By Danielle Schalk
Montreal-based Nespresso Canada has been empowering customers to make and enjoy their own barista-quality coffee since the brand entered Canada in 2009. In the time since, it has consistently grown its presence in the country, as well as its role within the hospitality industry.
The company’s main goal is very simple: “At the touch of a button, the customer — whether they are in the home, offices, hotels, restaurants or cafes — can enjoy high-quality, sustainably produced coffee, cup after cup,” explains Martin Pesant, vice-president, B2B Sales for Nespresso Canada.
“From a B2B standpoint, we’ve been very successful — especially in the hotel segment,” he adds. And, with key partners such as Germain Hotels, Accor Canada and Marriott, the brand’s reputation and national presence continues to grow. “We are endorsed by the premium and upscale brands, so there’s a ton of opportunity for us to capture a big share of the premium [market],” Pesant explains.
But, an integral part of this success is the brand’s dedicated teams in B2B sales, customer service, after sales and technical assistance, who make it their mission to ensure hotel partners will consistently delight guests with high-end coffee experiences offered throughout the hotel journey.
“One of our strengths is we can equip hotels with machine ranges [designed to suit] all the different points of consumption in a hotel — whether it’s in the room, in the lobby or in the restaurants,” Pesant explains. “Bringing forth different solutions to offer the best guest experiences is crucial.”
The team’s ultimate goal is to make things easy for its clients, and Nespresso Professional solutions allow hotel partners to offer premium, value-add offerings without significant additional strain on staff.
“What we offer is consistency and quality output,” says Pesant — all achieved without the need for extensive training. The automated nature of the machines also allows for service to be streamlined, with staff able to complete other service tasks while the machine executes the coffee recipe.
As Pesant explains, this is so valuable for hospitality clients, “especially in the years we’re going through right now, with the challenge around having the right people — and the turnaround too.” Plus, the continued prominence of the specialty-coffee segment creates a number of opportunities for Nespresso’s B2B partners to create additional revenue streams.
And, when creating an in-room coffee experience, the easy-to use, no mess machines make brewing the perfect coffee easy for guests. “The recycling and the cleaning is [also] made easy for the housekeeping staff,” Pesant adds. “Because there’s the guests [to think of], but there’s also the employees that need to make sure every unit is perfect when they have a new guest in the room.”
Partners also benefit from guests’ familiarity with the Nespresso brand and its association with quality products and responsible sourcing. “When a hotel picks Nespresso as a coffee supplier, they are also choosing to support circularity and sustainability,” says Pesant, pointing to the many ways that these principles have been built into the company and its products — from the sourcing of the coffee, to the aluminum pods that preserve the coffee’s freshness, to the company’s unique free recycling program that collects and processes the aluminum pods and composts the spent coffee grounds.
Pesant highlights these factors — especially the company’s free recycling program and B-Corp certification (received in April 2022) — as key selling points for hotel clients. This is because being recognized as a sustainable organization that supports circularity is increasingly important in today’s operating environment, whether it’s to meet internal commitments and goals, or to deliver on guests’ growing expectations.
“We are proud to cater to the needs of Canadian businesses and consumers,” adds Carlos Oyanguren, president of Nespresso Canada. “We are committed to supplying a responsibly sourced high-quality coffee. We believe that sustainability and quality go hand-in-hand.”
As a brand, Nespresso is committed to being on the forefront of both these key areas through ongoing innovation and ever-strengthening commitments. In fact, during the past year, Nespresso marked the 20th anniversary of its Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Program, which has grown from its initial 300 farmers in Costa Rica in 2003 to encompass more than 140,000 farmers in 18 countries today. This sourcing program was developed with the Rainforest Alliance and is designed to ensure the continued supply of high-quality coffee while improving the livelihoods of farmers and their communities, and protecting the environment. And, more than 90 per cent of Nespresso’s coffee is sourced through the AAA Program.
In March, the company also became a signatory to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles, which encompasses a set of seven principles informed by international labour and human-rights standards intended to offer guidance to businesses on how to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community.
“We believe that coffee can be a force for good,” says Pesant, noting that it is for this reason that the company continues to set and strive for new goals. “Being assessed and certified by B Lab (the non-profit organization that sets the standards for and certifies B Corps), provided a benchmark for us to always stay on our toes, highlights our strengths and weaknesses, and also [provides] a roadmap for us to [continue to] improve and accelerate,” he shares as an example.
Nespresso has also continued innovating its coffee systems, and 2023 saw the brand launch a pilot for home-compostable paper-based capsules for the Nespresso Original system — offering a solution for customers interested in an alternative to the company’s recyclable pods. Dubbed the ‘Paper Collection,’ these new capsules feature a biopolymer lining to protect the coffee against oxidization and preserve its aromas and taste. The collection is currently being piloted in France and Switzerland, with plans to roll-out the offering to additional markets in the coming years.
As Pesant points out, it’s exactly this reputation for quality and innovation that continues to set Nespresso — and Nespresso Professional — apart in its field. “We have a very high-quality product that is supported with ongoing innovation,” he adds, citing organic and limited-edition offerings, as well as a responsiveness to trends such as cold coffees and plant-based coffee recipes.
And, looking ahead, the Nespresso Canada team expects to see continued growth in its B2B markets. “We’ve done well in hotels, but we’ve also done well in fine dining. And, recently we’re seeing strong growth [thanks to] emerging trends in the office segment,” Pesant notes.
And, given the strength of its hotel partnerships, the team anticipates its relationships with Canadian hotel operators will continue to flourish. “There’s tons of opportunity ahead of us and a lot of connections [being cultivated] with different groups, so the future is looking promising in that segment,” Pesant shares. “With our portfolio of coffee and machines, the dedicated team we have in place and our sustainability credentials, I think we have many good years in front of us in terms of growth.”
