On site today with a customer who had a Jura Z5 - Gen2 recently installed by us. The complaint was that there was no milk coming through the frothing unit.
When I arrived I tested the steam production - working fine. Then I took apart the auto-milk frothing unit and gave it a wash. Put it all back together and Hey presto! it all worked again.
(I didn't like to tell them that the cleaning button light was flashing on the top of the machine and a message saying "clean autofroth" was flashing on the screen)
Not sure if Jura could do anymore - well maybe a loud alarm and a voice shouting clean the auto-frothing device before you all die of a congealed milk bug might work!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
What's happened to Gaggia?
As a stockist of Gaggia coffee machines because I believe them to be one of the better makes I'm completely baffled by our lack of ability to get any of their coffee machines. There appears to be a great wall of silence emanating from Italy since January this year.
We had the same situation around Christmas 2007 and suddenly stocks reappeared. Are Gaggia having financial difficulties or is the problem much simpler than that?
Please don't keep us in the dark Gaggia!
We had the same situation around Christmas 2007 and suddenly stocks reappeared. Are Gaggia having financial difficulties or is the problem much simpler than that?
Please don't keep us in the dark Gaggia!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Descaling Jura coffee machines
A bit like London buses, nothing for ages, then 2 come along at once. This has been our recent experience with a couple of Jura bean to cup coffee machines brought into us recently. An F90 and an S70 (think that's right). The point is that in both instances there were no messages saying "descale me" but instead the machines had become blocked in such a way that no liquid was appearing out of the front nozzles.
Following a conversation with Jura Products in the UK we were advised to place 3 (yes 3!) descaling tablets in the water tank and then start the descale procedure.
The challenge though is working out how to start the descale procedure. The one thing I find Jura are particularly good at is making it obvious to users what the next step should be. This however is not the case with the descale option. Now I know it's not something you want to do accidentally as the whole process takes around 30 minutes, but at least give us a visual hint!
The great thing though was that the Jura engineer was right, in both instances blockages had been caused by a scaling up of the delivery pipes. Both machines are now back with their happy owners.
Following a conversation with Jura Products in the UK we were advised to place 3 (yes 3!) descaling tablets in the water tank and then start the descale procedure.
The challenge though is working out how to start the descale procedure. The one thing I find Jura are particularly good at is making it obvious to users what the next step should be. This however is not the case with the descale option. Now I know it's not something you want to do accidentally as the whole process takes around 30 minutes, but at least give us a visual hint!
The great thing though was that the Jura engineer was right, in both instances blockages had been caused by a scaling up of the delivery pipes. Both machines are now back with their happy owners.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The problem with milk auto-frothing devices on espresso machines
I was copied in on a email today about a complaint made by a customer over the quality of a cappuccino that he had been served at a particular food-service outlet. His complaint was that the drink that he had requested had just a small covering of foamed milk, and was not thick and creamy as he had expected.
The particular outlet uses an "auto-frothing" device that is attached to the steam wand of the espresso machine. The reason they and now many domestic machines use such devices is to make the production of foamed milk quicker and easier to deliver. Dare I use the word "de-skilling" the job.
Now auto-frothing devices are fine if they are kept immaculately clean. The reason I put this caveat in is because Jersey Milk with its higher than average fat content has a habit of clogging up the minute holes that enable the steam to combine with air to create the foam. Once one of these holes has become blocked rather than creating foam you end up with hot steamed milk.
The discussion went on about how different types of milk foam better than others. That may be the case, but the difference is not as significant as some people might think. I've always found that full fat and half fat milk both produce equally good quality foam if heated correctly.
No the real problem lies in the on-going maintenance of the auto-frothing device. In a commercial environment this means setting in place procedures to ensure that the device is either replaced with a clean unit or stripped down regularly depending upon volume. More often than not problems occur just after a busy period when there is an opportunity for the milk to slightly congeal.
As far as domestic devices are concerned these should be stripped down and cleaned after usage. This will not only ensure that the frothing device continues to work properly, but also eliminates any hygiene problems.
The particular outlet uses an "auto-frothing" device that is attached to the steam wand of the espresso machine. The reason they and now many domestic machines use such devices is to make the production of foamed milk quicker and easier to deliver. Dare I use the word "de-skilling" the job.
Now auto-frothing devices are fine if they are kept immaculately clean. The reason I put this caveat in is because Jersey Milk with its higher than average fat content has a habit of clogging up the minute holes that enable the steam to combine with air to create the foam. Once one of these holes has become blocked rather than creating foam you end up with hot steamed milk.
The discussion went on about how different types of milk foam better than others. That may be the case, but the difference is not as significant as some people might think. I've always found that full fat and half fat milk both produce equally good quality foam if heated correctly.
No the real problem lies in the on-going maintenance of the auto-frothing device. In a commercial environment this means setting in place procedures to ensure that the device is either replaced with a clean unit or stripped down regularly depending upon volume. More often than not problems occur just after a busy period when there is an opportunity for the milk to slightly congeal.
As far as domestic devices are concerned these should be stripped down and cleaned after usage. This will not only ensure that the frothing device continues to work properly, but also eliminates any hygiene problems.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Cappuccino at home - the key to success!
