Wake Up Call: You Can’t ‘Go It Alone’ In Refreshment Services Anymore

On every front, it is becoming harder to keep up with the changes taking place in refreshment services. As an industry journalist, one responsibility I share with my readers is staying on top of the changing market conditions, new product introductions, technology innovations, economic factors influencing consumers and businesses, etc.One thing most readers and I will agree on is keeping up takes more time than ever.In coffee service, the major roasters and coffee marketers keep improving products, keeping the consumer willing to shell out more and more money for coffee despite their increasingly strained budgets.On the technology front, the coffee service industry faces more and more choices than ever. E-commerce has created a whole new set of growth options for coffee service operators. As has social media. As have loyalty reward programs.In vending, the issues can seem mind boggling. A decades worth of development in the application of electronic data management has changed the playing field. Operators have a host of management tools that make their operations more efficient, but which require a new set of skills at all employee levels.As with coffee service, new market realities demand attention in vending. Again, were talking about loyalty programs, social media, mobile marketing and more.As if thats not enough, self checkout markets have jumped on the scene, raising the bar even higher.Who has the time to stay on top of it all?Refreshment service operators are entrepreneurs, who by nature are independent. Hence, given the complexities they face, operators must temper their independent streaks and seek out partnerships.The need to recognize this is unique to refreshment services. Other retail industries have consolidated, resulting in larger organizations that are able to better segment management responsibilities.But refreshment services, while undergoing some consolidation, remains highly entrepreneurial, and will be for the foreseeable future. The reasons for this are the subject for another day.Because the demands on managements time are so intense, operators have no choice but to form partnerships.Partnerships are nothing new in our industry, but where once they were optional, today they are mandatory.Were talking about partnerships among operators, between operators and suppliers, and formal involvement in industry trade organizations.For those operators who dont yet realize it, their national trade organization, the National Automatic Merchandising Association, has developed outstanding educational tools to help operators stay on top of their changing industry. Be it conventions, training programs or the Knowledge Source experts available to members.In todays refreshment services industry, no one can afford to go it alone.