Statistics and Lateral Thinking.

FreshCoffee2

Hi All,

this morning I was watching a program on small business ( I think its called "Bread" but dont ask me the channel or the time) and the host interviewed two "cafe" owners with a view to (apparently) showcasing the difference between a small cafe in Kensington, and a "cafe" chain with 25 outlets.

It was mentioned the chain makes or serves (from memory)10000 coffees a week. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that as the figures flashed up on the screen caught me by surprise...

You make around 110 coffees per kilo if using the correct sized double filter for this market (and after accounting for a minimal wastage and freebies to staff and freeloaders, we reckon you sell a nominal 100 cups per kilo).

In any case:
10000 divided 110 cups per kilo = 91 kilos per week.
91 kilos divided by 25 outlets = 3.6 kilos use per outlet per week.

Perhaps then this was a per day figure rather than per week. Either I misunderstood or the figure given on the program is designed to confuse...

It appeared the chain was an internet cafe, so perhaps people go there to access the internet primarliy rather than to go out to a "cafe".

It apeared to me the little cafe owner had nothing to worry about.

Anyone else see this?  Did I misunderstand the useage figure? Your thoughts?

FC.

FreshCoffee2

ok for those of you that saw the above, we've just had our first enquiry for a set of scales to measure the weight of the individual wet coffees produced, thanks to the cafe chain interviewed. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FC.

john

I have just returned from up north!!!!!!! PLEASE EXPLAIN

FreshCoffee2

Hi John, perhaps someone from the enlightened masses can explain why on earth an espresso machine operator would need to WEIGH each and every wet coffee produced to see if it is within a certain range of weights. FC.

over_extracted

AAAHHHHHHH The power of the media on the people ,tell him that first he has to weight the coffee beans then weight them again when they are ground, and then he can weight the coffee, and then tell him to go and look for his customer that has gone somewhere else.geee i dont know what i would do if i saw this in a cafe better go and charge my handycam ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Gonzo

Dont you people know anything? The latest thing is to ask the client for his or her body weight, and then to produce a larteh' of just the correct proportions (corresponding caffeine hit and amount of milk fat etc) for the client's own personal body mass. I've been toting my own personal set of coffee scales around for the past 3 months. You people need to get with it. G.

Supertechnico

Hi Guys, This one cracks me up! The real issue here is the metric system. Some of tose getting it wrong are stuck on imperial! Thanks :P