# Coffee for a Gym Environment



## ferdinand (Sep 5, 2014)

I have a few questions about providing decent coffee for members of a locally-based gym.

It is different from your typical chain gym in that we do not rely on people lapsing and still paying for our revenue - we get 25-30% of the members through the door on any given day so members tend to know each other rather than doing 'head down and headphones'. We have just moved to a new unit, and in due course we would like to provide decent coffee for members in our lounge area.

The aim is not to make chain style margins by charging Â£2-3 a cup, but we do want it to cover coats comfortably and ideally give a small surplus.

Realistically we will not be providing a specialist cafe level of coffee, or even a home enthusiast level, as the former would need an in house barista and the latter would mean a coffee-enthusiast employee doing the coffee.

As I see it, our options for 'reasonable' coffee include capsule eg Nespresso, Bean-to-Cup, or a machine maintained by an outsider service provider. Fortunately I think we have local coffee roasters who provide such a service. We are in the North Notts / South Yorks area.

In my experience there are vending machines which can provide a cup of coffee I enjoy ... most recently in the intensive care waiting room of our local hospital of all places.

Does anyone have any experience as to what has worked elsewhere, or suggestions?

It is early days and I am just starting to think about this, so I would welcome any comments - including the tangential and especially the skeptical.

We will of course consult members properly, and probably do tastings etc before we make a decision. It may be that our members say they want instant at 30p per cup







.

Thanks and Cheers

Ferdinand


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## Benjijames28 (Mar 29, 2017)

Is there really big demand for coffee at the gym? Would u not make more money selling energy drinks or shots of pre work out or some kind of healthy premium protein shakes?


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## ferdinand (Sep 5, 2014)

Benjijames28 said:


> Is there really big demand for coffee at the gym? Would u not make more money selling energy drinks or shots of pre work out or some kind of healthy premium protein shakes?


Thanks - good question. The answer is "maybe, but I need to know about potential answers before asking".

I do know:

1 - We like coffee - as owners and trainers, and our members seem to. And given the hours we are sometimes open having nice coffee around is a good thing.

2 - There are certain indicators, such as more gyms having coffee available, a "coffee before workout" notion that has been current for some time, the butter-coffee idea (fad?), niche brands of coffee branded for the sector (eg Ironbar etc), and even smallish gyms with their own blends.

But I am very much in the investigation stage.

Ferdinand


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

I wish in my gym they served a good quality coffee.

Coffee drinking before working out is popular among sporty people.

Usually we buy it from somewhere nearby the gym









BR


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Perhaps lyrcra and good coffee are antithetical?


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## BertVanGoo (Nov 20, 2015)

I visit two gyms, one has a cafe that has a soft play area and the other sounds similar to yours.

The first is aimed more at parents bringing kids in, so don't think many gyms goers stop and sit in.

The second has a Nespresso capsule machine and I never see anyone use it.

Personally if I've done a decent workout then a coffee isn't something I'll go for straight away, protein shake is what the majority will have or a cold drink.

I may have one once home where I can relax more as the gym doesn't have adequate seating, and what seating there is, is too close to where people work out.

Looking at what you've put why not buy a machine and see how sales go? Best case customers like it and buy often, worst case staff have an easy way of enjoying their coffee? (Well, worst case is that it sits there and doesn't get used so you've wasted your investment in it, but I'm sure that wouldn't happen)


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

Coffee(Caffeine) is pre-workout.

BR


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## BertVanGoo (Nov 20, 2015)

L&R said:


> Coffee(Caffeine) is pre-workout.
> 
> BR


Caffeine is whenever you want it.

You'd need a a very strong coffee to get a decent amount of caffeine in your body to give you enough stimulant to make a difference in your workout. Do you really think these people who buy a 16oz lattes before going to the gym are going to have a much better session?


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## ferdinand (Sep 5, 2014)

BertVanGoo said:


> Caffeine is whenever you want it.
> 
> You'd need a a very strong coffee to get a decent amount of caffeine in your body to give you enough stimulant to make a difference in your workout. Do you really think these people who buy a 16oz lattes before going to the gym are going to have a much better session?


I think a 16oz latte is a bit of a different animal  . More likely to be Espresso or something Strong & Short before a workout. 16 Oz Of milky (or soya etc milky) drink could be a tenth to a fifth of your daily calories which undermines the point a little; I don't see many of our members taking that route.

We actually already have a small Nespresso machine. I would love to just run a trial, but we would need a food safety certificate etc even for that. So I am just doing some homework in advance.

If there will will be a demand for 16oz coffees then we can look at it.

