What Qualifies Alex & Associates to be your Guide?
Alex Fisenko & Associates have been in the espresso business since 1969, when together with Joe Carpiac they started to import and sell "Gaggia" espresso machines in Los Angeles, CA.
As very few people in this country knew at that time what espresso was, it was very difficult to sell any machines to restaurants, as they did not have any demand for the product. Realizing that consumer demand for the espresso based drinks would have to be created before the machines could be sold, Alex and his wife Oksana opened his first espresso bar in Berkeley, CA. in 1970. The menu was very simple:
Regular Coffee......15
Espresso..............25
Cappuccino..........35Pastries as available
At that time there were a few coffee houses across the country, but they served mainly as "beatnik" hangouts and coffee was incidental to the whole setting. If they served any espresso, it would be unrecognizable by our present standards. So opening a coffee house where people would go just to drink espresso and not listen to poetry or "hippie" music, was a new concept.
Our total investment for that store was under $6000 with most of the remodeling work done by Alex. As there was no precedent in this country for this kind of a venture, or none that he knew about, he had to invent what American people would drink. And one of the things that we realized right away was that espresso, like they drink in Italy, wasn't it! You see, for Americans, coffee was a beverage, with unending refills, while Italians considered coffee as a quick "pick-up stimulant". There was no way that Americans would accept a small, one oz. cup of strong, black coffee!
After three hard years of educating mainly young people in the finer art of consuming espresso based drinks (mostly cappuccinos and mochas) our efforts finally paid off with 1973 sales of $310,000! Considering that cappuccino was only 45c. that wasn't too bad!
In 1976 Alex & Oksana opened another location, also in Berkeley. In 1981, at the expiration of the lease and sales of $400,000, the landlord decided that he wanted that location for himself and would not renew the lease. Not knowing anything about the business, he hired some of the employees and proceeded to develop the business further. By 1988, it became one of the busiest espresso operations in the country, serving about 4000 drinks a day from three 3 group espresso machines!
Since then, from what he learned from that operation, he opened about 30 more stores under the name of "Espresso Roma", and one of his former managers, with the help of another entrepreneur with money, opened another 30 some chain under the name of "Espresso Royale". This shows what can be done with this business if you get a good understanding of its principles and apply them!
In 1974, after reading an article on espresso written by Alex, a young man came down from Seattle wanting to buy an espresso machine and open a similar operation in Seattle. But not knowing the business, he asked Alex to train him in all phases of the operation. He went back and opened the first true coffee house in Seattle, the Café Allegro. His name was Dave Olsen. In 1982 he got together with Howard Schultz and opened an espresso bar in the Columbia Center Building in Seattle. That was the birth of Starbucks as we know it today. Mr. Schultz attributes in great part his company's success to Dave Olsen's dedication to espresso.
Meanwhile, in 1981, Alex and Oksana opened the first true espresso bar in a downtown financial district, the "Espresso" in the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. It became an instant success, with first year sales of $320,000. Not bad for a total investment of $37,000 and cappuccinos selling at 95 cents! For the first two years, "Espresso" was the only game in the San Francisco business district, but after a while, scores of imitators began to open all around, among them "Pasqua" and Oh La La.
In 1986, after we sold all our units in California and moved to Portland, Oregon, where we opened the first true espresso bar there, the "American Espresso" by Portland State University. Impressed by the 200 lb. of espresso coffee that was being used weekly in that location, Boyd Coffee Co. hired Alex as a consultant to help them organize their espresso program.
He worked with them for over a year, opening several espresso bars that would serve to show Boyds Coffee expertise in the new espresso trend. Now, Boyds Coffee has one of the most successful espresso wholesale programs in the country.
All together, Alex & Assoc. opened and operated 16 espresso bars in diverse locations, including the Ohio State University Student Union and the University of Michigan. All our stores, except two that were absolute bombs due to terrible locations, returned their opening investment within a year or less. We sold our last store in 1994.
Alex , nationally renowned, traveled all over the world on consulting assignments, including Thailand, South Korea, Belgium, Saudi Arabia and Barbados. He was a speaker and seminar presenter for five years for the nationwide "Coffee Fest" organization. At the present time Alex & Assoc. - - Alex passed down his legacy to Oksana & his son Michael) now serve as free lance consultants, teaching individuals and corporations how to open and operate successful espresso bars and how to increase sales in existing locations.
Alex wrote the "Espresso Business Success" guide, which provides the start-up entrepreneur with "real-world" useful information on how to star and operate a coffee business -- updated by Alex January 2007. Alex & Associates are based out of Portland, Or. and can be reached at 503-590-9423 Pacific time.
"In the '60s, Alex Fisenko introduced Americans to espresso drinks; now look what's happened!" --"The Oregonian", Oct. 14, 1993
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Alex & Assoc.
Phone: 503-590-9423, Pacific time 9 am-6pm.
E-mail: alex@espressobusiness.com