A coffee equipment salesperson answers any question with confidence. The buyer can rarely check their words, because they do not know what a correct answer sounds like. Below are twelve questions and what stands behind them: which answer counts as normal and which is a reason to end the conversation.
The list works both for a single machine in an office and for a fleet across a chain. If you are choosing a contractor for a chain, also look at the coffee equipment procurement checklist for chains, which covers the whole process.
About the equipment
1. How many cups a day does this machine handle without degradation
A good answer: a specific number with a note on the mode, for example up to 150 cups a day with a peak of 30 cups an hour.
A bad one: "it will cope". A machine rated for 50 cups wears out noticeably faster at 120, and this is a common mistake in offices.
2. Which models do you recommend for my type of site and why
A good answer: different models for different formats, with an explanation. Equipment for a specialty café and for a fuel station differs: where reliability and simplicity matter, fine tuning of profiles only gets in the way.
A bad one: one model for every case.
3. What is needed for installation
A good answer: exact requirements for electrics, water, drain, ventilation and floor space, stating what the installer does and what must be on site in advance.
A bad one: "a power socket and that is all". The water connection and drain are a frequent reason an installation falls through on the day.
About water and consumables
4. How is filtration selected for my address
A good answer: a hardness measurement on site and a cartridge chosen for the actual reading.
A bad one: "we fit a standard filter". Hardness differs several times over between districts, and the same cartridge will last its full life in one place and clog noticeably faster in another.
5. How is the filter replacement moment determined
A good answer: by the volume in litres that the machine counts itself.
A bad one: "every six months". A calendar schedule either leads to overpaying or misses the moment after which the boiler starts to suffer.
6. Am I obliged to buy ingredients from you
A good answer: a direct one, with numbers. If the equipment is supplied against a purchase volume, calculate the difference in bean price over three years; it may exceed the cost of the machine.
A bad one: dodging the topic and promising "we will work something out".
About service
7. What are the response time and the recovery time
A good answer: two different numbers in the contract. Response is when they contact you, recovery is when the machine works again.
A bad one: a single number for response. Three days of downtime for a point selling 60 cups at 140 ₽ costs about 25,000 ₽ in revenue.
8. What is in the spare parts warehouse and what is brought to order
A good answer: a specific list of fast-moving units in stock and lead times for the rest.
A bad one: "we have everything". Check it by asking them to name the delivery time for a brewing unit for a specific model.
9. Do you have engineers in my city
A good answer: yes, with an address and workload, or an honest "no, we travel from a neighbouring region, the lead time is such and such".
A bad one: "a partner network across Russia" without a single name or phone number.
About control
10. What does telemetry show and who receives the notifications
A good answer: a list of events (remaining beans and milk, a missed cleaning, an error, a portion counter) and a clear scheme for delivering notifications to a specific person. In retail, phones on the shop floor are often banned, so a scheme through regional managers works more reliably than sending directly to the shop.
A bad one: "there is an app" without a demonstration at a live site.
11. Can the system reconcile prepared drinks with the till
A good answer: yes, with a sample report. The gap between drinks prepared and drinks rung up reaches 10% or more in some chains, and closing this hole alone pays back a control system.
A bad one: not understanding the question.
12. Who sets the settings and how, and can they be changed on site
A good answer: settings are loaded centrally, manual access at the point is closed, and changes are logged. As Alexander Kuzmin, head of RusHolts, said in an interview with RBC Saint Petersburg (March 2026), an audit of one large chain with 500 machines did not find two with identical settings. That happens when anyone who wants to can tweak something.
A bad one: "you can set it right on the panel" offered as an argument in favour of the product.
How to end the conversation
Two requests that say more about a supplier than all the answers put together.
Show me a working site. Not a photograph but a real point of comparable scale, where you can talk to the people who live with this equipment every day.
Send me a three-year total cost of ownership calculation. Supply price plus service, consumables, expected repairs and losses from downtime. A supplier who counts only the machine's price tag leaves the other costs to you.
Conclusion
Twelve questions take one meeting and save a year of working with an unsuitable contractor. The most telling of them is the one about recovery time after a breakdown, not response time.
And end the conversation with two requests: to see a working site of your scale and to be sent a three-year cost of ownership calculation.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the most important question on the list
The one about recovery time after a breakdown. It can be checked against the contract, affects revenue directly and best shows whether the supplier has a real service team.
Do you need to ask all twelve when buying one machine for an office
The questions on throughput, installation, water and service are enough. The block on telemetry and settings becomes important from a few points upward.
How can I check that the stated throughput is real
Ask for the manufacturer's documentation and see a machine of the same model at a working site with a comparable load.
What if the supplier refuses to show a working site
Treat that as an answer. A company with working projects shows them willingly, because they are its best argument.
More detail: which coffee machine to choose, telemetry and fleet control, S-series equipment range.
How this works on the under-counter station — on the home page; short answers on installation, water and service are in the Short answers section.
What a station would earn for you
We’ll run the payback on your numbers: traffic, cup price, rent.