More Than a Wrench, Service Layer Co-op + Farmland Vote
One local man's vision to change the US coffee industry.
Food as a verb thanks
for sponsoring this series
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Yeah, we're paying more for coffee. You're not imagining it.
Earlier this year, wholesale prices rocketed at $4.30 per pound - twice as high as last year - while the average price of ground roast coffee reached a record $7.25 per pound.
A long list of woes: a stressed supply chain. Even more stressed farmers and a most stressed planet, bi-polaring between heavy rains and drought.
When we buy our coffee, we're paying for that long line of stress.
Here's another layer to consider.
Service technicians.
More than a wrench, service technicians can sell, install, fix and maintain the machines that make our coffee while also speaking with a near-sommelier's understanding of the entire bean-to-brew process.
But they're often outta-sight, outta-mind.
"We're are often compared to plumbers, electricians, or mechanics. Never mind that many of us have charged rates lower than any of the averages for those trades," said Spencer Perez, owner of Coffee Machine Service Co.
Spencer - check out our 2023 feature on him - is our city's only service technician.
Your coffeehouse's espresso machine goes down? He's the man.
He's also consultant, installer, advisor, contractor. An authority and specialist. Your coffeehouse wants to craft a new coffee menu? Choose a new machine? Up their roasting profile? Select your analogy. FI racing? Service techs are both pit crew and race course designer.
Take a deep breath for this one. What's a normal day like? Here's Spencer:
We're often talking with plumbers and electricians during build-out, and sometimes correct them. We have to safely synthesize sensory data from and operate on high-pressure vessels, high-voltage electricity, hydraulic fittings, and calibrate offsets under the gun on equipment that will maim or kill us if we make a wrong move.
We know how to smell out whether your inconsistent shot times are a water treatment, machine, or grinder problem (or maybe you're just not cleaning).
It's easy to do this job pretty poorly and it takes a ton of investment to do it well, but like the rest of high-end specialty, most consumers (in our case, manufacturers and cafes) want a premium product at commodity prices.
The issue is endemic through the whole coffee supply chain, so you can understand why growers are abandoning specialty crops and some techs are late to make shitty repairs.
I don't consider this when buying coffee. Do you?
Maybe that's part of the problem.
Recently, Spencer and other service technicians launched the Service Layer Cooperative: a new co-op effort among service technicians to build support - economic and social - within the American coffee industry.
"With an early focus on recruitment, technician education, strategic vendor partnerships, and demonstrating the benefits of buying equipment through member technicians," their press release stated.
In 2024, they pooled their money together, bought an espresso machine, hauled it to a national coffee expo, then worked their magic:
They collectively refurbished and remanufactured the machine, there on the expo floor.
They realized: it was time to formally build a co-op.
"If more techs are making good money doing good work, the stature of the trade improves," he said.
Across the US, The Service Layer is "a national network of independent coffee equipment technicians."
Within that network? The new cooperative.
"The hope is that in doing more of this, we can raise standards for the trade and shift the equipment purchasing culture away from online resellers and toward local technicians," Spencer said.
The history of labor struggles has always attempted to shine a light on the people and places inherent within our luxury goods and experiences, yet often overlooked and forgotten.
It's good when we can see clearly the whole line of relationships behind our beloved coffee.
Again, here's Spencer on what the coming months and years may hold.
Coffee drinkers are going to see quality fall and prices go up across the board, but not because great techs are charging more. The global green coffee market, which serves as a baseline for a lot of specialty trading, is at an all-time high by a mile. Roasters are paying twice what they would have for similar coffees ten or fifteen years ago - some of it a hedge against anticipated scarcity.
My recent soapbox has been that specialty cafes are prolific, but real specialty coffee is still hard to find. It is so expensive to produce excellent green coffee, and equally so to attract or develop and retain the kind of talent it takes to deliver consistently excellent brewed coffee.
Exceptional coffee is a luxury product and our present situation stems, in part, from training consumers to expect Civic prices for Porsche performance.
Coffee Machine Service Co. is going to adjust pricing over the next year to approach what we believe it's gonna take for us to sustain continued investment in exceptional service. We hope Service Layer can empower other techs to do the same.
The coffee will be more consistent, the craft will improve, and the customers will know their favorite cafe takes the work seriously enough to prioritize the people and tools on which their reputation relies.
* Once more, Food as a Verb is proud to be featured in Oxford American. The legacy-magazine published an updated version of our Know Your Burger story from last year.
You can read the online version here.
* Tickets still remain for Thursday's speaker series event: "A Toast and Conversation with Shannon Mustipher."
If you like rum, this event is a must-make.
If you don't, we have a strong hunch: you will by the time the night is over.
If you're drawn to American history, cocktails, tiki culture, this event's for you. Shannon - the first Black bartender to author a bartending book in a century - is a fabulously engaging, inviting and industry superstar.
Plus, Little Coyote servers are offering four pours and a bar take-over.
Tickets can be purchased here.
* Finally, a big day for the Farmland Preservation Fund, a TN bill we've been following for weeks now.
Today, it goes before the full House for a vote.
Call or email your representative, encouraging them to vote for HB1325.
Here's a message from the SE TN Young Farmers:
* See you (hopefully) Thursday with Shannon Mustipher and (definitely) Sunday for a very small-world story.
Have a good week, everyone.
Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com
This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.
food as a verb thanks our sustaining partner:
food as a verb thanks our story sponsor:
Rock City
See Rock City, Inc. maintains a strong commitment to regional economies and sustainability through its Rock City and Clumpies Ice Cream, two of our region's most well-known businesses.