Had a customer come into our store on Friday buying Coffee for a dinner party over the week-end. As the conversation developed it became apparent that despite having a fancy built in espresso machine in his kitchen he'd never really been that happy with quality of drink he was achieving - this had been going on for 2 years! I then proceeded to give him the following advice which hopefully will mean that his guests got something special (waiting on a report!)
1. Ensure machine has heated up properly - once temperature reached run at least a cup full of water through the group head with the group handle in place, but no coffee. This will hopefully get everything up to temperature and correct extraction will occur.
2. His machine had its own built in grinder. Assuming coffee is fresh (absolutely in this case) monitor the speed at which the water is passing through the coffee. Should be looking at 20 seconds minimum for an espresso quantity - 1 fl.oz. Much faster and the flavour won't be picked up which in turn means that the grinder will need adjusting. Manufacturers hand book comes into play.
3. Keep the "shots" of coffee short. Try not to run an excessive amount of water through the coffee. After around 1 fl.oz. all the best flavours have been extracted. In my view if you want a longer drink, just add water. You'll retain the sweetness of the coffee this way. So ask yourself how big the cup is, how strong do I like my coffee and finally do I therefore put in 1 shot or 2?
Now assuming you want to make a cappuccino, just as much care needs to be taken over the foaming of the milk.
4. Start with fresh cold milk and a good quality pitcher appropriate to the amount of milk you wish to foam. Fill to about 1/3rd; you'll need the additional space for the foam.
5. Get rid of any excess moisture in the steam wand by venting it prior to placing in the milk.
6. Position steam wand in milk and open up steam vent. Immediately raise steam wand to just 1mm above the surface of the milk. Tilt the pitcher so that you create a "whirlpool" effect in the milk. The milk should start to "stretch" and the foam you create should have "micro" bubbles - appears very creamy.
7. To help you monitor the temperature of the milk place your hand on the base of the pitcher. Once you can only just touch the metal surface the milk is ready. You may need to drop the steam wand into the foamed milk for a bit to raise its temperature.
8. Try "free pouring" the milk onto the espresso coffee moving from a high pour to a low pour as you fill the cup. This will help lift the "crema" of the coffee and allow you to achieve the classic cappuccino appearance.
The key to great cappuccino - keep everything short!
1. Ensure machine has heated up properly - once temperature reached run at least a cup full of water through the group head with the group handle in place, but no coffee. This will hopefully get everything up to temperature and correct extraction will occur.
2. His machine had its own built in grinder. Assuming coffee is fresh (absolutely in this case) monitor the speed at which the water is passing through the coffee. Should be looking at 20 seconds minimum for an espresso quantity - 1 fl.oz. Much faster and the flavour won't be picked up which in turn means that the grinder will need adjusting. Manufacturers hand book comes into play.
3. Keep the "shots" of coffee short. Try not to run an excessive amount of water through the coffee. After around 1 fl.oz. all the best flavours have been extracted. In my view if you want a longer drink, just add water. You'll retain the sweetness of the coffee this way. So ask yourself how big the cup is, how strong do I like my coffee and finally do I therefore put in 1 shot or 2?
Now assuming you want to make a cappuccino, just as much care needs to be taken over the foaming of the milk.
4. Start with fresh cold milk and a good quality pitcher appropriate to the amount of milk you wish to foam. Fill to about 1/3rd; you'll need the additional space for the foam.
5. Get rid of any excess moisture in the steam wand by venting it prior to placing in the milk.
6. Position steam wand in milk and open up steam vent. Immediately raise steam wand to just 1mm above the surface of the milk. Tilt the pitcher so that you create a "whirlpool" effect in the milk. The milk should start to "stretch" and the foam you create should have "micro" bubbles - appears very creamy.
7. To help you monitor the temperature of the milk place your hand on the base of the pitcher. Once you can only just touch the metal surface the milk is ready. You may need to drop the steam wand into the foamed milk for a bit to raise its temperature.
8. Try "free pouring" the milk onto the espresso coffee moving from a high pour to a low pour as you fill the cup. This will help lift the "crema" of the coffee and allow you to achieve the classic cappuccino appearance.
The key to great cappuccino - keep everything short!
Friday, March 20, 2009
The re-engagement of community is the only option
I wrote this article for the Jersey Evening Post in June 2008. I've put it on my blog because a customer of ours Ad-Lib Restaurant were quoted in the JEP yesterday stating that they would like to grow the food for their restaurant but were struggling to do so because of the lack of allotments in St. Helier. You'll see from this article it was one of my suggestions for the Town Park.
In his book “The audacity of hope”, Barack Obama possibly the next US president acknowledges how sceptical people have become of the modern political process; “nourished by a generation of broken promises”, but he points out historically politics was “based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart. That if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done”
From the debates that have taken place in our own States Chambers over the last couple of weeks it is clear that there is a major problem with the level of political engagement the Council of Ministers have even with States members. A recent Chamber survey came back with the extraordinary statistic that 72% of the respondents felt that Government saw no value in small business, yet Economic Development would argue they’ve never tried harder to help.
The problem is that Government has become to be seen as the proverbial Super- tanker in a sea of small boats; the challenge for us all is to find a way of connecting that flotilla of small boats so that the Super-tanker can be better directed or better still down-sized. For me the Incinerator typifies how disconnected we have become as a society when it comes to real debate and discussion.
