Refurbished Vending Equipment – the facts….

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Paul

Quite often when receiving enquiries about vending equipment we at KLBS are able to offer a choice between new and refurbished machines. The choice is of course very much up to the customer but we thought it may be useful to highlight the advantages to choosing refurbished equipment and perhaps improve its image!

The number one reason for choosing refurbished equipment is of course the financial savings it can bring. This is particularly important if you are on a tight budget or if this is the first time you are acquiring a vending machine and wish to try out the success of vending in a cost effective way. There is also the advantage that if a company does not have a long trading history or is newly set up and so hasn’t had the chance to acquire a good credit rating there is rarely a need to use a leasing company to finance the vending equipment who largely have very stringent policies as to who they will lend to.

Along with this contracts for refurbished equipment can be virtually tailor made to suit individual circumstances whether that is short term rentals or even the possibility for free on loan agreements. Often it is possible to do very short term trials using refurbished equipment – try before you buy.

At Kenco Local Business Service machines are refurbished to a very high standard by experienced engineers. The machines are stripped down and where necessary working parts are replaced. They are descaled, electronically tested and outer panels are resprayed. The aim is to release the machine in perfect working order & looking as close to brand new as possible. On top of this all refurbished equipment come with the exact same warranty terms that new equipment has for parts, labour and engineer callouts.

Delivery of refurbished coffee vending equipment is also quite often quicker than new since by definition it will already be available in the warehouse and there is no need to wait for the manufacturer to deliver.

The only real downside is that refurbished equipment is subject to availability since there is always a limited number in stock at any one time. However given all the advantages I would certainly recommend that a customer always ask if a refurbished option is available.

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Cafes/Sandwich Bars – Recommended coffee system

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Paul

I have asked one of our sales team to discuss the best coffee system for a cafe scenerio.  Below are Greg’s thoughts on the subject.

“We receive many enquiries from the smaller independent cafes and sandwich bars throughout London and as a result I have developed a good understanding of the type of machine I believe works best in this type of business.

For preference I would look at going down the bean 2 cup route where possible. Tastes have become far more sophisticated in recent years and there is more and more desire for the proper cappuccinos  and lattes that are produced from a good quality espresso bean that is freshly ground each time.

High street coffee bars are of course everywhere nowadays and they are set up to use the large barista style equipment to produce their extensive range of coffees. This is fine but such machines are generally very expensive and take time to deliver a cappuccino since they rely on the barista to create the individual drink from scratch – right down to frothing the milk. Independent cafes/sandwich bars typically have fewer employees and also have to dedicate time to producing food items for their customers.

Because of this I recommend a small tabletop bean 2 cup machine that is fully automatic. Such machines are very convenient since they will produce the cappuccinos/lattes etc at the touch of a button and so frees up time for food preparation.  You also don’t have to be an expert barista to produce a great coffee every time.

There are two basic types of automatic bean 2 cup machine – those that use fresh milk and those that used powdered milk. In my opinion if they are set up by the engineer properly both deliver a great quality drink and it comes down to personal preference although fresh milk systems do require a little more attention to the cleaning regimen.

Other than that the other choice is whether you go for new or refurbished equipment. Many of our enquiries have been from new start up businesses that have a limited budget and are not in a position to sign long term lease agreements. With that in mind refurbished is probably the best option since the flexibility is there to engage in shorter term arrangements and of course the cost should be within most budget ranges.”

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Our First New Style Kenco Singles Brewer!!

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Paul

We have just delivered our first of the brand new style Kenco Singles machines and it looks great in situation and the customer is delighted.  I know that I am biased but I think the pictures do not do justice to the fresh and contemporary looks of this new piece of kit.  It’s not just the looks that have changed: the machine is now 24% smaller than the old system and there will be two new drinks on their way soon.  These will be the cappuccino milk creamer and the Cadbury chocolate drinks capsule.  We expect both of these later this year.

One foot note regarding this new machine: although he looks are radically different there is little difference in terms of functionality when comparing it to it’s predecessor.  This means that although the refurbished equipment will be in the old style it will offer all the same options as the new machine and at a very favourable price.  When you consider that we will give you the same warranty on the second hand piece of kit that we would give you on a new one this does make the second hand machine very competitively priced (especially when you allow for the 10% increase in price that the manufacturer has been forced to impose due to spiralling production costs on the new model).

Whether you go for the new Singles brewer or a refurbished machine we are sure that you will be delighted.  Kenco Local Business Service offer some of the most competitively priced deals available anywhere.  Please give us a call for more information.

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Coffee Grounds Compost

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Paul

We often get asked for greener coffee solutions including products that are recyclable.  Sadly with some of the capsule machines it is not always easy to recycle the spent drinks capsules and not all disposable cups are recyclable.  One option that we use here in the office is a bean to cup machine (we use the Jura Giga X7 as our office coffee machine).  The only waste product from this is the spent coffee grounds.  I have done a bit of research on the Internet and there seems to be a consensus of opinion suggesting this is a great product for the garden .  Following this I thought that rather than just “talking the talk” I would also “walk the walk”.  As such I have been using the spent coffee grounds on my garden as a mulch around my plants and the effects look very good indeed(so far).  I have only been doing this for a couple of months and perhaps I need to reserve judgement before calling this an unqualified success but the plants seem very happy with this addition to the soil.  Another approach may be to add the grounds to your compost heap.  This does dilute the affect somewhat which may give your garden a more balanced soil than only using spent grounds.  I have read that coffee grounds are slightly acidic although the brewing process seems to take most of the acidity out of them so mixing them with the rest of your compost may be the best approach just in case.

