Airport Coffee

Well to be honest I had quite low expectations about the coffee I ordered from Soho at Bristol Airport.

However in the end it was okay, even quite good. I didn’t have a huge amount of time following a long queue in security. So with no queue at Soho and an imminent announcement about the gate, I ordered a macchiato.

It was prepared well, good coffee and some foam. I enjoyed it. It did mean that I didn’t need to order a coffee on the plane! Now that would have been a very different story.

Made myself a grilled cheese sandwich

grilled cheese sandwich

As a child I would often eat cheese on toast, these days not so much. Back then we even had a Breville sandwich toaster, which was a bit of a fad in the 1980s, but you can still buy them today.

I remember when a panini was something you would only find in Italy, then they were available everywhere.

These days I will avoid having sandwiches for lunch, and I can’t remember the last time I had a panini. One thing I have had a few times are toasted sandwiches, usually cheese and mushroom.

The other day we were up at the Mall and I needed a break to rest, so we decided to get some coffee and a quick snack. We eventually decided on the Soho Coffee Company, not one of my first choices for coffee, but it wasn’t too crowded. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to eat, I didn’t really want a cake, nor did I want a sandwich, so in the end I chose the mushroom & swiss cheese sourdough toastie. This was described as roasted mushrooms with garlic & black pepper. Swiss cheese & SOHO toastie sauce. Topped with even more Swiss cheese for extra ooziness! Though when it arrived I think the topping of Swiss cheese had been missed off. Still it was rather nice, crunchy bread, melted cheese and nice mushrooms.

So at home and wanting some lunch, I did think about what I wanted and I thought to myself I might create my own grilled cheese toastie. 

I had some M&S San Francisco sourdough bread, which I added some butter to the inside, a slice of Gouda (I had no Swiss cheese), some grated cheddar cheese and a slice of Serrano ham. 

In a frying pan I added some olive oil and some butter and once the butter was melted I added the (what was then) sourdough sandwich. I put a lid on the frying pan, so that the heat would be retained and melt the cheese. I then removed the lid so that the final part of cooking would crisp up the bread.

This was then put on a plate and served. The bread was lovely and crunchy on the outside, but still soft on the inside. The cheese had melted and was oozing out of the sandwich and the ham added an element of saltiness.

It was really nice, so much so I did think about making myself another one, but I resisted temptation.

Flying for a coffee

I’ve decided I’ve really gone off Starbucks coffee, I find that it is over roasted and I’ve not really enjoyed that coffee drinking experience. So there I was at Bristol Airport at 6am thinking I want a coffee, I could choose between Starbucks and Soho Coffee Co.

I don’t want rehash my previous visit to Soho, but as I didn’t feel like drinking Starbucks I went with Soho. The experience was as it should be, the service was polite, fast and efficient and as for the coffee, it was really nice and I enjoyed it. When you have a nice experience it does make you want to go back.

Told you Soho Coffee Co

Two years ago I wrote up about a visit to a branch of the Soho Coffee Co.

Back then I asked

Let me ask you a question, is it really so difficult in this day and age, for a coffee shop to take coffee orders and then make the coffee?

I also said

Recently I went to the Soho Coffee Co and was frankly appalled by the level of incompetency shown by the six staff behind the counter in undertaking the coffee making and serving process.

I finished off by stating

Anyway as a result it will be sometime (if ever) I go back to the Soho Coffee Co.

Well, here we are two years later and I have never gone back to that branch of the Soho Coffee Co.

Just shows the importance of decent customer service and efficient serving. I have visited many coffee places close to that branch, but have not been back.

So what of other Soho Coffee Co branches, well I did visit one once at a motorway services, but only the once. I do recall that service was okay, but not fantastic!

The thing is for me, I know the staff are poorly paid and overworked, but from what I can see the problem is not staff, but management and the management of systems. If some coffee places can get it right, why can’t all of them get the little things just right.

Soho Coffee Co, so, so…

Let me ask you a question, is it really so difficult in this day and age, for a coffee shop to take coffee orders and then make the coffee?

Also can they ensure that the whole order is fulfilled and that it arrives all roughly at the same time?

Really, a serious question!

It’s not as though we don’t have lots of coffee shops and chains which can’t work out or observe the simple process of taking an order for a coffee, getting payment for the coffee, making the coffee and serving the coffee.

Recently I went to the Soho Coffee Co and was frankly appalled by the level of incompetency shown by the six staff behind the counter in undertaking the coffee making and serving process.

Soho Coffee Co, so, so…

It’s not as though the place was busy, well it got busy because of the incompetence! As a result prospective customers were walking away – they were losing business.

So what happened to me then?

Well I went to the counter and ordered an americano, a babycino and an egg and mushroom bloomer.

The bloke on the till marked the cups and handed them over to the barista and then took my money!

Typical coffee ordering process in the UK (and I suspect the US as well). I do recall how things are done in Italy though, there you place your order at the till, pay your money and  then you go to the barista, wait in line if need be, hand over your receipt/order and then the barista, makes your coffee and serves it to you. Simple, easy and as you will see avoids the problems I had at the Soho Coffee Co.

So there I was waiting, there were people in front of me and people behind me.

There seemed to be a huge amount of activity behind the counter, but very little coffee coming out.

So the barista firstly announced two cappuccinos which  nobody seemed to own.

They then announced an americano, which the couple about two people behind me promptly said was theirs… Well it could have been, who knew, but I had a feeling it was mine. So we discussed and I took ownership of the coffee. Their americano and cappuccino came next, so no hard feelings there.

However no sign of the babycino, so I am waiting.

They then  place a babycino on the counter, go to take it, when a woman in front of me takes it, as she has been waiting for hers for her child for ages…

They then ask me what I had ordered, I tell them (again).

The babycino arrives, only to be given to the bloke behind me!

They then ask me what I had ordered, I tell them (again).

Eventually my babycino arrives, nobody else tries to take it, so I now have the babycino and an americano (which is now going cold).

I look questioningly at the barista about my breakfast order, she looks vacant, I tell her about it, she then blames the printer! So now I have to wait once more as they cook my breakfast order.

So what was a simple process of ordering coffee and food, which should have taken only a few minutes, took nearly fifteen minutes!

So what was the cause of the problems.

It appeared to be a lack of a system for taking coffee orders.

The teller on the till would mark the (paper) cups and then place them by the espresso machine in no particular order, so that as the barista made the coffee, it could and would not be in the order in which the coffee was ordered.

Without any way of connecting the coffee cups to the customers, as coffee was placed on the counter, any customer could just take it either thinking it was theirs (in all innocence) or even just pretend it was theirs – I think that is what may have happened to my breakfast order!

Anyway as a result it will be sometime (if ever) I go back to the Soho Coffee Co. It’s not so much a problem with the chain, just the staff at this particular outlet, who did not have a robust enough system to serve customers quickly and efficiently and importantly with the correct orders.