types and brands are an eyesore, can be unhygienic, and need to be more efficient uses of space and time. A busy barista during peak hours may need more time to consistently and correctly store the various milk types (e.g., in the fridge) without dramatically bottlenecking service speed.
“In busy coffee shops especially, you’ll often see a messy workspace where every type of milk needed for the different beverages offered is within reach instead of properly stored,” says Chris.
“It’s common practice – the baristas are dealing with high demand and plan to clean up when service quietens down, but sometimes you’re busy all day, and you end up with half-empty jugs everywhere, etc.
“From a cleanliness standpoint and tidy workstation, one hundred per cent; these kinds of automated solutions help.”
By installing a Flo-Smart automatic drink dispenser, your countertop will transform from hosting a messy fresco of different-coloured cartons and jugs to a single sleek and elegant piece of customisable equipment.
Fully automated, refrigerated lines run from the Flo-Smart to dedicated bladders that fit in an under-counter refrigerator. At the touch of a button, the correct beverage is dispensed from one of four taps.
Instead of multiple different cartons and beverages cluttering up your refrigerators and countertops, Flo-Smart automatically selects from a large reservoir.
“As a customer, if you walk into a space with a clean, modern espresso machine, a professional barista whose workstation is neat and tidy, and whose work is being enhanced by automation, you’re going to be impressed,” says Chris.
“With an automated beverage dispenser, the barista is freed up. They don’t constantly have to move milk around, hide it under the bar, or place it back in the fridge and then retrieve it every time they prepare a beverage.”
“Instead, they can spend more time communicating with the customer, perhaps upselling, talking about the coffee, and enhancing the overall experience. This is going to have a lasting impact on the visitor,” says Chris.
Boosted delivery speed and operational efficiency
With a clean, decluttered, and ordered countertop, the further benefits of installing an automatic drink dispenser begin to present themselves.
Automated beverage dispensing significantly enhances the speed of service, which is crucial to any hospitality business with tight margins and unpredictable foot traffic.
In the context of coffee preparation, a barista may need to quickly access multiple types of milk or non-dairy milk alternatives in various quantities, e.g., 200 ml of oat milk to prepare an oat milk flat white and 350 ml of whole milk to prepare a caffe latte.
As mentioned before, these scenarios can lead to disorganisation or improper beverage storage as the barista struggles to keep up with different orders coming quickly.
With an automatic beverage dispenser, the barista can focus more on coffee preparation and interaction with the customer.
Finding and pouring different milk may only take a few moments, but through the course of the day, the time adds up, and each such moment is one lost to potential customer engagement and upselling.
With a Flo-Smart automatic drink dispenser, the barista simply places a jug under the tap, and the machine automatically dispenses via the refrigerated line running to the under-counter bladder.
Moreover, the company owner or manager can pre-set dispensing amounts so that every pour is the same quantity.
Instead of a barista eyeballing the measurement and regularly wasting excess due to unavoidable inaccuracy, your business can thoroughly optimise its use of milk and plant-based milk alternatives and save you almost £5,000 a year.
In addition to the financial benefit, your beverages become more consistent, regardless of staff performance – the same amount of liquid is always poured. While customers greatly value convenience and variation from their coffee purveyors, consistency keeps them coming back.
Install a Flo-Smart automatic drink dispenser
Flo-Smart is the award-winning product of two best-in-class engineering firms collaborating with specialty coffee professionals to solve a problem experienced by every coffee-focused business.
Its elegant and durable design has been tailored to free up critical bench space, enhance the aesthetic of your countertop, and encourage extended and continuous use.
Our user-friendly software is tried and tested throughout the hospitality industry and has been meticulously tested over four years to guarantee reliability.
Flo-Smart is HAACP-certified, among the most stringent certifications awarded for food safety, and records every cleaning cycle completed to help you maintain a safe, hygienic workplace.
To order your Flo-Smart automatic drink dispenser, visit our website or get in touch with us directly.
Automatic drink dispenser
