If the walls of the Baia The Italian restaurant at Sydney’s Cockle Bay could talk, they’d have a lot to say about the city’s coffee industry, following BeanScene’s interview with the talent behind Stazione Espresso. What starts off as an overview of one of Australia’s most rapidly expanding premium coffee brands, quickly turns into an impressive meeting of the coffee minds. Adding to Stazione Espresso founder Salvatore Alfonso’s extensive hospitality experience and passion for coffee, are Australian Independent Roasters (AIR ) Principal Scott Jones and Training Development Manager Emily Oak, two highly knowledgeable coffee industry professionals.Throw in Nick Viropoulos, Managing Director of Nick’s Food Milk More, and the recipe is one for not just great coffee conversation, but a unique brand and business model. As Salvatore recounts, he started up Stazione Espresso in 2005 mostly as a hobby, a side project to keep up as a distraction from his day job in marketing. He took the name from the Italian word for railway station, as this was where Salvatore first started to do business. It was a cautious, well-educated move into the industry. With an extensive background in hospitality, Salvatore adopted a steep learning curve in developing the brand. “I was learning a lot in those early days,” Salvatore recalls. “I was clear where I wanted to go with the market. ”In a competitive industry, with a number of roasters continually popping up,Salvatore wanted to ensure that Stazione stayed one step ahead as a service-focused company that helped their clients increase both their coffee and food sales. “We saw it as important not to be a ‘cheque book’ coffee company,” Salvatore says, referring to companies who focus mostly on selling coffee and moving on. “For us, it was all about the quality of the product.” It’s at this point in the meeting that Salvatore brings AIR ’s Scott into the conversation. As one of the city’s leading contract roasters, Salvatore turned to AIR to ensure the quality of Stazione’s product. Scott still remembers his first impressions of Salvatore as an enthusiastic start-up. “There was just something about Salvatore; he had this incredible passion, ” says Scott. “He could say exactly what he wanted to taste. For us it was a great opportunity because this is what AIR is all about – we’re about helping people with their vision. We can produce the best coffee, and we like to work with people like Salvatore who have the heart to go out there and share our coffee and passion.” In the early days, Salvatore remembers just how much heart he needed to carry out his vision. Working out of the boot of his car to keep the brand going, in addition to his full-time job, was for him a labour of love for an industry he was quickly falling into. “There were of course days where you sit back and ask yourself, ‘is this worth it?’” he says. “But it’s the clients who keep you going.” Salvatore’s early and continuing efforts, however, are paying off. With business steadily gaining, he’s recently cast all his other work aside to concentrate full-time on Stazione Espresso. The step has meant further strengthening the relationship with AIR to bring in the training expertise of Emily Oak. Having first competed at the World Barista Championships in 2001, Emily has maintained an influential position in the industry, as a World Barista Championship (WBC) judge and active member of the WBC Board of Directors. Emily’s background in working with the best baristas in the world naturally lends itself to an appreciation of the need for best practices and the development of talent behind the machine. In discussions of the country’s coffee trends, Emily says that Sydney has room for improvement in its training capacity.“I think there is a different attitude in Sydney among coffee suppliers, with a different level of respect for the product from start to finish, ”she says. “In Melbourne I think they respect the product more.” In assisting with Stazione’s training and development, Emily is helping to bring that appreciation to Sydney’s shores. Our humble host of the day, Nick, the owner of the Baia The Italian among his many ventures, can’t help but interjecting in what quickly turns into a heated discussion of Sydney’s coffee scene. As a distributor of Sungold Milk, the company has a facility purpose-built in Sydney’s CBD to cater to the city’s cafés, and Nick has 12 years of experience in the industry. In the last five to six years, he says he’s noticed Sydney is experiencing a shift towards better quality coffee and a more consistent cup. Operators who didn’t value a quality product, he says, are starting to struggle, as the city’s coffee drinkers are becoming increasingly discerning. “A Scotch isn’t just a Scotch, and a beer isn’t just a beer. Coffee is moving in the same direction, with an appreciation for quality ingredients,” he says. “As we’re educating people, we’re seeing the mindset of operators change.” With Stazione’s affiliation with Nick’s Food Milk More, Salvatore and Nick are working with clients to select all the ingredients required for quality coffee. With the ingredients, coffee, and training covered off, the final step in bringing together the ‘perfect storm’ for business success has been the technical expertise of Espresso Connect. Working with Espresso Connect Technicians gives 24/7coverage to Stazione cafés. While Salvatore may have left his full-time work in marketing behind, he’s carried over his skills. In looking to make a point of difference, Salvatore says that the company’s display advertisements of a beautiful woman enjoying her coffee is all about the refine mess and class of a quality drink. “We wanted a brand that represented what we all enjoy. We wanted a brand that’s very much something that can be trusted, something different,” he says. “Coffee is not just a beverage, it’s not just any drink. Watch someone drink a really good coffee. They close their eyes as they drink it, they’re really enjoying the moment.”
The company’s marketing will soon extend beyond display ads and towards modern mediums of social media to further involve customers in the brand. “When we ask ourselves how we drive consumers in our cafés, it’s not just about putting an umbrella out front,” says Salvatore. “We need to involve them in the brand.” For Salvatore, bringing together this mix has been a key part of his business plan to cater for the multiple needs that the industry requires. “We’re bringing together all the resources under one umbrella – smart marketing, strong sales, top equipment, and quality training and development.” The unique business model and marketing approach, Salvatore admits, won’t be for everyone. Where customers are mostly looking for incentives from roasters, the “what’s-in-it-for-me” clients – as Salvatore calls them – are likely not the best Stazione fit.“These clients are only looking at the short-term. They spend something like $300,000 on a business, Importing floorboards from Italy and the like, but in their choice of coffee I don’t understand when they base it on these add-ons,” he says. Where clients are looking to work with their roaster to increase their kilograms sold and business figures by offering a quality product, this is where Salvatore sees a good fit. AIR ’s Scott couldn’t agree more. “The key thing with coffee is that it’s a relationship,” Scott says. “I think we’ve lost that a bit in Sydney.” Salvatore is keen to bring those relationships back to the market. “When you educate yourself, you get a better business. That’s what we at Stazione can offer,” he says. In summing up their relationship, Scott and Salvatore continually bring up the word “journey”. An evident much used favourite, as Emily can’t help but wince having heard it many times before. “But it’s what describes us best,” Scott protests. “Our relationship with Salvatore is one built on friendship. Over the years, as the relationships has moved forward and the environment changes, and we’ve taken this journey together. It’s what makes the brand so strong today. ” It’s evident that the fruits of this journey are what has brought Salvatore, Scott, Emily and Nick to the figurative table of Stazione and this physical table with BeanScene. In taking the leapfull-time, Salvatore and his team are confident they’ll make their impression in the market at large.“ I’ve made that commitment, and we’re now ready to take the business that step further,” he says. “ We’ve got this muscle behind us and it will be the recipe for our success.”
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“Coffee is not just a beverage, it’s not just any drink. Watch someone drink a really good coffee. They close their eyes as they drink it.”
