Hi Danny.

I'm taking this opportunity to write you as one of the informal coordinators, and as a judge for the Canadian Barista Competition this coming weekend.

The Canadian Barista Competition is a first for this country, but right in tune with what's going on around the rest of the world - right now, 39 nations (40 with Canada) are running national Barista competitions annually, and the winner represents our country at the Worlds' competition each year. It is also gaining much more exposure for the companies involved in the competitions, both in terms of goodwill, and in terms of excellent publicity.

The usual supplier of espresso machines for many of the National competitions, and for the World's each year is La Marzocco. They were in force at this year's World's, every Scandinavian competition, and every regional competition in the US, leading up to the USBC in Boston this year. When one talks privately to the La Marzocco people, including Bill Crossland or Joe Monaghan, they make it very clear the extreme value and honour they take in being part of these competitions.

Vida, the organizer of the Canadian Coffee and Tea Expo, had to make a decision on what supplier to go with for the first ever Canadian Barista Championship. La Marzocco stepped up and volunteered right away, but Vida turned to ECM and Nuova Simonelli for several reasons, not the least of which Vancouver is your "home town", and the machines are in much use here. Also, I know it was an honour and respect thing: Not to approach ECM first would be the equivalent of a "slap in the face" and Vida has always been very thankful of Vic and Remo's involvement and help with her and the Coffee Expo in past years. 

ECM agreed to participate, which everyone involved in the first CBC is very, very grateful for.

But a situation has recently happened that I'd like to address to you.

Several participants in this year's competition have never worked on Nuova Simonelli machines. This is a frequent problem with all these types of competitions around the world. But what usually happens is that the equipment supplier agrees to let any Barista, if they are registered, have some "face time" with the machines prior to the event. 

In La Marzocco's case, they let Baristi from any part of the US come to their showroom, and get time on a machine, with very few limits (other than leaving it clean and "as it was"). Of course, La Marzocco doesn't pick up the cost of the Baristi coming to Seattle (or to their satellite offices), but they do offer the time and space for any qualified competitor who requests it. This has been going on for several years now.

Several of the Baristi entering this weekend's competition have not used NS machines before, and enquired about getting some face time with the machines prior to the competition. I put in a request to Vida to make the request to ECM. She contacted Vic and Vic turned her down, stating "he's too busy and doesn't want anyone coming to the showroom".

Needless to say, this is disappointing. Based on previous experience with LM, I told the concerned Baristi I would ask, but it "should be okay", and but now we find out it is not okay.

ECM's involvement in the Barista competitions is good for the industry, good for the competitors, and definitely good for the sponsors involved. In your company's example, it gets ECM press in several ways (I've already been contracted to write two articles about this competition for a magazine and a US regional newspaper, just as one example), and it generates a lot of goodwill and a lot of exposure for your products. But I fear the "goodwill" portion takes a bit of a hit if we have to go back to the Baristi, some in town now, some arriving mid-week, and say 'you can't see the machines before the show, the supplier is too busy for you".

In addition, we have to provide as equal and even a playing ground as possible for these competitors - some have used Nuova Simonelli machines, and many have not, and that creates an uneven ground. By not allowing Baristi to visit your showroom in Burnaby, pull a few shots, and get comfortable with the competition machine controls, it creates an uneven playing ground.

I hope this email gives you the incentive to reconsider, and allow some informal visits by competiting Baristi this week to your Burnaby showroom. They don't need to be babysat, if that's a concern - these are highly skilled professionals who know what they're doing. They just want to get to know the equipment they are doing it on.

Lastly, I'd contact Vic directly with this message, but I don't have his email address or phone number; also, I know you, and I have never met him formally.

I'd appreciate it if you could let me know if ECM's position changes on this Danny.

Best regards,

Mark