Whichever option you take this is proof that you can have an environmentally friendly office coffee machine with the added benefit of a fantastic garden.  As the year wears on I will report back on how well my garden gets on with regular use of these coffee grounds.  I will also get some feed back from other members of our staff that are using them on their gardens.

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Kenco Singles Cappuccino Creamer Capsule

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Paul
Kenco Singles creamer capsule for cappuccino

To the left is an image of the new cappuccino capsule for use in the Kenco Singles brewer.  When used in conjunction with the Carte Noire espresso drink capsule it allows you to create a more authentic cappuccino drink.  In order to create the optimal drink remember to use the creamer first and then the espresso.  One last thing to remember is that the drink created will be larger than the typical measure from this system.  As such you need to make sure that you have a cup that  is big enough for it!

The reason for the launch of this new product is the increasing demand for larger, frothy, High Street coffee shop style drinks to be produced from the office coffee machine.  We believe that this new product a a large step in the right direction and hopefully will tick some of these boxes.

This capsule is now available so if you would like to order some please give the office a call.

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Our first Millicano coffee vending machine

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Paul

We are delighted that a recent trial in a private hospital has resulted in Kenco Local Business Service placing some Kenco Millicano coffee vending machines at the site.  The main reason behind their decision was the quality of product, and therefore drink, compared to their existing soluble coffee vending machines.  They did not want the extra expense and maintenance issues that a bean to cup system brings but did require a better offer.  Millicano fitted the bill perfectly.   It offers a near bean to cup quality drink but without the need for a more expensive machine or the need for quite such regular cleaning and expensive maintenance contracts.  Another benefit is that the drink dispense time is much quicker. This does mean that if you are looking for a piece of equipment for a busy canteen but do not want to compromise on quality, then a soluble coffee machine using Millicano is a good solution. A bean to cup coffee machine might result in queues of people waiting for their drink.

If you are interested in one of oour Millicano branded coffee machines then please give the office a call.

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Bespoke Disposable Coffee Cups

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Paul

As you might imagine we supply a wide range of disposable cups to accompany the huge variety of coffee machine and coffee vending machines that we provide.  All of these cups are either branded Kenco or, in some cases, are unbranded.  We have been asked occasionally to produce a cup with a different brand on.  For example if you own a chain of coffee shops you might like your own brand to appear on all of your take away paper cups.  If this is of interest then please give us a call and we would be happy to go through the options.  As you might expect there are minimum order quantities and there would have to be some commitment on your part at to how many you would take per year.  If you are happy with this criteria then please as

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Special offer on the new style Kenco Singles machine

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Paul

The Kenco Local Business Service Association is celebrating the imminent launch of the new look Kenco Singles machine with a special offer: when you buy a new machine we will give you £200 of free drinks with the machine. 

This is a great opening offer for this exciting new machine.  The Kenco Singles brewer is ideal for use in an office or reception.  It also works very well in a bar or pub setting where you want to offer hot drinks but perhaps don’t sell a large quantity of coffee.  The machine itself is simple to use, ultra reliable and produces a very acceptable filter coffee as well as allowing you to produce a range of teas, hot chocolate and cappio.  In the drinks capsule range will also soon be a milk capsule which will allow you to create a larger cappuccino drink.  Later in the year we expect to be able to add another drink to the already impressively extensive range: Cadbury chocolate.

We can offer these machines on a range of deals including rental, lease and puchase.  For more information please do give us a call.  We would be happy to visit your workplace and demonstrate the machine as well as go through the options available to you.

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Free On Loan Cold Drinks Vending Machines

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Paul

Kenco Local Business Service have got together with Britvic in order to offer a no cost cold drinks vending service.  What this means is that we can provide a machine free on loan that will dispense a range of Britvic chilled drinks.  Within this range are Pepsi, Pepsi Max, 7UP, Tango, Britvic Orange Juice, Drench, Gatoraid and Mountain Dew.  Kenco Local Business Service will visit your premises on a regular basis in order the keep the machine filled and reconcile the cash takings.  All you have to do is to give us the space to put it and a plug for us to plug it into to.  Thereafter you don’t have to worry about a thing.  If you are interested in getting one of these bits of equipment installed at your workplace free of charge then please give the office a call.  We will be happy to help.

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Kenco Millicano in Coffee Vending

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Paul

We are opening up our fist site today that uses Kenco Millicano whole bean instant in coffee vending machines.  We are very excited to see how this goes and to get some feedback from the customers using the machines.  We have tried it here in the office through various bits of equipment and have been impressed.  However please remember that it really is best when used with a good quality whitener such as Milfresh.

If you are interested in finding more out about this product please give us a call.

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