Hello, I’m Peter Christo, the guy that started Melbournecoffeereview.com back in 2004, and with my team launched the MelbCoffee Application on iTunes (aka CoffeeMe) on November 19th 2009.
Let me put something to rest first and foremost. No! none of the cafes, paid to be on the top 100 guide or on the iPhone application we released.
I can assure you that we will never compromise the integrity of MCR or the reviews for income while I am at the helm. I can make that assurance for two reasons; first pure economics and business rationality won’t let it happen because our business model does not allow for any more than 500 cafes to be on our HotShot platform, and second; the people that do the reviews and make the ‘call’ get no additional benefit for a good review.
For those interested, here is a bit more information to put you in the picture.
Since 2004, I have been blogging on the great cafe scene as a labour of love. It was, for me an escape from the commercial world in which I worked, and a chance to do something I was passionate about (drink coffee, write and hang in cafes). The wonderful thing was that people seemed to love what I did, so much so that it took more and more of my time and money. I got to a point where unless I commercialised it, I would have to close it. I spent most of my spare time in 2007 business planning and looking at different models. I kept on facing the same challenge; making sure I didn’t compromise the integrity of the reviews by bolting on money making elements (now referred to as ‘the church’ and ‘the state’ is the business). My profession revolves around entrepreneurship and innovation so, I took ‘cracking the code’ as a professional and personal challenge. Technologically I was making some leaps forward with the help of my friend Steve Papa from Kremedia, but in terms of feet on the ground, sales and marketing, I was light on. I had come up with a range of ideas (which I thought were great) but they all had limitations short or long term. I was also still focussed on my day job, and being a dad, and in 2004, finishing my Masters degree.
I was joined by the enigmatic Steve Agi in the beginning of 2008, who fell instantly in love with what we were doing. Together we took the simplest thing we had, the HotShot listing, which was simply a premium list for cafes that had been reviewed. This was set up in a separate area, and we made some sales, but nothing really special. It didn’t even cover our petrol getting around.
One of the things that Steve had hounded me about was the creation of a physical guide. I was less than interested as I was not a publisher, but when we met the passionate and amazing Leanne Tolra and with the help of Julie and Mel at Brilliant Productions and some advertising in the guide, we created an exceptional product in the Top 100 Guide 2010 ed, and then hosted an amazing event.
In the background, while the flurry of activity was happening, our coffers were dwindling, and I was getting some questions from my wife in terms of my direction (all valid), I chose to take a chance on creating an iPhone application using the content we created for the book. I did it as a ‘covert operation’ and even Steve Agi had no real idea what I was doing and it’s importance (I did mention it in passing).
When we launched the iPhone application with B2Clouds help and Josh Guest, we expected 500 downloads, and would consider that a win. As I write this I estimate we are nudging 40,000. As a start-up business, we are in a fantastic situation, and probably look like we emerged overnight. We didn’t, this has been a 6 year love affair with coffee for us.
Our integrity is absolutely intact, but like any business that has been self funded, we need to continue to experiment with new business ideas, and models to continue our success and support ourselves. Steve Agi and I have allowed our other sources of income to dwindle to focus on MCR in all its machinations. We make no apologies for seeking to make a profit now, we have earned our stripes. This is still a labour of love, perhaps tough love now.
Where to from here? Well all I can say, is stay tuned for the next application release, and the rest you’ll have to wait and see, as will I.
Thankyou for your support, and trust, and remember… life is too short to drink bad coffee!
Peter Christo
