After 10 years with Managing Director David Scott at the helm, it‘s a good time to reflect on where BrewHub started and how far we have come. Our journey is a source of pride – developing quality services and incredible relationships with clients.
David Scott, Managing Director of BrewHub
Back in 2009 David was the State Manager of a national company with 2500 contract staff and a turnover of more than 130 million. He left this role seeking new horizons and was keen to build and lead a progressive business with values that he would be proud of. The global financial crisis brought opportunities and with it the acquisition of Coffeefresh, a small coffee machine rental and valet business with about 30 staff.
Small bench top boxes
The original coffee machines were small silver benchtop boxes and we soon increased our inventory from 100 machines to 150. We developed pantry, mailroom and concierge services as well, expanding into Tasmania, Northern Territory and New South Wales. In 2018, Coffeefresh changed its name to BrewHub – the ‘hub’ captures the modern and convenient space we now create for clients.
Today our focus at BrewHub is squarely upon coffee with a comprehensive daily, on site valet service that ensures the coffee machine and pantry are clean, re-stocked and ready to start each day afresh. Ten years on we have grown our client base considerably, with over 175 staff nationally.
Hotter, stronger, darker
Coffee consumer tastes have changed dramatically over the last decade. A cup used to contain 8 grams of coffee compared to 22 grams today. Consumers now prefer a stronger coffee than ever before.
Innovation is transforming the coffee drinking market, in the last four years we’ve seen a significant shift in employer attitudes – and their approach to providing staff with coffee at work. Employers are increasingly aware that their teams often spend half of their day at work – 245 days a year!
At BrewHub we’ve responded to the strategic impact coffee consumption is having upon office fit-outs and workplace design. How employees inhabit their workspace, how it makes them feel and how well it accommodates their breaks is critical to productivity and well-being.
BrewHub worked together with a client to design a considered, human-centred pantry throughout multiple floors for a consistent employee experience
For clients designing or refurbishing new work spaces we initially provided simple specifications for installing coffee machines in their conventional staff kitchens. As the approach to office fit-outs has evolved, BrewHub has joined the design conversation much earlier with employers, their architects and design teams. We contribute in a meaningful way to their consideration of how and when their workforce and visitors consume coffee and how best to customise the employee ‘hub’ and experience.
Personalising your daily brew
Customising the taste experience is a driving factor in coffee machine technology. David Scott describes the Danish made luxury machine – the TopBrewer – which BrewHub introduced to clients three years ago, as a complete game changer. Seamlessly integrated under the counter with an above counter tap and a beautiful, human responsive touch screen, each person can completely personalise the characteristics of their daily coffee.
David will tell you that what hasn’t changed about coffee over the last ten years is the customer’s desire for consistency – ‘dedicated coffee drinkers have an expectation that their coffee will taste a certain way – and every day’. The TopBrewer innovative technology provides BrewHub’s clients with the convenience of completely customising their preferred coffee formula and reliably producing the same curated taste each day.
TopBrewer, the first under bench coffee machine
Understanding, embracing and improving our culture.
Being part of on-going discussions with clients about good work design, culture and expectations of productivity and wellbeing, prompted David Scott to ask how these things were working at BrewHub. He asked his team – how do we work, how do we feel about the company, what does it mean to work for a company like BrewHub? What are our values?
Although David knew instinctively what the BrewHub culture feels like, it felt right to express it in words. So, he invited the team to share their perspectives as well.
It’s taken us 12 months to complete the BrewHub cultural review, with company-wide consultation, feedback and meetings – larger and smaller working groups. We have collectively arrived at a statement of our purpose and our vision and five accompanying core values: purpose – inclusiveness – sustainability – mastery – autonomy.
These values underpin our business and everyone at BrewHub strives to embed them across our operations, communications and relationships with clients – and with each other.
Ten years on BrewHub has a culture to be proud of.
The BrewHub team at DENFAIR Melbourne