I don’t have a particular axe to grind with T&TS per se, however there seems to be an obsession with spending £100 million plus of public money, a massive sum but where is the public debate? Even when there is a suggestion that the project will be paid for with cash from a reserve fund, that’s the equivalent of over 2 years worth of GST! There’s still no debate!
It’s that Super-tanker problem again – “what can I do that will change anything?” Well in the case of the Incinerator debate I would suggest that a copy of the Juniper report was sent to every household and school and made compulsory reading in the same way TTS sent a flyer via the JEP backing their view. It takes two sides to debate, yet only one side is entering the discussion.
As a result I’ve decided to come up with a “wish list” – a list whose sole intent is to re-engage the community, to get people to feel that they can be a force for change to the benefit of all:
1. The Town park; why not instead of making it into a park consider the idea of turning it into a series of allotments? A place where people who have no garden of their own can re-engage with the land, understand once again where their food comes from.
2. The burnt out shell of the Wesley Street Methodist Church be turned into a unit for small manufacturing businesses, operated in such a way that the types of businesses installed would also have to have a tourism content whereby visitors could come and see the operations in progress and be exposed to the talent that resides in Jersey
3. Liberty Wharf is given over to local retail businesses so that we end up with a unique offering for both visitors and locals alike, rather than as I’ve just experienced on Wimbledon high street “clone town” Britain, with all the usual national suspects, but absolutely no soul.
4. A Green agenda that encourages local entrepreneurs to take over and make money out of re-cycling opportunities, with Government input being in a more advisory / watchdog capacity thereby saving tax payers money.
5. I would like to see the Chamber of commerce develop the equivalent of a business “face book”. For the price of their annual membership fee, a business would have a profile, could openly blog about issues that are directly impacting them, and which in turn could be used as a tool by Government to inform future strategies, from Regulations of Undertakings to Planning.
6. All Parish Hall meetings should have an Internet connection so that if you are unable to attend the meeting physically you could follow the debate from home and in turn take part in the voting process. Too often major decisions are voted on by just a handful of people
My plea is for people to re-engage, and my suggestion list will I hope spark some debate. Never before has there been so much change and yet so little discussion by the vast majority of people. We all lead hectic lives and there’s always a reason why we can’t participate. If we want to protect our community, and have a community to protect in the long term it requires us all to take part in what I call the big conversation. After all ………
If not now when? – If not you who?
In his book “The audacity of hope”, Barack Obama possibly the next US president acknowledges how sceptical people have become of the modern political process; “nourished by a generation of broken promises”, but he points out historically politics was “based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart. That if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done”
From the debates that have taken place in our own States Chambers over the last couple of weeks it is clear that there is a major problem with the level of political engagement the Council of Ministers have even with States members. A recent Chamber survey came back with the extraordinary statistic that 72% of the respondents felt that Government saw no value in small business, yet Economic Development would argue they’ve never tried harder to help.
The problem is that Government has become to be seen as the proverbial Super- tanker in a sea of small boats; the challenge for us all is to find a way of connecting that flotilla of small boats so that the Super-tanker can be better directed or better still down-sized. For me the Incinerator typifies how disconnected we have become as a society when it comes to real debate and discussion.
I don’t have a particular axe to grind with T&TS per se, however there seems to be an obsession with spending £100 million plus of public money, a massive sum but where is the public debate? Even when there is a suggestion that the project will be paid for with cash from a reserve fund, that’s the equivalent of over 2 years worth of GST! There’s still no debate!
It’s that Super-tanker problem again – “what can I do that will change anything?” Well in the case of the Incinerator debate I would suggest that a copy of the Juniper report was sent to every household and school and made compulsory reading in the same way TTS sent a flyer via the JEP backing their view. It takes two sides to debate, yet only one side is entering the discussion.
As a result I’ve decided to come up with a “wish list” – a list whose sole intent is to re-engage the community, to get people to feel that they can be a force for change to the benefit of all:
1. The Town park; why not instead of making it into a park consider the idea of turning it into a series of allotments? A place where people who have no garden of their own can re-engage with the land, understand once again where their food comes from.
2. The burnt out shell of the Wesley Street Methodist Church be turned into a unit for small manufacturing businesses, operated in such a way that the types of businesses installed would also have to have a tourism content whereby visitors could come and see the operations in progress and be exposed to the talent that resides in Jersey
3. Liberty Wharf is given over to local retail businesses so that we end up with a unique offering for both visitors and locals alike, rather than as I’ve just experienced on Wimbledon high street “clone town” Britain, with all the usual national suspects, but absolutely no soul.
4. A Green agenda that encourages local entrepreneurs to take over and make money out of re-cycling opportunities, with Government input being in a more advisory / watchdog capacity thereby saving tax payers money.
5. I would like to see the Chamber of commerce develop the equivalent of a business “face book”. For the price of their annual membership fee, a business would have a profile, could openly blog about issues that are directly impacting them, and which in turn could be used as a tool by Government to inform future strategies, from Regulations of Undertakings to Planning.
