Technicians Are Your Best Insurance Policy in Modern Roasting
In coffee roasting, as in so many other fields, the remarkable march of technology is changing the game. New roasting technology such as automation systems, cloud computing, larger all-electric equipment, new fluid bed designs, and more in recent years have had a profound impact on the coffee industry, not only for the people roasting coffee but also on the role and the importance of coffee equipment technicians.
The Shift in Equipment Complexity
They just don't make 'em like they used to, and for the owners and operators of coffee equipment, this is a good thing when all goes well. The upgrades and tweaks arriving with each new generation of machinery are designed to make day-to-day operations easier and more efficient for business people. For technicians, though — not so much.
As equipment evolves, so does the job of repairing and maintaining it. It's a more challenging time for talented technicians to stay ahead of the curve, yet by the same token, it has never been more critical for coffee business proprietors to keep a good technician in the fold.
"Back in the day, when we had our last coffee shop in the '80s and the '90s, I could fix everything. But now espresso machines have gotten so sophisticated, it's like opening up the hood on a new car, right?" Doug Graf, an industry veteran of over 35 years, told me. "You need specialized knowledge for that stuff. Coffee roasters are the same."
Graf and his business partner, Liz Bishop, run a company based in Canada called Vintage Coffee — a name reflective of the half-century-plus combined roasting experience they bring to the table as consultants and technicians. Yet, as distributors and certified service agents for the innovative and relatively young Loring Smart Roast company and for being as active as they are in today's commercial coffee landscape, the name also takes on a hint of irony.
The New Demands on Technicians
Not long ago, coffee roasting equipment was straightforward enough that thoroughly learning every in and out of your machine was (and to some extent still is) practically a rite of passage. Yet any growing business seeking the newest models made by many manufacturers will find complex computerized controls, sensors, and other advanced components that require specific skills and expertise to properly maintain and repair.
Loring, for example, found rapid adoption just as much for its equipment's built-in roast automation capabilities as for its novel heat application dynamics, fuel efficiency, and relatively low emissions.
Today, practically every commercial roaster will have the ability to interact with roast profiling software systems and will likely offer more automation capabilities than previous generations of equipment.
"The technology now is more about algorithms and programming and building and maintaining profiles and stuff like that," Ben Boyt, a seasoned Virginia-based coffee technician with over 15 years of experience and owner of Blue Sky Roasting, told me. "You used to only have to know hardware. You could basically be a good wrencher; you could wrench things around and make it work. That is changing now when you must be like a software programmer to some extent. You have to understand what's going on, why it's happening, and how the internet works. It's a big networking thing, and that is a rare person to find."
Boyt started in construction before working on cafe build-outs and then coffee equipment installation and maintenance, all before opening a coffee shop of his own, bringing roasting in-house, and continuing up the coffee trail from there.
"My expertise is older style; it comes from just wrenching on things my entire life, fixing stuff, and figuring it out," said Boyt. "Transferring those skills into understanding how software and the internet work and how all this connects is a huge challenge for me as a technician. It's very different; it's a game changer in the coffee roasting world."
Rare though it may be to find a jack of literally all trades — plumbing, electric, machine repair, and now I.T. to boot — this is what the industry increasingly demands. No matter how many electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople have helped with other issues in the building, they're not likely to understand the demands and specific requirements of your roasting equipment enough to service it in such a way as to ensure your business gets back and stays on its feet.
The Value of Skilled Technicians
"Would you let someone fix your car if they didn't know how to drive?" said Graf, who also pointed out that while an equipment technician is not necessarily also a consultant, this, too, has become an important feature of the service great techs must strive to provide.
"Our customers expect us to do both," Graf told me. "We come with a set of skills that gives a huge amount of value to our customers beyond just a screwdriver in our hand. I think our customers have come to expect it now."
Technicians, like consultants, are not cheap. Hiring a technician with high-level experience may require compensation for airfare, lodging, meals, and other expenses for as long as it takes to diagnose and then repair an issue. For the Vintage Coffee team, which includes both Doug Graf and Liz Bishop, who travel together, the rate could fall around $1,500 per day.
An individual local and/or less experienced technician could be less, but whatever the rate is, Graf suggests business people research and consider it in advance and configure it within their budget plan while comparing it to the cost of not being able to roast.
"Small companies don't normally calculate that kind of stuff. The bigger companies we deal with, some of these guys are $50-60,000 a day in lost revenue by not being able to roast. So, I don't want to say what we charge is insignificant, but that's the bigger equation."
Planning for Equipment Maintenance
Rick Davis, founder and CEO of Coffee Equipment Pros, echoed another point that Graf, Boyt, and virtually anyone else in the industry will convey: The best day to get in touch with an equipment technician is not on your company's worst day — the day a piece of equipment fails — it's Day One, from the very beginning, even before new equipment arrives, no matter what stage of growth you're at.
Establishing a relationship with one or multiple skilled technicians will pay dividends in peace of mind on top of reducing the impact of something eventually going wrong.
"You need to be comfortable with them. You need to trust them. You need to like them. But the point is, they're insurance policies that need to be in your back pocket," said Davis. "And there's a lot of guys that are really good at being technicians, which means they're very busy. The worst thing that could happen to a roaster is one of their pieces of equipment goes down because now the entire operation stops."
For this reason, CEPros offers every equipment buyer access to the CEPros Tek-Net, a network of U.S.-based roaster technicians. Davis considers this a fundamental service offering because whether the equipment is brand new, refurbished, or antique, all industrial equipment requires maintenance and includes parts that will inevitably fail even under the best circumstances.
Industrial equipment works hard and wears down. It's not a matter of if a machine will fail at some point, but when. As the industry delves deeper into complex electronics, wifi connectivity, and intricate sensors, the failure rate is bound to rise like the heat of a fully charged drum.
"We understand that when your roaster stops, everything comes to a halt—especially your revenue stream. That's why our motto is Because Roasters Need To Roast™. We're committed to helping connect our customers with the right roaster technicians,” says Davis. “Being prepared ahead of time is key. When you embrace new technology, automation, and expansion, challenges will arise. And when something goes sideways — and it will — you need to have a plan already in place. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Don't let this critical piece slip by."
