In the early months of 2015, BrewHub Managing Director, David Scott came across a remarkable video about a ‘beans to cup’ coffee machine. It was the TopBrewer, designed by the Danish company Scanomat.
TopBrewer Stand at HOST Milan 2015. Photo by TopBrewer
David instinctively knew that TopBrewer would be a game changer in the Australian coffee drinking market. It would deliver BrewHub clients a coffee and workplace experience previously not available in Australia. So he flew to HOST Milano and Denmark to experience it in person.
A long line of Danish entrepreneurs and innovators.
Sixty years ago, Scanomat was operating out of a small garage importing vending machines, and later developed their own designs. By the 1980’s they had created the worlds’ first fully automatic, instant coffee, cappuccino machine – designed by Kim Vibe-Petersen it was highly innovative for its time.
Scanomat’s research continued – investing time and money into developing new designs. As coffee drinkers became more discerning, instant coffee machines were overtaken by ‘beans to cup’ technology, which the Italian and Swiss manufacturers dominated. Scanomat were latecomers but they were innovators. They refused to follow existing models – and their beans to cup range was purchased by beverage giant Nestle and marketed as their own.
The Scanomat philosophy is innovate don’t imitate.
It was Scanomat’s conceptual approach to design that set the company apart from its competitors, and this remains a defining characteristic today. Frederik Vibe-Petersen says their focus has remained constant – you must innovate to improve efficiency, effectiveness and taste.
Our business philosophy has never been driven by the manufacture of coffee machines alone. We are motivated by the whole coffee chain and coffee drinking process. We focus on the coffee drinker, their place of work, their consumption habits, on the coffee, on energy efficiency – our innovation embraces the whole coffee experience and that approach is reflected in our machines
TopBrewer Stand at HOST Milan 2015. Photo by Frederik Vibe-Petersen
BrewHub introduced the crown jewel of coffee machines, the Scanomat TopBrewer to our Australian clients in 2017. The result of 30+ years of engineering experience, this coffee machine is at the cutting edge of user experience. The machine hardware is integrated under the bench with independent hoses that dispense coffee, steamed milk, flash heated hot water for tea and cold and sparkling water through a beautiful stainless steel, swan neck tap sitting which sits above the counter. The machine parts are stainless steel and aluminium – no plastic. The hoses self-clean after each coffee, so there is no opportunity for cross contamination.
Scanomat has taken coffee ‘online’.
What makes the TopBrewer so attractive to individual consumers is the software. Using a touchscreen tablet, which sits next to the tap on the kitchen counter, consumers can order and customise their daily cup – choosing their coffee blend, adjusting the volume, and strength of coffee and milk.
The TopBrewer is both beautiful to look at and beautiful to use.
Bringing together the hardware, the hydraulics, the software and the raw product into the TopBrewer and creating a highly durable machine has been a very complex process. Scanomat’s specialist teams have had to embrace the operational requirements and aspirations of the whole machine in order to deliver their component part. Frederik says that it is easy to be inspired by technology and be propelled forward, but the real challenge is to identify and anticipate the desired customer service or problem and work backwards to create the technology.
Frederik recognised that the feature of online connectivity could achieve much more – both data and information for Scanomat and also potentially for users such as BrewHub’s clients. He designed the CoffeeCloud to collect information at the source. For example, if the water pressure in the building at one of BrewHub’s clients in Australia is low, the machine may not have enough water. The CoffeeCloud will instantly register this and can arrange to dispatch a technician. The CoffeeCloud is also a useful source of information, for both consumers and the BrewHub valets, about volumes consumed and staff preferences. Scanomat has some exciting plans in the pipeline for using the CoffeeCloud to create an even more enhanced user experience.
TopBrewer and BrewHub are a perfect match.
After David Scott saw the TopBrewer in Milan he got on a plane straight away and went to meet the Scanomat team in Denmark to learn more about the company and their innovative coffee machines. Frederik and his family were impressed.
We choose to work with the best local people in other countries. The best people are hard-working, they have built a positive culture at work and they are leaders. Anybody can shift boxes of coffee machines but most of all we want to partner with people who are passionate about the customer coffee experience.
Frederik and David in Sydney, Australia.
The Scanomat company is a perfect fit for BrewHub. Our approach ‘from machine to coffee to pantry to valet’ is about providing our clients with a customised coffee experience, creating a coffee hub for staff to gather, chat and take a break. Like Scanomat we strive to understand and anticipate our clients’ needs, their preferences and provide them with solutions.
Our clients are telling us how much their staff love the TopBrewer machine, using the tablet’s interface and the customisation options. It draws people into the staff hubs. And so, it promotes communication, and improves productivity and workplace culture – all in all – a very positive coffee experience.
See what we found when BrewHub returned to HOST Milano in 2019 where Scanomat delivered a beautiful and impressive Nordic themed stand, featuring the TopBrewer and more!
Hi we are looking to buy a Top Brewer and import it to NZ. Are we able to do this thru you?
Hi, thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, BrewHub is only distributing the TopBrewer machines in Australia and Singapore, and we are unable to provide our services in New Zealand at the moment. We would love to expand our services to New Zealand in the future. If you wish to buy a TopBrewer and import it to New Zealand now, please refer directly to Scanomat – the TopBrewer manufacturer with their headquarter based in Denmark.
Thank you.
–
BrewHub Team.