6. All Parish Hall meetings should have an Internet connection so that if you are unable to attend the meeting physically you could follow the debate from home and in turn take part in the voting process. Too often major decisions are voted on by just a handful of people
My plea is for people to re-engage, and my suggestion list will I hope spark some debate. Never before has there been so much change and yet so little discussion by the vast majority of people. We all lead hectic lives and there’s always a reason why we can’t participate. If we want to protect our community, and have a community to protect in the long term it requires us all to take part in what I call the big conversation. After all ………
If not now when? – If not you who?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Orange Coffee from Peru
My thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Payn for bringing back some roasted coffee beans from their trip to Peru.Interestingly and a first for me the coffee had been roasted with Orange peel.
Having experienced some home roasted coffee in Colombia recently it came as no surprise when I saw that the beans were very black and oily. Rather than the even roast we get on commercial roasters, domestic roasting tends to roast dark on the outside, whilst the core of the coffee remains relatively light.
From a taste perspective I was surprised at how strongly the citrus orange flavour came through and how highly aromatic it was. The coffee itself was quite drinkable, we made it in a "French press" or Cafetiere.
For those of you interested in some more facts about the coffee it came from a small farm in the Sacred Valley county of Cuzco, Peru.
Having experienced some home roasted coffee in Colombia recently it came as no surprise when I saw that the beans were very black and oily. Rather than the even roast we get on commercial roasters, domestic roasting tends to roast dark on the outside, whilst the core of the coffee remains relatively light.
From a taste perspective I was surprised at how strongly the citrus orange flavour came through and how highly aromatic it was. The coffee itself was quite drinkable, we made it in a "French press" or Cafetiere.
For those of you interested in some more facts about the coffee it came from a small farm in the Sacred Valley county of Cuzco, Peru.
Speciality coffee stores giving the industry a bad name
Marta, who looks after our store has just returned from a holiday in Italy and as a gift brought me back some coffee. Now I'm always fascinated about how other speciality businesses present their coffee.
Here we had the "natural" kraft bag, with a simple label stapled to the outside with the words "Momenti Romantici" - Caffe aromaatizzato al gusto di: MALT WISKY. I think the wording is fairly easy to translate.
I opened the bag intrigued, however what I found inside was truly disappointing. A small plastic bag containing 20g of ground coffee. No attempt had been made to keep the coffee fresh through any barrier packaging. I revisited the label to check the "sell by" date to find that this product should be "consomarsi" by 10/01/10 - 10th January 2010! As it was, this coffee wasn't going to survive longer than 24 hours after grinding.
No wonder the world is dominated by global players when some of those who claim to be "specialists" let the small guys down. If you're going to charge a premium and want your reputation to remain intact, spend some money on the internal packaging. Reminds me of the old adage "you can't judge a book by its cover"!
Here we had the "natural" kraft bag, with a simple label stapled to the outside with the words "Momenti Romantici" - Caffe aromaatizzato al gusto di: MALT WISKY. I think the wording is fairly easy to translate.
I opened the bag intrigued, however what I found inside was truly disappointing. A small plastic bag containing 20g of ground coffee. No attempt had been made to keep the coffee fresh through any barrier packaging. I revisited the label to check the "sell by" date to find that this product should be "consomarsi" by 10/01/10 - 10th January 2010! As it was, this coffee wasn't going to survive longer than 24 hours after grinding.
No wonder the world is dominated by global players when some of those who claim to be "specialists" let the small guys down. If you're going to charge a premium and want your reputation to remain intact, spend some money on the internal packaging. Reminds me of the old adage "you can't judge a book by its cover"!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monetising excellence
It's be bugging me the last few days, well ever since I saw the work of the boys from Victoria College in the Design and Technology department the other evening.
All this brilliance, all these resources but what opportunity? It got me thinking about how Apple get new applications for their Ipod touch / Iphone. Apparently anyone can submit an idea and then it is evaluated by Apple and if considered good enough will be available for anyone to put on their Ipod for a fee. This is amazing use of what is known as the long tail; using the tallent of everyone to develop some of the cleverest apps.
So lets translate this to Victoria College DT department. Why not connect them with the leading furniture manufacturers of the world and should there be something created by one of the boys that is a brilliant design, that design could then be evaluated by a furniture manufacturer and if appropriate turned into production.
Everyone wins; Furniture company doesn't have overhead of full time designers; they have access to a massive pool of creativity. Great design gets rewarded - school gets recoginition; boy gets recognition; the economy gets a boost.
Can it really be that easy?
All this brilliance, all these resources but what opportunity? It got me thinking about how Apple get new applications for their Ipod touch / Iphone. Apparently anyone can submit an idea and then it is evaluated by Apple and if considered good enough will be available for anyone to put on their Ipod for a fee. This is amazing use of what is known as the long tail; using the tallent of everyone to develop some of the cleverest apps.
So lets translate this to Victoria College DT department. Why not connect them with the leading furniture manufacturers of the world and should there be something created by one of the boys that is a brilliant design, that design could then be evaluated by a furniture manufacturer and if appropriate turned into production.
Everyone wins; Furniture company doesn't have overhead of full time designers; they have access to a massive pool of creativity. Great design gets rewarded - school gets recoginition; boy gets recognition; the economy gets a boost.
Can it really be that easy?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tesco can't do this!
A customer came into our shop a couple of days ago and asked us to blend Lapsang Souchong with Earl Grey - Smoky with Oranges! - Interesting and apparently a favourite combination of theirs. Now you couldn't go to Tesco and get that could you!
Small Business - why do the same questions keep coming up?
