In the third quarter of 2023, global coffee giant Starbucks reported that three out of every four coffee drinks sold in their stores was cold. 

While the US may be leading the charge in terms of cold coffee sales, consumers are ditching classic hot coffee and looking for iced alternatives – and it’s a global transition.

Younger coffee drinkers – Gen Z and millennials – are more likely to choose cold or iced coffee drinks than traditional hot beverages. They see them as more convenient, customisable, and versatile in a range of climates.

This means that cold coffee is an unmissable opportunity for almost all consumer-facing hospitality businesses. However, what business owners may need to learn is that there are more cost-effective and productive alternatives to traditional cold brew methods on the market.

So, just how much money can a modern commercial cold coffee maker save your business? And what’s the return on investment in comparison to traditional alternatives? Read on to find out.

How quickly does Hardtank equipment brew a batch?

Modern commercial cold brew coffee makers are worlds apart from traditional alternatives. Until recently, a business looking to prepare and sell cold brew would have to steep coffee grounds in room-temperature water for as long as 18 to 24 hours.

This has a number of limitations. If you run out of cold brew during a shift, you can’t restock until the next operating day. Alternatively, if you undersell, given the limited shelf life of cold brew, you may well be throwing money down the sink. 

Cue modern machines. Our Hardtank cold extraction technology reduces brewing times by over 90% to as little as 45 minutes a batch. Hardtank cold brew makers constantly circulate the water through the extraction basket, increasing the frequency of agitation and speeding up extraction without sacrificing quality. 

Now, you get batches faster and a higher overall extraction yield. In the end, this means more cold brew per gram of coffee – which makes a huge difference when you’re brewing 300 portions per day with a Baby Hardtank or 1,250 with the Hardtank 20.

How much money does a commercial cold brew maker save?

As previously discussed, cold brew coffee is set to grow in popularity over the coming years as younger consumers represent a larger proportion of the coffee-buying marketplace and cold coffee becomes more mainstream. 

Offering cold brew on your menu or in your store will appeal to a broader audience and attract higher foot traffic. 

Brewing cold brew in the traditional way is cheap, but it is intensive in terms of time and space, limited in terms of volume and shelf life, and potentially unhygienic and unsafe. 

Investing in a commercial cold brew maker, like the Baby Hardtank or Hardtank 20, allows you to brew higher-quality cold brew more quickly and safely. You’d be surprised at how quickly you’ll make your return on investment. 

Consider the table below, which illustrates the expected savings a coffee shop can make by investing in a Baby Hardtank or Hardtank 20 cold brew coffee maker. 

Hardtank 20 – ROI

Let’s consider that you are using a Hardtank 20 to prepare your cold brew coffee:

If your coffee of choice costs €24.00 per kilogram and you use 1.2kg per batch in the Hardtank 20, each batch of cold brew you produce costs €28.80. 

From each batch, you produce 90 200 ml servings – a good guide for a standard or medium measure of cold brew. The cost per serving – which comprises just coffee and water – would be just €0.32. 

If you sell your cold brew at a net price (excluding VAT) of €4.00 per serving, your profit on each serving will amount to €3.68. By serving 90 standard 200 ml cold brews per day, this figure becomes €331.20. 

The Hardtank 20 retails at €13,000. When accounting for other overhead factors in the production and retailing of the cold brew – call it 8% – you can expect to see a return on the investment you’ve made in your Hardtank 20 in just 39 days. 

Baby Hardtank – ROI

If you believe the Baby Hardtank is more suitable for your requirements, see the guide below for an understanding of how quickly you can expect a return on your investment. 

If your coffee costs €24.00 per kilogram, and you use 0.32 kg per batch in the Baby Hardtank, each batch of cold brew you produce costs €7.80. 

From each batch, you produce 20 200 ml servings. The cost per serving would be €0.39. 

If you sold your cold brew at a net price of €4.00 per 200ml serving, your profit from each unit would amount to €3.61. If you sold the 20 units produced per batch, your total profit per batch would amount to €72.20. 

Baby Hardtank retails at €4,200. Once you incorporate the 8% overhead costs, you can expect to see a return on your investment in 58 days. 

How does the profitability of Hardtank equipment compare to traditional methods?

The graphic above illustrates how businesses stand to increase their profitability drastically by moving from brewing their cold brew via the more traditional methods to a process utilising a Baby Hardtank commercial cold brew coffee machine. 

In both cases, the cost of the coffee – €23.47 per kilogram – and the dose size used – 0.325 kg – are the same. The cost per batch for both methods is €7.63.  

Using the traditional method, with a recipe consistent with the manufacturer’s guidelines, the brewer can expect 0.91 kg of cold brew concentrate from 0.325 kg of coffee. Baby Hardtank, using the same 0.325 kg of coffee, will yield 4.135 kg.

When using the traditional method, water needs to be added after brewing because the TDS (total dissolved solids) are typically around 3.85%, which is too high for direct consumption (even some cold brew makers only produce concentrate). In the example above, 1.375 kg of water is added to the 0.91 kg concentrate to create 2.285 kg of ready-to-drink cold brew with a TDS of 1.53%. 

Cold brew made in a Hardtank commercial cold brew maker does not need to be diluted – it is brewed to a target of 1.53% TDS (total dissolved solids). To optimise results, this target ratio may fluctuate between 1.4% and 1.6% depending on additional variables such as coffee used, ratios, roast, grind, and time. 

Once the TDS levels match the ones above, the Hardtank will produce 80.1% more cold brew than the traditional method, yielding over 20 200 ml standard cold brew portions versus just over nine 200 ml portions from the traditional method. 

This means a significantly lower cost per serving via the Baby Hardtank – €0.45 per serving – than the traditional method – €0.83 per serving. 

As a result, a business that serves 20 cold brew coffees per day, using a Baby Hardtank instead of a traditional cold brew method, can expect to save €2,774 over a year. 

Moreover, numerous other benefits can have a direct impact on your business’s performance and profitability:

1. Baby Hardtank brews a batch in under an hour, massively speeding up production. It helps you serve more cold brew to your customers while drastically reducing your labour costs.
2. User-friendliness, automated cleaning cycles, paperless filtering, and a small footprint mean Baby Hardtank streamlines your workflow and tidies up your workstation.
3. The Baby Hardtank allows you to brew a variety of beverages, including cascara, cold brew tea, cocktails, and mocktails. This expands your offering and allows you to capitalise on new customer trends and different dayparts.

Improve your margins with Hardtank cold brew coffee makers

Altogether, this means that businesses investing in Hardtank commercial cold brew makers can expect to make a return on their initial investment in less than two months. In many cases, this can be even quicker. 

Moreover, your cold brew quality will increase, your menu options can expand, and your service speed and workflows will get faster and smoother. 

To learn more about how Hardtank commercial cold brew coffee makers can save your business money and transform your operation, visit our website or get in touch with us directly. 

If you missed our recent Cold Brew Masterclass, don’t worry; you can watch a recording here. 

Cold brew