Ferdinand


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## BertVanGoo (Nov 20, 2015)

ferdinand said:


> I think a 16oz latte is a bit of a different animal  . More likely to be Espresso or something Strong & Short before a workout. 16 Oz Of milky (or soya etc milky) drink could be a tenth to a fifth of your daily calories which undermines the point a little; I don't see many of our members taking that route.
> 
> We actually already have a small Nespresso machine. I would love to just run a trial, but we would need a food safety certificate etc even for that. So I am just doing some homework in advance.
> 
> ...


I would like say I was exaggerating, but I've seen plenty of people walking in with large costa cups!

Anyway, back to your situation. As you already have a customer base would it not be worth doing a quick bit of marketing when they come in to the gym? Just a couple of questions, then you'll have a much better idea if it's even worth investigating any further


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

maybe get a superautomat first, something like Melitta Caffeo Varianza, recommended by DaceC..but you'll have to maintain it regularly (not too hard, water, beans, milk, cleaning)

then you'll see what the demand is


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## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

In my big days, I had a pre-workout shake containing some craziness: warm water, milk, glucose, whey protein and a double ristretto.

Maybe it's more about marketing than actual flavour. Because hey, nobody really likes protein shakes for their taste but people polish off everything for functionality!









Use the following as an input to your advertising strategy:

1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Enhancing_performance

2.

Caffeine had been featured on the WADA list of banned substances in the old days, only to be discussed early last year whether to put it back on!

Now, they're monitoring... just in case:

3.


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## ZappyAd (Jul 19, 2017)

Could you get someone else in to do it as a 'franchise'? I guess it would depend on how big your membership is as to whether it would be worth it but maybe even a mobile barista parked outside might be a worthwhile way to experiment.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

I'd be doing what my friends who do something totally different do, buy a decent filter machine (technivorm?) With a keep warm jug, buy decent coffee from someone local (foundry maybe?), and include the cost in your memberships so it's "free coffee" the outlay is unlikely to be huge with that set up, and will produce a totally acceptable brew, and in such quantities you could go down the preground route because as you say, you are after an acceptable brew, not a speciality coffee. You could pull it in under 50p a cup (so have an honesty box if not free...) It minimises staff time as you aren't having to make every single coffee, just refill the batch brew occasionally.


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## ferdinand (Sep 5, 2014)

Thank-you for the diverse thoughts - all useful.

A couple of my own points to add:

1 - Food hygiene certs seem to need Level 2 for most things, and the training is easily available online. Given that I have not done food business before I would want face-to-face, but for something as simple as a coffee machine and possibly vending machine I would be happy with doing it online.

2 - Water supplies will probably be required to be a separate system (ie pipes) not linked to the shower/loo setup if we got into washing up and plumbing in a machine, so that is perhaps a pointer towards bottled water and disosible cups - especially as we get water scale here and it gives better coffee anyway. That would require a catering sink etc.

3 - It might be an opportunity to dedicate half or all of any profits from the coffee-service to the gym's community fund. It may even be that giving it away and requesting a voluntary charity donation reduces requirements, and may still allow me to cover out of pocket costs. A bit more thought needed.

Thanks all. Will aim to report back if we move ahead.

F


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

A local roaster could supply an "exclusive" coffee blend called "Sweaty Betty"........LOL


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## ferdinand (Sep 5, 2014)

espressotechno said:


> A local roaster could supply an "exclusive" coffee blend called "Sweaty Betty"........LOL


Not as far from the truth as you might think. Our name is an Ancient Greek word which can be translated as Health.









The mini roaster in Sheffield roasts in batches of 3kg ie 300 cups or so, which suggests that perhaps as low as a small number of thousands of cups per year ... say 50-100 per week ... might make such a thing viable, depending on the cost of development and packaging etc. Not a huge priority when building up a new gym, however.

Though I admit I had been thinking more of ESE pods embossed with our logo.


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## ferdinand (Sep 5, 2014)

Chatting to the Food Standards people at our Council this morning, it seems that coffee, tea and prepackaged snacks does not meet the threshold for needing to register as a food business ... which implies that we could go ahead with a trial using bottled water and our Nespresso machine or a bean to cup without much paperwork.

The main issue of concern was that snacks be labelled with ingredients to protect from allergies etc.

Having eg packaged sandwiches supplied by another business in a fridge for members to collect may well require such a registration.


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## cozzarr (May 19, 2018)

Coffee is a great idea for the gym - even more so for climbing gyms where it's considered part of the climbing experience. There are plenty of gym goers who tend to get either an espresso or some type of black coffee before training. Rather that just offering a Nespresso, go for a bean to cup (or a small espresso machine/grinder combo if you fancy a small learning challenge) as you have much more possibility to change the type of beans and you could market the coffee better -- and it just generally looks better.


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