David
I was talking to a motor repair shop owner yesterday (potential member) who is having real trouble employing mechanics, apparently there are some 10 vacancies in the Island and the only applicants coming forward have less than 5 years residency. How does he go about getting a licence to employ them? It seems that there are quite a number of qualified European mechanics going back due to exchange rates etc.
Also does Chamber organise any workshops for small business employers on employment law issues? If not who is a good person for advice on that?
Response
This person needs to talk to Regulations of Undertakings to get either a non-qualified licence or a 3 year joint licence. If neither are granted I guess he gets shut down - is that right in a market economy?
The new Skills Executive need to get onto cases like these. If we could train up the local population for local jobs in some co-ordinated way then maybe all those who rant on about unacceptable population growth might be placated.
Finally Jersey Arbitration and Conciliation Service offer courses on employment law in Jersey - check out their timetable
I was talking to a motor repair shop owner yesterday (potential member) who is having real trouble employing mechanics, apparently there are some 10 vacancies in the Island and the only applicants coming forward have less than 5 years residency. How does he go about getting a licence to employ them? It seems that there are quite a number of qualified European mechanics going back due to exchange rates etc.
Also does Chamber organise any workshops for small business employers on employment law issues? If not who is a good person for advice on that?
Response
This person needs to talk to Regulations of Undertakings to get either a non-qualified licence or a 3 year joint licence. If neither are granted I guess he gets shut down - is that right in a market economy?
The new Skills Executive need to get onto cases like these. If we could train up the local population for local jobs in some co-ordinated way then maybe all those who rant on about unacceptable population growth might be placated.
Finally Jersey Arbitration and Conciliation Service offer courses on employment law in Jersey - check out their timetable
What will we do with 1,000 students leaving education this year?
A couple of nights back I and my wife went to an open evening at my older son's school. This particular event involved the Art department and Design and Technology. I found the whole event quite extraordinary. The resources available to our children are simply staggering - Laser cutter, plastic former, radio, sound and recording studio. The list seems endless. The work being turned out by these young men is also quite extraordinary. My question is what will happen to all this tallent? We're spending millions educating our young people but what are we giving them in return?
P.S. I want to go back to school!
P.S. I want to go back to school!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
French media interview
Crazy things happen to me - just when I thought I had a straightforward day planned a reporter from a French news agency came into my store along with Nick Le Cornu.
The reporter was interested to hear my thoughts about "the Jersy tax haven". Well I'm really tired of this line constantly being peddled by outside media.
Jersey has some of the best regulatory systems in place to ensure that illegal activity is flushed out and sent packing. It would appear to be very convenient for certain political leaders to harp on about tax havens as if they are to blame for the demise of the economy - absolute rubbish!
As I pointed out this lady journalist, small businesses like mine benefit hugely from the finance industry and I doubt that a speciality business like mine could floursh in many jurisdictions with a population of just 90,000 people if there wasn't the disposeable income and full employment provided by finance.
Sometimes we do make uneasy bedfellows. There is always the pressure of getting good members of staff given the wages paid in the finance industry. Thankfully not everyone wants to work in front of a computer screen.
There is also the pressure on land. An Island 9 miles x 5 miles which wants to remain green but still house people is always going to see upward pressure on real estate prices, which in turn causes its own social problems.
The removal of the finance industry from Jersey would be an economic catastropy which makes one appreciate that we urgently need a plan b. With the amazing educational system we have here (more about which I'll blog on later)Jersey has a huge opportunity to offer highly skilled niche solutions to the rest of the world.
As I've said before it's a team effort and the more ideas people can put forward the more likely we are going to get a plan b. Maybe a twitter forum will deliver what so far has been undeliverable.
The reporter was interested to hear my thoughts about "the Jersy tax haven". Well I'm really tired of this line constantly being peddled by outside media.
Jersey has some of the best regulatory systems in place to ensure that illegal activity is flushed out and sent packing. It would appear to be very convenient for certain political leaders to harp on about tax havens as if they are to blame for the demise of the economy - absolute rubbish!
As I pointed out this lady journalist, small businesses like mine benefit hugely from the finance industry and I doubt that a speciality business like mine could floursh in many jurisdictions with a population of just 90,000 people if there wasn't the disposeable income and full employment provided by finance.
Sometimes we do make uneasy bedfellows. There is always the pressure of getting good members of staff given the wages paid in the finance industry. Thankfully not everyone wants to work in front of a computer screen.
There is also the pressure on land. An Island 9 miles x 5 miles which wants to remain green but still house people is always going to see upward pressure on real estate prices, which in turn causes its own social problems.
The removal of the finance industry from Jersey would be an economic catastropy which makes one appreciate that we urgently need a plan b. With the amazing educational system we have here (more about which I'll blog on later)Jersey has a huge opportunity to offer highly skilled niche solutions to the rest of the world.
As I've said before it's a team effort and the more ideas people can put forward the more likely we are going to get a plan b. Maybe a twitter forum will deliver what so far has been undeliverable.
Talk to the Jersey Methodist Womens Luncheon Club
I was ask by the club to give a talk - I gave this one, a variation on the concept of Fair Trade. Enjoy!
I’ve been running Cooper’s for the past 20 years – our core business has always been to supply tea, coffee and associated products to the catering industry. It seems that there has never been a period without some form of dramatic change to which we have had to adapt.
