Interview with John Ronchi of Campos Coffee
My name is John Ronchi. I'm the commercial director for Campos Coffee. I've been involved in the business for close to almost 15 years now. We’re just hit our 20th anniversary, so I guess I've been here almost from the start.
So that was all the way back in 2002? Congratulations! I remember reading about the epiphany that Will Young had in a little café. How tasting specialty coffee for the first time set him on a trajectory to be where he is today. Could you tell me about your own experience with specialty coffee?
Yeah, sure. I guess it really came about when I purchased my first cafe. When I was at uni, I was doing what a lot of people do and working in hospitality to sustain myself. I ended up graduating and working in the field that I had been studying when an opportunity came up to purchase a rundown cafe in the southern suburbs of Brisbane. I grabbed the opportunity to do that and then all of a sudden, I realised that it was pretty important that I get it right. I'd always thought that I knew what I was doing, but now that it was my livelihood, I really needed to make sure I was doing a good job. So, I joined ASCA (the Australasian Specialty Coffee Association) and that opened opportunities to meet a lot more people! That's actually where I met Will. What really impressed me was the philosophy that he held around the importance of consistency, particularly in the cup for the end consumer. As well, he had this methodology had around everyone using the same blend of coffee, the same techniques and same machine, which is La Marzocco. So, the idea that you could go into any Campos store and order a flat white with one sugar, that it should pretty much taste the same no matter where you are. This is because everyone's using the same machine, the same jugs, the same blend of coffee. That resonated with me because it was something that really frustrated me as a cafe owner. I would use a certain brand or blend of coffee and consumers would come and say, “I went to wherever and it tasted different” or “it didn't taste as good as this or that” or “I preferred the other one”. And you're constantly having to explain to people that it was because of a different blend, or because it was made on a different machine and they use different techniques or a different size cup. And that's when it really hit me. What the consumers want is a really good quality product, but also a consistent one.
Curious, does that extend also to the Rosetta?
Yeah, pretty much! We encourage everyone to do it as part of our training. For us, it's more really more about getting the volumes the same. We want the taste profile to be the same no matter where they go, and the Rosetta is also a part of that. We strive for consistency right across the board.
Cool! You said that, back in the day, you were studying and working as a barista up in Queensland. What's your experience of cafe and coffee culture up in Queensland versus down here in New South Wales?
When you talk to cafe owners and baristas, a lot of them are having the same problems. Everyone wants to do a good job with coffee, and everyone wants to make their customers happy. That is what I've noticed right across Australia that coffee culture is evolving at a rapid pace where consistency and quality is becoming very important for people. It's a very exciting time to be in coffee in Australia.
Well said! I'm wondering if you could tell me about your relationship with La Marzocco?
To say I have a love affair with La Marzocco would probably be accurate. In a lot of cases, it's the foundation of our business. We have been using exclusively La Marzocco right from day one. When I opened my first café, then using Campos as a customer, the first thing we did was we went out and bought a Linea Classic. At that time, it was a machine that was well known, and it still is today! In both the barista world and barista competitions. La Marzocco became one of the founding pillars of the business and everyone using Campos needed to have this machine because of the temperature stability, the usability, the fact that they're so reliable in a lot of ways. As La Marzocco grew, we've grown with them. We have customers that still have Linea Classics, through to Stradas, KB90s, new GB5s and now Wallys. You name it, we've got pretty much all of it out there! It makes it simple for us as a coffee supplier, because having the one machine, we can do a lot of technical work with our sales team. This way they get to know the machines really well. They’re part of our business and they're part of our family. We have our own flagship stores, so we know what it's like to own and run a café and that's part of the reason why we always wanted to partner with Brewtech too! We know what it's like to have a machine go down first thing in the morning and we don't want to supply or recommend equipment to people that's going to fail them. Things break, for sure, but it comes down to how quickly can they be fixed. I've enjoyed geeking out with Craig over what latest technology is coming and what the differences between one machine the other. So, when we opened in Melbourne, it was a bit of a no brainer for us to start using Brewtech down there. They only service La Marzoccos and we only use La Marzoccos, so it was a perfect fit. Yeah, it all ties back to the family.
Absolutely. Speaking of geeking out, have you seen any photos of the new Frateli Bambi.
Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. Another thing that I find interesting about La Marzocco, in particular, is the amount of customization that people like to do on them. We have our team in Queensland that does a bit of rebuilding with the help of the guys from Brewtech up there as well. And so now it's kind of become almost the norm with La Marzocco’s that hardly anyone just gets a stock standard stainless steel PB anymore, it's at least got to be painted or something!
Yeah, that's awesome. You mentioned earlier that you feel that Campos and La Marzocco have grown together. Do you feel like that also extends out to Brewtech? How long have you been working together now?
I think we’ve been working together since we started up in Melbourne, it'll be coming up to 10 years. And so as Brewtech has grown and they've moved into Brisbane, we've started using them up there as well. Certainly the relationship has been a long one.
Way back when, what attracted you to use Campos beans back when you were operating your own café?
It was a personal connection I really. I liked the fact that I was buying the coffee from someone who was running a café, someone who that knew what that was like. Will wasn't just selling me stuff. He knew what it was like to be working in the industry. And with our sales team now, it's something we're quite particular about; that people need to have empathy and an understanding for what it's like to run a business as well. We're not just selling stuff, this is someone's livelihood. And as well, this idea of the consistency. I wanted to be able to give my customers a product that was going to be good, of course, but it was going to be the same. It didn't matter what time they came in; it didn't matter who was on the machine. Campos had and still has a great reputation for having that consistency. We want to have as many people exposed to good quality coffee is possible, because that helps everyone down the chain right through to our producing partners, ensuring that we can continue to buy more coffee from them at a good price.
Very well said! Thank you for sitting down with me today!
Not a problem.
