As usual nice photos Mark, looks like you were having fun with the camera. The rain/reflections added nicely to the shots. I think you should provide a link (from this column, not just twitter) to the 'out takes' you posted on flickr. I think many of the readers would enjoy them as well. Also, nice to see the 'jukebox' in color, better!
I guess I need to explain, my comments are in reference to the flickr out-take shots. Nothing against the shots for the article, but the out takes were more fun.
Hi Mark, quick spelling edit, the Superautos are Egro, not Agro.
The thing that struck me most when I last visited Rancilio is that while they were quite dismissive about the domestic market (Silvia, Rocky etc.) it was even then a huge chunk of their cashflow and an even larger contributor to their profitability. If they had really been serious about it they could have easily tripled their domestic sales. Apparently selling huge numbers of domestic machines is less macho than "improving" your commercial machines by adding blue LEDs.
The Egro merger begins to make more sense when you look at how fast expert Italian baristas are being replaced by superautos and pod/Nespresso machines.
Hi Mark, quick spelling edit, the Superautos are Egro, not Agro.
The thing that struck me most when I last visited Rancilio is that while they were quite dismissive about the domestic market (Silvia, Rocky etc.) it was even then a huge chunk of their cashflow and an even larger contributor to their profitability. If they had really been serious about it they could have easily tripled their domestic sales. Apparently selling huge numbers of domestic machines is less macho than "improving" your commercial machines by adding blue LEDs.
Darn, I'd asked Glenn to do a quick fact check for me and he missed that too :) (Egro).
Re domestic market... they still do "push aside" the Silvia somewhat, but a jump from 17,000 machines in 2009 to 22,000 machines in 2010 has made a rather large impression on them. I really, really, REALLY hammered the point about the domestic market on my visit. Pretty much every opportunity, even at dinners. I'd joke about it, then get serious. I came at it from a perspective of brand loyalty, brand recognition (consumers have Rancilio on their counter, look for Rancilio more in cafes, talk about Rancilio to cafe owners etc), the lost income from an upgrade path, why the Silvia was popular, what it has historically done for Rancilio in the consumer market vis a vis brand loyalty, etc etc.
Their engineers on the last day started quizzing me about what a Silvia V2 might have, and what a Silvia upgrade might have (two machines, one a new Silvia, the other a more expensive machine Silvia owners would trade up to). That was encouraging.
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