When I took over at the end of the 1980’s tourism on Jersey was at its peak – we didn’t know it at the time, but the introduction of low cost airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair combined with the launch of the Internet were all going to change the face of European air travel and tourism as we had known it on Jersey forever and as with all cataclysmic changes our tourism industry found it very hard to adapt to this brave new world; where one minute you’ve had a very successful business and the next you’re out of business. Obsolete; deleted by the march of technology and a world waking up to globalisation. However in business where one door shuts another opens and for Coopers that door was opened by Starbucks, originally a small coffee business that started life with around 5 stores in Seattle some 6,000 miles away from this Island. Before we knew it the word speciality coffee came into our lexicon. A whole new language was born and at the same time a huge new interest in coffee was ignited. Coopers in the mid 1990’s found themselves in a hugely fashionable business; a business that allowed us to really differentiate ourselves by becoming a one-stop shop for all things coffee. In the mean time Starbucks has developed into a global behemoth of around 13,000 stores worldwide.
And so the brave new world of the global village had been born. Food that once upon a time was only available seasonally is now available all year round. Clothing once made in the British Isles is now made in places like India or the Philippines for a tenth of the price it once was. Technology improvements have also meant that today we have more choice than ever before. As a comparison the average household just after the 2nd world war spent 30% of their income on food, today that average has dropped to just 10%. So why then today do we have organisation such as the Fair Trade foundation? Why do we talk about sustainability and how unsustainable our current way of life is? Why does extreme wealth seem to fall into fewer and fewer hands? Surely the result of global trade is that everyone gets a piece of the economic action? The answer is yes they do, but the proverbial global playing field isn’t quite as flat as we’d like to think and globalisation has made some organisations extraordinarily powerful whilst at the same time millions of individuals powerless as they lose control of the very resources upon which they rely for their day to day existence. In my industry coffee, the world is dominated by 4 major roasters. Nestle, Kraft, Proctor & Gamble and ........ As documented in their 2003 publication Mugged; poverty in your coffee cup Oxfam for the first time highlighted how these organisations are able to play countries off against each other in the global equivalent of a Dutch auction – that is buying from the lowest bidder.
When millions of pounds are at stake many countries have little choice but to take part in a race to the bottom and all the economic consequences that come with that non-choice. At last we in the west through the media have begun to understand the consequences of continually wanting more and cheaper stuff. As Fair Trade fortnight comes to an end I believe it’s thrown yet another dilemma at our own society, particularly in light of recent events, namely the global meltdown of the financial markets.
After all what is the concept behind Fair Trade? Well it’s about rebuilding communities – the premium you or I pay for say Fair trade certified bananas is intended to go towards a project that is of benefit to the whole community where that product is grown. I’ve seen with my own eyes a computer room that has been kitted out with the proceeds of the “social premium” in Brazil. The intention is to give that community a long term future; something we thought only we in the west ever considered. The point I make is that we are doing something tangible. What a contrast then with the huge wealth that is supposedly created by our own financial institutions. To use a term coined by David Korten an American academic; the Phantom wealth of the finance markets. Without doing anything stock markets seemed to rise inexorably. Without doing anything the price of houses on Jersey continually increase. Without seemingly doing anything those who have, have more whilst the rest increasingly struggle. But as we have just seen so much of what we once thought was true now appears to be like so much smoke and mirrors. It hasn’t been real wealth that has resulted in the average family house in Jersey now costing around £500,000, it’s debt. In order to lend more Banks have simply created debt; debt that we now know was based upon what is now described as “toxic assets”, the now infamous NINJA loans sliced and diced until our leading institutions thought they were worth something.
This is why shares in such great institutions as the Royal Bank of Scotland once valued at £6.00 in 2007 today languish at 20p? That’s how an organisation can lose £24 billion, £24 billion! in one year; the biggest corporate loss in history thus wiping out all the profits that organisation has made in over 3 years and destroy the value of hard saved for pension schemes? A money for nothing economy generates only phantom wealth and envy, what we need is an agenda for a new economy. An economy built on community interest, collective interest, the wealth of our own relationships, not monetary relationships. I believe as Peggy Noonan, a columnist for the New York Times does that we are approaching a time where “everything will be local”. I don’t mean that we’ll start building cars locally; what I do mean though is that we’ll start to look at our own resources and naturally question how we can incorporate them in our community for the benefit of our community.
This summer 1,000 youngsters will leave education in search of employment. We’ve given them a great education yet they will struggle to get employment; many will leave the Island, many more will remain at home playing computer games; some will simply go out looking for trouble; the most undervalued, bored, Police time wasters in the world. What could they be doing for our community whilst waiting for that first job opportunity? How much more valued would they feel if they knew that they were adding to the wealth of our community and that their effort was valued. So how you may well ask does all of this relate to you? How can you make a difference? It reminds me of a quote by John F Kennedy which I paraphrase here “ask not what your Island can do for you — ask what you can do for your Island”.
The other day I was with a very frustrated senior civil servant talking about the latest States strategic report and he said to me – “why is it the first thing people turn to when there is a problem is the State?” That’s a very good question, we don’t want a nanny state, yet we expect Government to solve our economy – supply the magic pill; yet in reality the economy, society, community is a problem for all of us to solve not just a handful of elected officials.
