Commercial coffee machines are getting smarter.
Many of today’s leading machines are built to do more than just brew espressos and steam milk - many can now collect data in the background, helping businesses improve consistency, reduce downtime, and run more efficient coffee operations.
This technology is known as telemetry, and it’s becoming one of the most valuable features in modern commercial coffee equipment.
In this article, we’ll explain what telemetry means in the coffee world, and how it benefits everyone from independent cafés to large hospitality chains, roasters, and machine suppliers.
What Is Telemetry in Coffee Machines?
Telemetry refers to the automatic collection and sharing of machine performance data.
In simple terms, it means that through telemetry, a coffee machine can monitor its own activity and send useful information to a cloud-based platform. That information can then be accessed remotely by operators, service teams, or coffee suppliers.
Telemetry turns a coffee machine into more than just a piece of equipment. It becomes a connected system that provides visibility into what’s happening day to day.
Most telemetry-enabled commercial machines can track things like drink volume, cleaning cycles, maintenance alerts, and fault codes. Some systems go even further, offering insights into recipe consistency, grinder behaviour, or milk system performance.
For hospitality businesses, this data can make coffee service far more reliable and easier to manage.
Telemetry Unlocks Data Driven Hospitality
Coffee has become a key part of the customer experience in almost every hospitality setting. Whether it’s a hotel lounge, a garden centre café, or a workplace coffee bar, customers expect fast service and consistent quality.
At the same time, operators face more pressure than ever. Staffing challenges, rising maintenance costs, and multi-site complexity all make it harder to deliver the same standard of coffee every day.
Telemetry helps solve these problems by giving businesses real-time oversight and early warning when something isn’t working as it should.
Rather than relying on guesswork, teams can make decisions based on real operational data.
What are the Benefits of Telemetry for Your Business?
The true benefits of telemetry are realised at scale, as larger hospitality groups are better positioned to be empowered by the data it unlocks. However, there are a number of benefits that telemetry still provides to smaller scale operations and single site businesses.
Telemetry For Single Site Businesses
For independent cafés, restaurants, or small hospitality venues, telemetry offers something incredibly valuable: clarity.
Better Day-to-Day Machine Oversight
When you only have one site, it’s easy to assume everything is running smoothly, until a breakdown happens mid-service.
Telemetry allows operators to see how the machine is performing behind the scenes. If drink volumes suddenly drop or cleaning hasn’t been completed properly, it becomes visible straight away.
Faster Response When Issues Arise
Instead of waiting for staff to report a problem, telemetry-enabled machines can send alerts as soon as faults appear. That often means problems are addressed before they affect customers.
For a single-site business, less downtime directly translates into fewer lost sales and a more reliable service.
Day-to-Day Consistency Across Staff
Some telemetry platforms also support consistency by monitoring brewing behaviour and usage trends. Over time, that helps ensure customers get the same quality drink, visit after visit.
Telemetry for Multi-Site Operators
Once a business operates more than one location, coffee becomes harder to manage. Maintaining the same drink quality, machine care, and service standards across sites is a major operational challenge. Telemetry is one of the most effective tools for solving that.
Central Visibility Across Every Location
With telemetry, operators can view machine performance across an entire estate. Instead of relying on site managers to report problems, head office teams can see which sites are thriving and which may need support.
Standardising Quality Across Teams
Different sites often have different staff skill levels, customer volumes, and routines. Telemetry helps ensure cleaning cycles, drink output, and equipment care remain consistent across the board.
Smarter Planning and Support
Telemetry also helps multi-site operators forecast demand more accurately. Knowing which locations serve the most coffee makes ordering, staffing, and maintenance scheduling far more efficient.
Telemetry for Large Hospitality Chains
For large hotel groups, restaurant chains, and national operators, telemetry moves from being helpful to being essential.
When you’re managing dozens or hundreds of machines, reactive maintenance becomes costly and disruptive.
Preventative Maintenance at Scale
Telemetry allows service teams to intervene early, often before breakdowns occur. Instead of fixed service schedules, maintenance can be triggered by real usage and performance data.
That reduces unnecessary engineer visits while also preventing expensive downtime.
Protecting Brand Standards
In large hospitality chains, consistency is everything. Telemetry helps ensure machines are cleaned properly, performing within expected parameters, and delivering a reliable coffee experience across every site.
Data-Led Commercial Decisions
Many chains also use telemetry insights to understand customer purchasing behaviour. Trends in drink choice, peak volume periods, or seasonal changes can all support smarter menu decisions.
How Suppliers like Bridge Coffee Are Utilising Machine Telemetry
Machine telemetry is becoming a key part of how coffee suppliers support customers beyond the initial install.
Here at Bridge Coffee Roasters, we use telemetry built into modern equipment such as Sanremo espresso machines with Sanremo Connect, Schaerer bean-to-cup systems using Schaerer Coffee Link, and Eversys machines to provide a more proactive level of service.
Rather than waiting for faults or performance issues to disrupt trading, telemetry allows us to monitor machine health in real time. This helps our field service team spot issues early, reduce unexpected downtime, and respond faster with the right support.
Telemetry also plays an important role in coffee quality. By tracking extraction behaviour and machine usage trends, we can identify when recipes may be drifting or when additional barista training could improve consistency.
It gives clear insight into cup volumes and operational demand too. In sites with multiple machines, telemetry can highlight when one machine is being favoured over another, allowing us to adjust workflows and balance usage more evenly.
Ultimately, telemetry is helping us combine service, training, and coffee quality support into one connected partnership, ensuring customers get a more reliable and consistent coffee experience long term.
