Fonte Demi Pour

Wake up and smell the coffee! More and more restaurateurs and chefs are doing just that, adding quality coffee service to on-premise offerings and benefiting from increased sales and greater customer loyalty. It may be easier, and more important, than you think to offer top-quality coffee your customers now expect.

Think about it. That final sip of coffee they have before leaving your operation often is the last impression they’ll have of their visit. Might as well make it a good one. When Dunkin’ Donuts starts offering espresso ­ which they began doing last fall ­ you know it’s time to join the coffee revolution.

Even their competitors admit that Starbucks is the main driver behind the coffee revolution in the US. “Starbucks blazes trails for the rest of us,” says Paul Odom, CEO and owner of Fonté Coffee Roaster in Seattle. The average Joe who was happy with any old cup of joe a few years ago is now ordering a daily skinny latté (half-caf, please) and expecting every cup of drip coffee to be fresh and flavorful. Americans have responded with incredible enthusiasm to higher quality and more boldly flavored coffees, not only in retail but in restaurants as well.

Imagine how many Starbucks retail outlets there are (care to guess? The count in continental North America was over 5,700 at press time) and you’ll understand that the trend is broadly distributed, not just a coastal or big-city phenomenon.

“Coffee houses have done such a great job educating our guests about flavor profiles of coffee,” notes Michelle Kern, manager of beverage operations and education for Florida-based Olive Garden restaurants. The chain recently made a substantial leap in their coffee service, creating the Caff