What we do for host institutions

Seattle-style espresso is a burgeoning segment of the food-service business in the United States, and Straight From Seattle Espresso is among the fastest-growing businesses in that hot sector. We prepare and sell espresso-based specialty- and gourmet-coffee drinks—lattes, mochas, cappuccinos—from fully-contained espresso carts, kiosks, and inline units in host institutions.

Straight From Seattle Espresso has successfully paired with several prestigious host institutions in the Baltimore-Washington area, including Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, University of Maryland Baltimore, Veterans Administration Hospitals, Towson Library, as well as numerous private-property owners. Broadly speaking, these host institutions benefit from our business relationships with them in two ways:

We are an added amenity to facility occupants and customers  
We are an added profit center for the facility, in the form of a fixed rental fee or a percentage of sales

Why we succeed

Straight From Seattle Espresso thoroughly trains, and re-trains, all employees in the application of its comprehensive quality policy. This results in a consistently superior product. Customers demonstrate their appreciation by their loyalty. Employee expertise and product knowledge results in a low employee turn-over rate. The main elements of our quality policy are:

Quality coffees—Straight From Seattle Espresso controls the quality of the product from green bean to the bottom of your cup. We buy the finest coffees in the world and we roast and vacuum package with a nitrogen back flush that allows the roasted beans to retain that just-roasted freshness until the barista grinds them for your latte. We buy green beans from East Africa, Central and South America, and South Asia, always trying for superior taste and fragrance. These coffees often originate on the farms and cooperatives of small cultivators in a shaded, bird-friendly environment. We are proud to offer several Fair Trade coffees.

Quality foods—Straight From Seattle Espresso offers gourmet bakery—and where possible, delicatessen—food items. The menu depends largely on what the intended market and the host institution desires for us to provide, within institutional and health code limitations.

      Quality service, based on thorough training—Straight From Seattle Espresso's quality policy is demonstrated in a comprehensive document covering employee training in service issues such as speed and efficiency, drink preparation, health policies, and quality assurance. Periodic re-training ensures compliance with policy.

      Image—Straight From Seattle Espresso delivers an upscale product in a serving environment that favorably compliments the image of its host institutions.

      That we measure up to these high standards of quality is evidenced by our success: in less than nine years Straight From Seattle Espresso has grown from insubstantial dinner-table discussions by a married couple to an very substantial, efficiently-run, multi-unit retail specialty-coffee business that employs over fifty people, with a roasting and wholesale branch, as well as an online sales unit.

      Managing quality

Location managers are professional managers with college degrees or certification, substantial industry experience, and thorough management training that is supported by a program of intermittent re-training.

Measuring and understanding customer satisfaction is central to business success. This point is the fundamental element of both initial and ongoing training programs, and are an agenda item in every staff meeting, in employee reviews, and in periodic operational evaluations. We measure customer satisfaction by encouraging the reporting of service defects through periodic collection of comment through suggestion boxes at every site, as well as public display of telephone numbers and email addresses for feedback. We also employ occasional secret shoppers, who go from site to site as customers and submit reports of their experience to management.

      Succeeding through cooperation

      Straight From Seattle Espresso works hard to maintain cooperative relationships with host institutions. Before agreements are concluded all issues of mutual interest are fully discussed and responsibilities are understood, on topics as diverse as signage, customer incentive and reward programs, marketing and advertising, and menus. We believe that cooperative effort produces win-win results.

Physical requirements for site installation

The espresso unit should be installed in a location that provides exposure to high foot traffic. The support required of the host institution is not large. Our carts can operate effectively in as little as 250-350 square feet of space that has access to waste water drain, a drinking water source, rest rooms, and small storage area where a refrigerator and dry goods (cups and other supplies) can be stored. A 220-volt, 50-amp, four-wire, single-phase receptacle is required in the designated area, as is a water line and telephone jack. 

Find out if our program is for you

To find out if the Straight From Seattle Espresso model will work in your institution, call us or send us an email, and ask Ashley for more information. Or you can open this link to the Straight From Seattle Espresso document entitled, What we do for host institutions.