"It's our main revenue driver right now."
The manager of coffee chain 10 Dean unpacks the matcha craze.
Good afternoon everyone.
Weeks after writing about a matcha craze that seems to be contributing to an impending global shortage, the team at Square sent me a message with your literal receipts: they’ve seen a 114% increase in orders at Canadian coffee shops since last April, driven by (no surprise) Gen Zs and young millennials.
I was interested to know what someone who actually works are one of these cafes is seeing, so the team put me in touch with Antoine Vautherot who manages 10 Dean, a buzzy coffee chain owned by the real estate developer Fitzrovia. You can find one in of each of their three Toronto properties.
10 Dean is also a hot spot for remote work warriors which makes it ground zero for coffee trends. Below is an edited excerpt from our conversation this morning.
How do you think about adjusting to coffee trends?
Antoine Vautherot: It’s about identifying when things are about to pop rather than when they've already exploded. I tend to focus on what's coming out of Southeast Asia and Korea, which usually translates well in Toronto. We sold one of the first strawberry matchas in the city over two years ago, but now they’re everywhere.
I saw someone order one at the Second Cup at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday, which might be the last place I’d ever think to get one. Why are they so popular?
AV: It’s an extremely aesthetic drink. The three layers of bright red, green, and white. Like, it's truly stunning. Everybody wants to have it, capture it, post it, but then there’s also the health aspect. The caffeine is so different and people are more likely to drink it later in the day.
Is it actually a key revenue driver?
AV: It’s our top seller. We sell more of those than regular lattes, which is shocking.
Has demand started to affect matcha supply or prices?
AV: For the very first time the demand for matcha has completely exceeded the production capacity. On Monday our main supplier completely pulled out, so last night I was on the phone putting in a large order with our other suppliers for the coming month. It's our main revenue driver right now, so it'd be terrible for us to run out. We have matcha making classes that sell out pretty much instantly. We're facing the very beginning of a pretty tough shortage and I think prices are about to start going up. The game has started. We’re starting to stock up and plan better because I don’t see this going anywhere, anytime soon. If anything it’s revving up.
What coffee trends are you keeping an eye on right now?
AV: I don’t know if Hōjicha will pick up but I’m seeing it more and more and we’re trying it out. Coffee made with banana milk also seems very popular in Ukraine right now, and we plan to introduce a salted caramel banana cream latte soon.
Do you think there’s pressure on cafes to come up with the next viral drink? Forget Me Not added banana flavouring to its matcha latte earlier this spring, called it the banana bread matcha, and everyone freaked out.
AV: I think cafes are trying to stay relevant and ensure they don’t lose traffic to other establishments that may be riding the wave of features. Like many coffee shops, we thrive on repeat traffic and while a lot of people have their go-to order, regularly having new and exciting things ensures we keep customers engaged.
What else are you seeing in terms of the way people are spending money or time in your cafes?
AV: This isn’t new, but all people want is iced drinks. We bought a second ice machine for our Spadina location and we still can’t make enough. A dilemma for any cafe with seating these days is the amount of laptop usage. It's extremely difficult to navigate and affects revenue so much because people want to spend as much time as possible while spending as little as possible. We’ve had to instil laptop policies, which we then get backlash for. We have difficult conversations every day with people who are not really interested in hearing our side of things.
You’ve been in hospitality for nearly 15 years. What are some of the biggest shifts you’re seeing?
AV: The shift from fine dining to coffee shops is drastic. Your entire approach to hospitality changes when you go from a two hour relationship to a 30-second interaction. In the coffee industry, it’s about freeing up time so the barista can focus on connecting with the customer. We’ve been updating our processes around ordering, payments, inventory, and scheduling with software that has just enough AI to gather data and offer us projections and recommendations. On the equipment side, we’re looking into incorporating things automatic milk steamer that gives you the perfect texture every time, or a nitro machine that can inject it [nitrogen gas] in any drink, which gives you a high-margin item that you can make quickly. There are things we can capitalize on without having to rely on automation just yet, and I’m excited to see how things evolve.
What is your go-to coffee order?
AV: An oat milk cappuccino, or a unique, fruit-forward pour-over if they have it.
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