RACV Clubs & Resorts have ten locations across Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. Fine dining, spa treatments and a broad range of accommodation options are just a few of the reasons their resorts are well-loved and have been awarded year after year. From stunning coastal scenery to iconic Australian bushland to the sophisticated streets of Melbourne city, RACV resorts have something for every traveller.
A few years ago, RACV was using a different coffee supplier. RACV Operation Coordinator, Andy Hodgson, tells us that not only were senior leaders unimpressed with the coffee itself but there was also a history of poor service from the provider as well as a raft of poor feedback from guests themselves. Andy says that RACV has more than 2 million members across Australia and “takes their feedback very seriously”.
“When we were consistently getting negative feedback, we had to do something about it.” As a result, RACV went to market for a new supplier and partnered with Lavazza for all 9 RACV resorts.
With numerous sites across Australia, including hotels and fine dining restaurants, Lavazza’s ability to provide a versatile portfolio of coffee solutions was key. With a business need for back-of-house bulk brewers, barista operated coffee carts and automatic bean to cup machines at the breakfast buffet, RACV needed a supplier who could do it all.
Not only did Lavazza need to have the equipment and portfolio to service many different coffee occasions, Andy points out that the RACV’s coffee partner needs to be able to provide a consistent cup of coffee that everyone enjoys.
“It's quite rare that you get a bad Lavazza coffee. That ability to be able to consistently deliver a signature type coffee which is palatable to just about everybody was pretty important.”
Once the equipment had been installed, a comprehensive training program was undertaken to train staff, ensuring ‘in-cup quality’ was consistently high.
“We need to be able to train people to a high standard, and then ensure that standard is consistently delivered,” Andy explains.
Andy says this training continues today, an important factor given the amount of employee churn in the hospitality industry.
“Each quarter, one or two of the Lavazza trainers will go to a site and test staff to see how well they make the coffee. And then on the back of that, they'll run some training for any new staff and if they've identified some areas where people can improve they’ll run some improvement training as well,” says Andy.
“It's quite rare that you get a bad Lavazza coffee. That ability to be able to consistently deliver a signature type coffee which is palatable to just about everybody was pretty important.”
