The Australian Specialty Coffee Association (ASCA) has announced its first Symposium, taking place on Monday 27 March 2017 during Melbourne Coffee Week, in the lead-up to the Melbourne International Coffee Expo.
The Symposium will take place at Mercure Treasury Gardens in Melbourne, and is designed for café owners who want to learn more about improving their business.
Titled: Secretes of Specialty: How to run a successful café, coffee business experts from across the country will gather to share their insights into how café operators can run their business a little bit smarter.
“This is an exciting inaugural event for ASCA, and an amazing opportunity for café owners to learn and engage from leading experts in their field. Australian cafés already have such a great repreputation for quality, but this is a great way to help business owners to take their venue to the next level,” says Symposium Chair Sarah Baker of Editor of BeanScene magazine.
“March is already an exciting month for coffee in Melbourne, so why not kick off an educational week with the ASCA Symposium before making your way to MICE2017 in the same week? It’s the perfect plan to maximise your time in Melbourne”
Three seasons will focus core elements to business success, including marketing in the modern digital world; how to make a good impression regarding menus and café design; business basics every café owner needs to know including wage management, accelerating profits and upselling; aa well as some valuable insights into the challenges the coffee industry is facing, right through the value chain.
Speakers will include:
Session 1 Going Viral – Marketing your café in the modern digital landscape: A journalist, blogger and marketing expert share insights into what attracts positive attention.
- Matt Holden is Australia’s top coffee journalist for mainstream media. Matt will be giving tips to café owners on how to attract mainstream media attention for their businesses.
- Robert McKay is one of Melbourne’s top food and coffee bloggers called I Eat Melbourne, with more than 87,000 instagram followers. He will be offering advice on how to attract and impress bloggers, for positive café reviews.
- Rachael Hedges is a Digital PR & Communications Manager at Wiley. She will present to café owners strategies to make the most of social media and other digital marketing opportunities.
Session 2 Swipe Right – How to make a good impression: Coffee business experts discuss what can make or break a café, from design, through to the menu.
- Stuart Krelle is the Director of Sydney-based interior design and architecture studio Luchetti Krelle. Stuart will be presenting on what makes a winning café design.
Session 3 Running a Café for Dummies – Basics every coffee operator should know: Specialist coffee business consultants go through some simple but effective steps café operators can take to make their businesses more profitable.
- Nadi Elias is the CEO and founder of Equus Partners in Melbourne. His session will cover tips on how café operators can accelerate their profits in the next few weeks.
- Ken Burgin is the Manager of Content and Strategy for Profitable Hospitality. He will share insight into how to teach your staff to upsell customers.
Session 4 Kinks in the Supply Chain – How the big picture of coffee fits into your business: Sources straight from origin discuss the pressing challenges they are facing, and what it means to the future of coffee businesses.
- Luiz Saldanha is a coffee farmer and agronomist from Paraná Brazil who operates Fazenda California. He will provide an origin perspective on the importance increasing value throughout the supply chain.
- Jos Webber is an Australian coffee farmer and advocate for local coffee production from Kahawa Estate Coffee. HIs will discuss both the challenges and opportunities of getting Australian-grown coffee onto the market.
- Stephen Bannister is the Managing Director at Condesa. Stephen will provide an origin perspective on both the advantages and disadvantages of certification systems.
Full speaker bios are available on the new-look ASCA website.
Tickets for ASCA members are $350, non-members are $450, and groups of five are $1500
For Groups of five or more, email info@aasca.com for a discounted price.
For more information and to book your attendance to the ASCA Symposium, click HERE.