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The idea of making the communication Education! It shouldn’t only be the sourcing
transparent and bringing polar opposite team that gets to meet our growers and see
ends of the industry together is great. their farms at origin. What’s cool about VR
What was the feedback from your cus- is it makes this type of education more acces- Photo / Ben Garratt
tomers and your community (both offline sible.
and online) regarding the issue?
When people connect with the story of the Do you have any plans for launching yet
individuals behind the coffee, it changes their another innovative campaign? Or is it
whole experience. I remember a barista serving more about reaching out to customers
our coffee went from indifference to absolute and celebrating offline communication
fascination with our coffee from Ivonne Her- these days?
rera in Guatemala after learning that both her Maybe... we are actually shifting our focus from
and Ivonne were single mothers. When we blockchain to a web app with our sister compa-
re-share Ivonne’s photos and messages to cus- ny Yave that allows our cafe customers to dig-
tomers (and tag her so customers can follow itally purchase a cup of coffee and connect with
her directly) it brings a level of authenticity the farmer who grew it, including learning how
that makes people feel really good about their much more they earned thanks to revenue
purchase, and it brings a ton of joy to Ivonne shared from customer purchases.
(which is just as important to us).
We can only imagine how VR is going to
Were there any difficulties in bringing change the hospitality and coffee industry in
those new ideas to life? If so, how did you the future. Hopefully, for the better. Read as:
tackle the challenging bits of the VR and complex training sessions and more trips to
blockchain journey? the origins. Also read as: another accessible .LAMARZOCCO.COM
It would have been great if we had better option for authentic human interaction and a
filming/production resources from the start, beloved location for remote working. As for HANDMADE IN FLORENCE
but it’s pretty amazing that we were able to now, the coffee world is still waiting for its
create what we have by rolling up our sleeves full on-digitalization.
and with lots of help from our VR partners.
I would love to keep creating for all of our
coffee growers. WWW

The pandemic showed us that many re- ELEGANT DESIGN MARRIED WITH
sources could be stored online, but what
about coffee shops? Shall another lock- PROVEN RELIABILITY
down begin could VR or any digital sub-
stitute/solution help?
Well COVID certainly diminished demand for
people using a shared VR headset, and we ha-
ven’t had many events to share it at lately
anyways. But we have learned in to our grower
storytelling through our other digital commu-
nication channels.

In what ways could VR be used in the
hospitality industry for the general public?
I think it could help showcase the farm to table
journey of all types of culinary experiences.

In what ways could VR be beneficial to
baristas and staff members?

A TIMELESS LOVE STOR Y

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