Thermoplan AG press launch picture. The Mikafi machine encompasses a spherical glass window.
Swiss super-automatic espresso machine maker Thermoplan just lately acquired Mikafi, a novel electrical espresso roasting machine model for industrial functions.
Thermoplan, which has produced many 1000’s of Starbucks retailer espresso machines over the previous 26 years, had beforehand served as an investor and growth associate to the startup.
The acquisition comes as Thermoplan prepares for HostMilano 2025 in October, the place the corporate plans to reintroduce Mikafi’s know-how. The roasting system initially debuted as a countertop prototype at HostMilano two years in the past.
Mikafi at HostMilano in 2023. Day by day Espresso Information photograph by Nick Brown.
“Now we’re persevering with the imaginative and prescient with all our energy,” Thermoplan stated in an announcement of the acquisition. “Our aim is to take Mikafi to the following stage and actively form the way forward for espresso preparation.”
Mikafi co-founders Marius Disler and Claudio Vögtli started growing the Mikafi system in 2019. The prototype proven in Milan in 2023 mixed convection warmth from scorching air and conduction warmth by a principally metal drum for all-electric roasting inside a comparatively small countertop footprint.
Conceptually much like a Bellwether and different newer cafe-scale electric-heat roasting options, the machine was pitched as a approach for particular person cafe or hospitality operators to roast small batches onsite. Inexperienced espresso companies, computerized profiling and system connectivity had been all designed to rapidly permit customers — even these with little to no roasting expertise — to prove constant, repeatable batches of espresso.
2023 Day by day Espresso Information photograph by Nick Brown.
For Thermoplan, which primarily specializes within the growth and manufacturing of super-automatic espresso and milk frothing machines, the Mikafi acquisition represents the primary full dedication to roasting gear.
“With the takeover, we’re taking an essential step in our company technique,” Thermoplan stated. “In [the] future, we are going to provide our clients your entire bean-to-cup journey from a single supply — from inexperienced espresso and particular person roasting to the right cappuccino. Mikafi makes this doable.”
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