East Anglian based Vending and Coffee supplier NVCS has earned a place in Evoca UK history by becoming the first company in the UK to acquire a Gaggia Professional coffee machine.
Few events in the international coffee community have created such a frisson of excitement as the acquisition, by Evoca Group, of a license to use the iconic brand name Gaggia, in the professional coffee marketplace.
On paper, it was a marriage made in Heaven: a legendary Italian name would be able to call upon the unrivaled resources of a world-leading coffee business that was eager to build its portfolio in the professional coffee sector. The mutual benefit was the opportunity to co-write a new chapter in the history of authentic Italian espresso.
That was back in 2017 and now, the fruits of that union are beginning to emerge here in the UK. Chris Skipper, whose company NVCS is no stranger to boldly going where no other vending company has gone before, is delighted to have become the first UK business to buy La Reale, the new Gaggia machine that’s said to be ‘ideally equipped to perpetuate Gaggia Milano’s iconic standing in the world’s finest cafés.’
‘I understand that there are quite a few La Reale machines going through the sales pipeline but yes, I think I’m the first to close a deal’, Chris said. We’ve bought it to go into our showroom as a bit of a statement piece. We’ll train people on it and we’ll use it ourselves; that’s the ethos behind it. We have quite a number of people who come into the showroom to look at traditional equipment in all its forms, so to have such a high end machine to demonstrate to customers exactly what can be achieved with a state-of- the-art coffee machine is an essential part of their purchase decision making process.
For many companies working in the vending sector, the chance to offer traditional coffee machines will open doors in a new market sector. However, that’s not the case at NVCS, as Chris explained.
‘We’re also coffee roasters’, he said. ‘We’ve been roasting coffee for 13 years, so we have a lot of experience in this market. I think I’m right in saying that we were the first vending company to have a roastery and that’s one of the reasons we have a large number of customers in the independent café sector.’
The company’s Green Farm Coffee brand is currently being given a design makeover. Meanwhile, a brand-new home delivery subscription service is about to be launched ‘We’re sponsors of Norwich City and now the club has been promoted to the Premier League, the chances are that hundreds of millions of people will see our brand, and that’s what’s encouraged us to do it now, to ‘go retail’, if you like.’
Against that background, Chris’s choice of a Gaggia machine as the showroom centrepiece has delighted Evoca UK’s Technical Director, Craig Jukes. ‘Sometimes in your career there are highs and lows’, he said. ‘Opportunities come and go but right now I feel that at Evoca Group, I’m on the crest of a wave, full of excitement for the future.
‘During my 11 years with the company, we’ve had great products, but now it feels like we are heading for a perfect storm, both with what we have now and with what is to come. From the Gaggia Professional stable, as well as La Reale, we have La Giusta La Radiosa. Then there’s our stunning Necta range with products such as Krea Touch and Kalea Fresh Milk to name but two. We have payment apps, industry-leading touch screen interfaces and GUI; a versatile range of snack machines and great products from Saeco, Ducale, Newis and Cafection. If that little lot can’t excite you, then clearly, you don’t have coffee in your veins.
‘We’re all really pleased that the company that will take its place in Evoca Group history, as the first in the UK to purchase a new-generation Gaggia Professional machine, is one of our most loyal and most valued customers.’
