By Jeff Adair, Editor
After dipping his toe in the specialty coffee industry with a coffee shop in 2010, Jeff Osburn, a foodservice industry veteran, took a stab at coffee service when he had the opportunity to provide coffee service for a supermarket. He quickly recognized the challenge of providing a high-quality coffee service economically, given the cost of labor.
Osburn naturally began exploring self-service options, and he became intrigued with brewing technology. In the process of researching the opportunity for three years, he began exploring a self-serve, single-cup brewer with a bean grinder and two flavor options.
The single-cup brewer that Osburn initially explored produced good American coffee, but it did not use fresh milk and it did not have the correct tamping pressure, grind size or temperature to produce real espresso. Osburn was not satisfied with the customer experience, so he continued studying brewing technology for another three years.