As I look around this room today, how much collective knowledge and wisdom is there stored in your heads? Real wealth not phantom wealth; ask yourself what am I doing with that resource my personal wealth of knowledge and wisdom to help my community? The problem is that so many people simply don’t appreciate the wealth of knowledge and experience that they possess – As an example a couple of weeks ago I stood next to a retired farmer as we watched half a dozen tractors from temps passé plough a small field. As I stood there chatting I realised just how much knowledge this man had to do with local food production; surely this knowledge can’t simply go with him to the grave? What if we were no longer able to cost effectively import food? Oil after all isn’t going to be around forever; where will we look for the knowledge that has been passed down to previous generations and stopped at ours because we now rely on someone else to grow our food?
Your generation still retains this knowledge – you owe it to the next generation to ensure that that knowledge is not lost whatever it is. Isn’t it time that Jersey had its own Wikipedia – an equivalent to that world famous on-line encyclopaedia?
We’re living in a fast changing society; a society whose changing demographics will mean that in the not too dim and distant future those in work will be significantly outnumbered by those who have retired. We have already reached the point where the number of people over the age of 60 outnumbers those under the age of 16. That has huge economic implications if we measure things in purely monetary terms, but it is also a huge opportunity to create the real wealth of which I have spoken. The wealth of community; thinking up better ways to harness the energy of our society for the benefit of all. What opportunities do you think that you could suggest; how could this be brought together in a new community manifesto? We urgently need diversity in our economy – diversity will create opportunity for our young people; but the ideas for what exactly that diversity is, or looks like comes from all of us. We all have a part to play. But the reality right now is summed up by the building of a new incinerator. Nothing highlights for me more the total bankruptcy of ideas that currently pervades society than the building of this monstrous new £106 million incinerator. How any sustainable society can think that burning more waste than ever before is the way to make that paradigm shift is completely beyond me. But how many people realistically took part in the debate; a tiny percentage, the rest just shrugged their shoulders; lost in the concerns of a me first society rather than the interests of our wider community. Ultimately we get what we deserve. We all need to re-engage; re-organise and realise that real wealth comes from inside and that we each have a part to play in the agenda for a new economy.
I’ve been running Cooper’s for the past 20 years – our core business has always been to supply tea, coffee and associated products to the catering industry. It seems that there has never been a period without some form of dramatic change to which we have had to adapt.
When I took over at the end of the 1980’s tourism on Jersey was at its peak – we didn’t know it at the time, but the introduction of low cost airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair combined with the launch of the Internet were all going to change the face of European air travel and tourism as we had known it on Jersey forever and as with all cataclysmic changes our tourism industry found it very hard to adapt to this brave new world; where one minute you’ve had a very successful business and the next you’re out of business. Obsolete; deleted by the march of technology and a world waking up to globalisation. However in business where one door shuts another opens and for Coopers that door was opened by Starbucks, originally a small coffee business that started life with around 5 stores in Seattle some 6,000 miles away from this Island. Before we knew it the word speciality coffee came into our lexicon. A whole new language was born and at the same time a huge new interest in coffee was ignited. Coopers in the mid 1990’s found themselves in a hugely fashionable business; a business that allowed us to really differentiate ourselves by becoming a one-stop shop for all things coffee. In the mean time Starbucks has developed into a global behemoth of around 13,000 stores worldwide.
And so the brave new world of the global village had been born. Food that once upon a time was only available seasonally is now available all year round. Clothing once made in the British Isles is now made in places like India or the Philippines for a tenth of the price it once was. Technology improvements have also meant that today we have more choice than ever before. As a comparison the average household just after the 2nd world war spent 30% of their income on food, today that average has dropped to just 10%. So why then today do we have organisation such as the Fair Trade foundation? Why do we talk about sustainability and how unsustainable our current way of life is? Why does extreme wealth seem to fall into fewer and fewer hands? Surely the result of global trade is that everyone gets a piece of the economic action? The answer is yes they do, but the proverbial global playing field isn’t quite as flat as we’d like to think and globalisation has made some organisations extraordinarily powerful whilst at the same time millions of individuals powerless as they lose control of the very resources upon which they rely for their day to day existence. In my industry coffee, the world is dominated by 4 major roasters. Nestle, Kraft, Proctor & Gamble and ........ As documented in their 2003 publication Mugged; poverty in your coffee cup Oxfam for the first time highlighted how these organisations are able to play countries off against each other in the global equivalent of a Dutch auction – that is buying from the lowest bidder.
When millions of pounds are at stake many countries have little choice but to take part in a race to the bottom and all the economic consequences that come with that non-choice. At last we in the west through the media have begun to understand the consequences of continually wanting more and cheaper stuff. As Fair Trade fortnight comes to an end I believe it’s thrown yet another dilemma at our own society, particularly in light of recent events, namely the global meltdown of the financial markets.
