Lately specialty coffee stores have raised demand for better quality coffee. Nachtrieb, having built his business in both the office and foodservice markets, has educated himself about all aspects of coffee, and uses this expertise as a tool for both selling and satisfying customers.
"He is obsessed with quality, service and delivering a quality product. His customers believe he's an expert on coffee, and he has earned their loyalty." - they say about him.
Nachtrieb quickly realized that OCS was a growing business, so he gave up the concrete step business to start his own OCS operation. He stored coffee in his parents' basement and made deliveries in a red 1975 El Camino SS with a cap on it so the coffee wouldn't get wet if it rained while he was inside making a delivery. The company grew largely by word-of-mouth in its first five years.
Nachtrieb continued to sell 2-ounce OCS packs. "I don't sell coffee," Nachtrieb explained. "I sell quality and service second to none. The supermarkets sell coffee."
When Bob Richter and Steve Dunefsky formed Empire Coffee in 1984, Nachtrieb was one of their first customers. He saw private label coffee as an important tool in selling on the basis of quality versus price.
Nachtrieb found that many restaurants were receptive to a provider who could offer good service.
Nachtrieb's historical information enables him to compare the long-term return on investment of different types of equipment. He learned early on that the lowest cost equipment isn't always the most profitable.
The investments in warehouse space and software were destined to pay off as the OCS business became more challenging in the early 1990s. The business was maturing, and new customers were becoming scarcer. Product and equipment suppliers were touting specialty coffee, but Albany was not quick to embrace it.
He offered discounted labor rates, travel time charges and faster response times to those restaurants that purchased all their coffee from him, not just espresso. If they did not purchase their drip coffee from him, he would still service their espresso machine, which his competition refused to do, but they would pay a higher price and wait longer.
While espresso opened some new doors, the growth was not fast, and the mid-1990s was a slow period for Chris' Coffee Service. Nachtrieb realized that he needed more salespeople to grow.
Generally speaking, efforts to educate customers about coffee service have begun to pay off big.
Nachtrieb's expertise in espresso proved especially helpful when he expanded into Internet sales, an area that has seen the fastest growth for his company in the last four years. Nachtrieb first launched a website in 1999 simply as a way to enhance credibility.
In the meantime, he began surfing the Internet to learn more about the coffee industry. He quickly discovered that the Internet provided various forums for coffee lovers to compare experiences on all aspects of coffee, and that all types of products were being sold online.
One day, a broker asked him if he would take a look at a new line of semicommercial espresso machines he was representing. Nachtrieb asked him how many he had, and purchased all 30 machines. Nachtrieb then posted photos and a description of the products on his website just to see what would happen.
Nachtrieb also wrote about his espresso machines on websites. When espresso lovers offered favorable testimonials about his espresso machines, he received orders. He realized that the homeowner espresso drinker was willing to pay for high-quality machines, and they were interested in buying products from people they felt they could trust. He sells homeowner units, grinders, coffee and accessories.
In the meantime, Nachtrieb sees continued growth in the foodservice segment as more restaurants become interested in espresso. He is in the process of installing a micro roaster to roast coffee for foodservice accounts. His new micro roaster may provide the means to produce coffee pods for the new manual pod brewers.
In the meantime, Chris' Coffee Service continues to expand in all of its business segments - offices, foodservice and Internet sales - due to the company's hard-earned reputation as an expert on all things related to coffee.
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