INDUSTRY WATCH
IF YOUR ORDERS ARE GOING OUT AND NO-ONE ’ S PAYING THEM , THEN YOU ’ RE GOING TO GET TO A POINT WHERE YOU CAN ’ T PAY YOUR OWN BILLS .
Michael Rababi , General Manager , Di Pacci Coffee , is one of the most inspirational success stories in the hospitality industry . Starting by running a coffee cart in Marrickville , he grew from one cart to two , to a cafe , to roasting his own organic , fair trade beans and now supplies over 350 cafes nationwide .
He not only runs a cafe and roasts beans but is now the largest coffee machine showroom in the world , with every brand represented . Di Pacci HQ also hosts a barista training facility . paying them , then you ’ re going to get to a point where you can ’ t pay your own bills and your own staff . Then you ’ re going to go under .”
No matter the size of the business , getting money out of customers continues to be a challenge .
“ We have a customer now that owes us about AU $ 12,000 . We never had a problem with ( her paying ) before . Then my accounts lady went on holidays for six weeks and no one took notice that she wasn ’ t paying ,” said Rababi .
When it comes to coffee , Di Pacci is a great business success story . The family-owned business is thriving .
“ When she got back she owed nine invoices for AU $ 12,000 or AU $ 13,000 and we can ’ t get it out of her .”
“ We roast every day , five days a week , fresh . And we can cater to everyone ’ s needs ,” said Rababi .
Di Pacci also provides white label roasting for over 150 other coffee suppliers . With six blends and 60 single origins , it ’ s no wonder Di Pacci is expanding nationally , having just opened up in Melbourne .
Rababi ’ s advice for other aspiring roasters ? “ You can only give it a go ,” he said . “ It ’ s a very , very hard industry . But if coffee ’ s your passion and you can make it work as a business then give it a crack . There ’ s plenty of business for everyone .”
As Rababi has grown his coffee empire , he ’ s learned many lessons along the way . Like many businesses , one of his biggest challenges has always been cash flow .
When we asked him what his advice would be for other businesses , he said : “ Start with Ordermentum straight away ! Since rolling out Ordermentum and switching payments from invoicing to paying by credit card / direct debit , the business has been able to grow because there ’ s money coming in constantly .
“ I can see money every morning when I wake up – I see Ordermentum in my bank account . I know tonight when I go to sleep , that when I wake up in the morning there will be a payment from Ordermentum coming in .”
Initially , Rababi was nervous to force a change in how his customers paid .
“ We were a bit hesitant at the start , we thought ‘ how are we going to tell people to give us their credit card numbers , they ’ re going to think it ’ s rude ’,” he said .
“ It ’ s obviously easier when you ’ re just small . But once you get to a certain stage , weekly income is important ,” he said . “ So if your orders are going out and no-one ’ s
“ But then we decided the ones that didn ’ t want to hand them over were probably the ones that were going to give us trouble so we don ’ t want them anyway .”
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