Yeah, we're paying more for coffee. You're not imagining it.
Earlier this year, wholesale prices rocketed at $4.30 per pound - twice as high as last year - while the average price of ground roast coffee reached a record $7.25 per pound.
A long list of woes: a stressed supply chain. Even more stressed farmers and a most stressed planet, bi-polaring between heavy rains and drought.
When we buy our coffee, we're paying for that long line of stress.
Here's another layer to consider.
Service technicians.
More than a wrench, service technicians can sell, install, fix and maintain the machines that make our coffee while also speaking with a near-sommelier's understanding of the entire bean-to-brew process.
But they're often outta-sight, outta-mind.
"We're are often compared to plumbers, electricians, or mechanics. Never mind that many of us have charged rates lower than any of the averages for those trades," said Spencer Perez, owner of Coffee Machine Service Co.
Spencer - check out our 2023 feature on him - is our city's only service technician.
Your coffeehouse's espresso machine goes down? He's the man.
He's also consultant, installer, advisor, contractor. An authority and specialist. Your coffeehouse wants to craft a new coffee menu? Choose a new machine? Up their roasting profile? Select your analogy. FI racing? Service techs are both pit crew and race course designer.
Take a deep breath for this one. What's a normal day like? Here's Spencer:
We're often talking with plumbers and electricians during build-out, and sometimes correct them. We have to safely synthesize sensory data from and operate on high-pressure vessels, high-voltage electricity, hydraulic fittings, and calibrate offsets under the gun on equipment that will maim or kill us if we make a wrong move.
We know how to smell out whether your inconsistent shot times are a water treatment, machine, or grinder problem (or maybe you're just not cleaning).
It's easy to do this job pretty poorly and it takes a ton of investment to do it well, but like the rest of high-end specialty, most consumers (in our case, manufacturers and cafes) want a premium product at commodity prices.
The issue is endemic through the whole coffee supply chain, so you can understand why growers are abandoning specialty crops and some techs are late to make shitty repairs.
I don't consider this when buying coffee. Do you?
Maybe that's part of the problem.
Recently, Spencer and other service technicians launched the Service Layer Cooperative: a new co-op effort among service technicians to build support - economic and social - within the American coffee industry.
"With an early focus on recruitment, technician education, strategic vendor partnerships, and demonstrating the benefits of buying equipment through member technicians," their press release stated.
In 2024, they pooled their money together, bought an espresso machine, hauled it to a national coffee expo, then worked their magic:
They collectively refurbished and remanufactured the machine, there on the expo floor.
They realized: it was time to formally build a co-op.
"If more techs are making good money doing good work, the stature of the trade improves," he said.
Across the US, The Service Layer is "a national network of independent coffee equipment technicians."
Within that network? The new cooperative.
"The hope is that in doing more of this, we can raise standards for the trade and shift the equipment purchasing culture away from online resellers and toward local technicians," Spencer said.
The history of labor struggles has always attempted to shine a light on the people and places inherent within our luxury goods and experiences, yet often overlooked and forgotten.
It's good when we can see clearly the whole line of relationships behind our beloved coffee.
Again, here's Spencer on what the coming months and years may hold.
Coffee drinkers are going to see quality fall and prices go up across the board, but not because great techs are charging more. The global green coffee market, which serves as a baseline for a lot of specialty trading, is at an all-time high by a mile. Roasters are paying twice what they would have for similar coffees ten or fifteen years ago - some of it a hedge against anticipated scarcity.
My recent soapbox has been that specialty cafes are prolific, but real specialty coffee is still hard to find. It is so expensive to produce excellent green coffee, and equally so to attract or develop and retain the kind of talent it takes to deliver consistently excellent brewed coffee.
Exceptional coffee is a luxury product and our present situation stems, in part, from training consumers to expect Civic prices for Porsche performance.
Coffee Machine Service Co. is going to adjust pricing over the next year to approach what we believe it's gonna take for us to sustain continued investment in exceptional service. We hope Service Layer can empower other techs to do the same.
The coffee will be more consistent, the craft will improve, and the customers will know their favorite cafe takes the work seriously enough to prioritize the people and tools on which their reputation relies.
* Once more, Food as a Verb is proud to be featured in Oxford American. The legacy-magazine published an updated version of our Know Your Burger story from last year.
You can read the online version here.
* Tickets still remain for Thursday's speaker series event: "A Toast and Conversation with Shannon Mustipher."
If you like rum, this event is a must-make.
If you don't, we have a strong hunch: you will by the time the night is over.
If you're drawn to American history, cocktails, tiki culture, this event's for you. Shannon - the first Black bartender to author a bartending book in a century - is a fabulously engaging, inviting and industry superstar.
Plus, Little Coyote servers are offering four pours and a bar take-over.
Tickets can be purchased here.
* Finally, a big day for the Farmland Preservation Fund, a TN bill we've been following for weeks now.
Today, it goes before the full House for a vote.
Call or email your representative, encouraging them to vote for HB1325.
Here's a message from the SE TN Young Farmers:
* See you (hopefully) Thursday with Shannon Mustipher and (definitely) Sunday for a very small-world story.
Have a good week, everyone.
Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com
This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.
Food as a verb thanks our story sponsor:
Food as a Verb Thanks our sustaining partner:
See Rock City, Inc. maintains a strong commitment to regional economies and sustainability through its Rock City and Clumpies Ice Cream, two of our region's most well-known businesses.
