Columbus Coffee
the café with the BOTTOMLESS CUP

One of the defining characteristics of regular winners at the Westpac New Zealand Franchise Awards is that they are never satisfied. Take Columbus Coffee, for instance. In the last three years, Columbus has been named Food & Beverage Franchise System of the Year and Supreme Franchise System of the Year twice, while its Ashburton café has won Food & Beverage Franchisee of the Year twice and is the reigning Supreme Franchisee of the Year.

Last year, when accepting the Supreme award for the second year running, managing director Graeme Tait announced, ‘Columbus Coffee is going places. The foot is off the brake and on the accelerator.’ It’s a promise the company has more than lived up to, having grown from 28 cafés to 53 in a year thanks to a partnership which has Columbus operating or converting cafés within Mitre 10 MEGA stores. Opening at the rate of one new store each week for the past three months, the brand is now extensively represented from Invercargill to Warkworth and promises more to come.

But despite the accolades, Columbus is always looking for improvements. As Graeme says, ‘It’s a bottomless cup really – we’re always trying to find ways to do better in every single aspect of the franchise, because we know all the little things add up to provide better products, better service and even better returns for franchisees.’

In The Last Year

With the franchise having almost doubled in size in the last twelve months, Columbus has invested heavily in supporting all those new franchisees and staff. There are now twice as many people in the support team, and the company has also moved into new offices with a dedicated training centre, while in-store training has become faster and easier with the launch of an online Learning Management System, as profiled in the last issue of Franchise New Zealand.

‘The result is that franchisees and staff can earn a nationally-recognised Level 3 qualification in the workplace, which is a great incentive to help attract and retain good staff. Our training has gone entirely digital, with trainees using an iPad to receive and complete courses rather than our previous paper-based training system. They can even write, draw and provide signatures on the screen using editable PDF technology. According to the HSI, we are the first hospitality organisation in the country to do this.’

And it’s not just training that has gone digital – Columbus has also moved most of its business systems online. ‘We’ve always been committed to helping its franchisees both measure and manage their businesses but the latest development takes that a step further,’ Graeme explains. ‘We launched a new class-leading online services suite to our franchisees at our two-day conference in Auckland following the 2011 awards. This combines a business toolkit (which includes all sorts of management and marketing applications), business intelligence and menu management tools along with training systems.

‘All stores have received an iPad to help them track and manage their businesses wherever they are. Basically, these devices will enable franchisees to access instantly all the critical information they need to keep their businesses operating at peak levels, while their managers and staff will also have different security settings that enable them to see specific areas.’

But the franchise is about people as much as systems, and Columbus also used its conference to celebrate its own awards. As Graeme says, ‘Nigel and Carmeena may be the best franchisees of any system in New Zealand but we have many outstanding operators within Columbus and we like to recognise them too (see panel).’

Now It’s Your Turn

If you’d like to join this fast-moving franchise, a Columbus Coffee outlet requires an investment of between $250,000 and $400,000 depending on location. This covers the franchise fee, training, store fit out, equipment, initial consumable stock and a start-up advertising package.

‘This is a sizeable investment,’ says Nathan Bonney of Columbus. ‘However, you will be joining a brand that not only offers good returns and on-going rewards but which constantly has one eye on the future. As Graeme has shown, we’ve invested constantly to help franchisees improve and demonstrated that, even in a tough economy, you can achieve excellent results. If you have a passion for customer service, an ability to manage staff and empathy for customers, come and see our award-winning systems for yourself – I guarantee you’ll be impressed.’

This advertorial is taken from Franchise New Zealand magazine Volume 20 Issue 4 

Contact details for Columbus Coffee

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