There are three choices open to you. These are to make the drinks by hand in the cup, use a drinks machine in the kitchen and bring it out to the customer or have a self serve system so that the customer can select and dispense the hot drink themselves.



For the busy caterer a traditional espresso machine is probably out of the question due to the time needed to prepare the drink and the training needed to operate the machine successfully. A fully automatic bean to cup machine with milk frothing is an option for some establishments, but here we will take a look at the instant drinks dispenser.

The instant drinks dispenser does have some advantages over the bean to cup system in as much as the initial cost of the machine is usually less and the running and servicing costs are lower too.

Typically an instant drinks dispenser contains three or four canisters inside the machine which are filled with instant soluble ingredients which are mixed and sometimes whipped into a variety of delicious hot drinks.

All the caterer needs to do is make the selection and ensure a suitably sized cup is in place to receive the drink. Many machines have the option of dispensing a large or small drink.

Delicious hot drinks such as cappuccino, coffee au lait, mocha, hot chocolate, latte as well as white and black coffee can all be made at the touch of a single button.

Some machines have a hot water button so that tea and other alternative drinks can be made from tea bags. It should be noted however that most hot drink dispensers are not geared up to produce large amounts of hot water, so it you intend to sell lots of tea then you would be better advised to purchase a dedicated hot water boiler to work along-side the hot drinks dispenser.

Most hot beverages can be made from just three instant ingredients. So long as the ingredient canisters are replenished regularly with instant coffee, cappuccino topping and chocolate powder a wide selection of delicious drinks can be served all day.

The initial purchase price of a hot drinks dispenser depends mainly on the number of drinks it can produce in an an hour. The more expensive machines can cope with serving up to 1000 drink an hour at peak times, have full audit facilities and self cleaning cycles. Smaller machines are readily available for less demanding catering situations and this is generally reflected in the price you are expected to pay.

As with all types of drinks machines, it always pays to choose top quality ingredients for use in the machine, so don't go for the cheapest coffee, whitener and chocolate. In the long run the prospect of repeat business by serving the best quality drinks usually pays dividends.