There are many practical perks of ensuring your coffee machine is well looked after, and regularly cleaning it plays a vital role in the overall maintenance of the machine. As a leading coffee shop franchise in the UK, we have plenty of advice to offer on the subject!
General Cleanliness
First and foremost, regularly cleaning your coffee machine is essential for general health and safety.
Daily cleaning is an overlooked factor for those who own at-home coffee machines, but it is one that cannot be ignored as a coffee shop business owner.
Presentation
Not only is it essential for overall hygiene, but a clean coffee machine is integral to the presentation of the business.
A splattered and dirty looking coffee machine in a coffee shop doesn’t portray a positive image of the company. It suggests that other, less obvious, areas of the shop also get overlooked.
Having an unkempt coffee machine is not a good look, and is likely to see customers take their business elsewhere.
Ensuring that the coffee machine is gleaming and clean, advertises itself as a place that is proud and also pays attention to detail; this is the message you want people entering your shop to feel instantly.
The Taste
Great tasting coffee relies on multiple factors, and one of them is a clean machine. Often bitter tasting coffee is incorrectly blamed on the coffee bean or the barista.
As a proud barista, this is not what you want to hear! You also don’t want the embarrassment of your coffee to be down to a dirty diffuser which, in many cases, could be the source of the bitterness.
Diffusers often accumulate old and burnt-on coffee which affects the flavour in the coffee-making process, making it sour, bitter or metallic in taste. Instead of letting your coffee machine build up in grime and dirt, regularly cleaning it each night after a day’s work will help regulate the build-up.
Thorough Clean Every Evening
No matter if you have cleaned your machine at the end of the day, and someone purchases a coffee at the last moment before the shop shuts, the cleaning process must be repeated.
The fewer times a coffee machine is used shouldn’t affect how often it is cleaned, and even one coffee can create an unclean machine that will affect the next day’s haul of coffees.
This is an essential point for those who have coffee machines at home, who may be ignoring regular cleaning after making a coffee here and there.
Making it a regular activity will help to implement it as a habit.
Improves Life Span
One aspect of regular maintenance that you will be thankful for, either as a business owner or if you have your own machine at home, is how regular cleaning can improve the lifespan of your coffee machine.
Unfortunately, all coffee machines have a limit, and over time, they will need replacing as they start to deteriorate.
However, by keeping a coffee machine regularly looked after it can help prolong its life. By implementing a maintained plan that frequently ensures cleaning and other duties are cared for, there is a higher chance of your equipment lasting longer.
Helps to Save Money
Many ‘broken’ coffee machines are a result of a lack of cleaning.
In some cases where components need to be replaced, new parts can be more expensive than the initial cost of the machine. With less opportunity for wear and tear, regular maintenance can help to cut additional costs.
A consistent cleaning and maintenance plan can decrease reactive breakdowns and in turn, extend the lifespan of your machine. In the long run, this should help to reduce any unnecessary costs.
As a coffee shop, the coffee machine is the face of your business.
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