After all what is the concept behind Fair Trade? Well it’s about rebuilding communities – the premium you or I pay for say Fair trade certified bananas is intended to go towards a project that is of benefit to the whole community where that product is grown. I’ve seen with my own eyes a computer room that has been kitted out with the proceeds of the “social premium” in Brazil. The intention is to give that community a long term future; something we thought only we in the west ever considered. The point I make is that we are doing something tangible. What a contrast then with the huge wealth that is supposedly created by our own financial institutions. To use a term coined by David Korten an American academic; the Phantom wealth of the finance markets. Without doing anything stock markets seemed to rise inexorably. Without doing anything the price of houses on Jersey continually increase. Without seemingly doing anything those who have, have more whilst the rest increasingly struggle. But as we have just seen so much of what we once thought was true now appears to be like so much smoke and mirrors. It hasn’t been real wealth that has resulted in the average family house in Jersey now costing around £500,000, it’s debt. In order to lend more Banks have simply created debt; debt that we now know was based upon what is now described as “toxic assets”, the now infamous NINJA loans sliced and diced until our leading institutions thought they were worth something.
This is why shares in such great institutions as the Royal Bank of Scotland once valued at £6.00 in 2007 today languish at 20p? That’s how an organisation can lose £24 billion, £24 billion! in one year; the biggest corporate loss in history thus wiping out all the profits that organisation has made in over 3 years and destroy the value of hard saved for pension schemes? A money for nothing economy generates only phantom wealth and envy, what we need is an agenda for a new economy. An economy built on community interest, collective interest, the wealth of our own relationships, not monetary relationships. I believe as Peggy Noonan, a columnist for the New York Times does that we are approaching a time where “everything will be local”. I don’t mean that we’ll start building cars locally; what I do mean though is that we’ll start to look at our own resources and naturally question how we can incorporate them in our community for the benefit of our community.
This summer 1,000 youngsters will leave education in search of employment. We’ve given them a great education yet they will struggle to get employment; many will leave the Island, many more will remain at home playing computer games; some will simply go out looking for trouble; the most undervalued, bored, Police time wasters in the world. What could they be doing for our community whilst waiting for that first job opportunity? How much more valued would they feel if they knew that they were adding to the wealth of our community and that their effort was valued. So how you may well ask does all of this relate to you? How can you make a difference? It reminds me of a quote by John F Kennedy which I paraphrase here “ask not what your Island can do for you — ask what you can do for your Island”.
The other day I was with a very frustrated senior civil servant talking about the latest States strategic report and he said to me – “why is it the first thing people turn to when there is a problem is the State?” That’s a very good question, we don’t want a nanny state, yet we expect Government to solve our economy – supply the magic pill; yet in reality the economy, society, community is a problem for all of us to solve not just a handful of elected officials.
As I look around this room today, how much collective knowledge and wisdom is there stored in your heads? Real wealth not phantom wealth; ask yourself what am I doing with that resource my personal wealth of knowledge and wisdom to help my community? The problem is that so many people simply don’t appreciate the wealth of knowledge and experience that they possess – As an example a couple of weeks ago I stood next to a retired farmer as we watched half a dozen tractors from temps passé plough a small field. As I stood there chatting I realised just how much knowledge this man had to do with local food production; surely this knowledge can’t simply go with him to the grave? What if we were no longer able to cost effectively import food? Oil after all isn’t going to be around forever; where will we look for the knowledge that has been passed down to previous generations and stopped at ours because we now rely on someone else to grow our food?
Your generation still retains this knowledge – you owe it to the next generation to ensure that that knowledge is not lost whatever it is. Isn’t it time that Jersey had its own Wikipedia – an equivalent to that world famous on-line encyclopaedia?
We’re living in a fast changing society; a society whose changing demographics will mean that in the not too dim and distant future those in work will be significantly outnumbered by those who have retired. We have already reached the point where the number of people over the age of 60 outnumbers those under the age of 16. That has huge economic implications if we measure things in purely monetary terms, but it is also a huge opportunity to create the real wealth of which I have spoken. The wealth of community; thinking up better ways to harness the energy of our society for the benefit of all. What opportunities do you think that you could suggest; how could this be brought together in a new community manifesto? We urgently need diversity in our economy – diversity will create opportunity for our young people; but the ideas for what exactly that diversity is, or looks like comes from all of us. We all have a part to play. But the reality right now is summed up by the building of a new incinerator. Nothing highlights for me more the total bankruptcy of ideas that currently pervades society than the building of this monstrous new £106 million incinerator. How any sustainable society can think that burning more waste than ever before is the way to make that paradigm shift is completely beyond me. But how many people realistically took part in the debate; a tiny percentage, the rest just shrugged their shoulders; lost in the concerns of a me first society rather than the interests of our wider community. Ultimately we get what we deserve. We all need to re-engage; re-organise and realise that real wealth comes from inside and that we each have a part to play in the agenda for a new economy.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Jura's new helping hand website
Jura I'm pleased to say have started to recognise that when you're selling a premium product like theirs it's not just about selling a box. As a result those of us with "bricks and mortar" outlets are asked to provide trained staff and the possibility of demonstrating their machines prior to purchase. At last someone has realised that it's the after sales service that matters as much as the sale of a machine.
Jura have therefore recently set up a new website that I believe is helpful in a) locating your nearest dealership, and b) gives some tips as to how to get more out of your cup of coffee. The link is www.juradealers.co.uk
Have fun!
Jura have therefore recently set up a new website that I believe is helpful in a) locating your nearest dealership, and b) gives some tips as to how to get more out of your cup of coffee. The link is www.juradealers.co.uk
Have fun!
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