A good place to start learning about your various equipment options is by talking to numerous equipment dealers. Keep your eyes and ears open and remember, everyone will tell you their equipment is the best.

Anytime you can purchase your entire equipment package through one source, you can generally work a package deal and get a better price than if you are putting items together piecemeal.

Of course, it may not be possible to purchase everything from one company, especially if you are planning a sit-down coffee bar with ice machines and jacketed soup kettles. You most likely will be purchasing some items from a restaurant supply company and others from an espresso equipment company. But whether you are buying from a company that sells restaurant supplies or only espresso equipment, you need to ask:

• Who is selling me this equipment?
• How long have they been in business?
• Do they belong to the Better Business Bureau (BBB)? Of course, not all companies may join a local BBB for any number of valid reasons, but if they do belong, you can call the bureau for a rating of the company.

Then ask yourself:

• Do they deal with me in a professional manner?
• How long have they been selling espresso/food-service equipment?
• Is their equipment N.S.F. and U.L. approved?
• What are the conditions of the machine warranty and will the company selling the machine be the warranty agents? If the manufacturer or importer is the warranty agent rather than the company who sold you the machine, you will probably have to pay for the initial repair and then seek reimbursement from them.
• Do they have an authorized factory-trained service technician? If not, who will repair your machine? A lot of espresso equipment companies will tell you they have a nationwide service network but, in many cases, they merely subcontract their servicing to local appliance repair people who may have no actual hands-on experience with your equipment. They may only have a manual that tells them about your machine but no actual experience in fixing it.
• Do they have a complete inventory of parts and a service department available 365 days a year, 18 to 24 hours a day? Here again, if the company that sold you the machine does not have a substantial supply and variety of parts, will you be able to get your equipment repaired in a timely fashion or will you have to start hunting for parts around the country; or worse yet, wait for them to be sent from Italy? So, ask this question:
• Do their service technicians carry a large inventory of parts in their warehouse or trucks? If your machine breaks down at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning, will you be able to expect a service technician to facilitate a repair then, or will it have to wait until Monday? Will your customers just stop drinking coffee for two days until you are up and running again? We think not.

Try to work with those companies that can provide the services you may need beyond the initial sale.

Get and Check References
Everybody is going to tell you that they will provide you with wonderful service! So, it is important to:

• Get some references from the dealer or the equipment company under consideration.
• Call the references and find out what their experience has been with the machine and the company. If there were problems with equipment, was the company there to help their clients? If you will be looking to this company for your training, are they or their staff qualified to teach you the nuances of correct espresso preparation?

If the company does not provide you with numerous references that check out, be very cautious about buying anything from them.

Check Other sources
Obviously, companies will provide references who they feel are happy with their product and service-in other words, somebody who has never called them with a problem. So be sure to check around in your own area and identify people using the same type of machine. Go in and ask the owner questions. Find out what kind of reputation this equipment company has.
   
Before making a substantial cash investment in an espresso machine, do your best to get unbiased information from as many sources as possible about the manufacturer's history and reputation for the particular brand you are considering. Shop and compare at least three brands of machines. Make a checklist and compare and evaluate their features. As each dealer points out the superior features of their machine, you will begin to understand how espresso machines work and what features are important to producing a quality product. Remember to:

• Take your time
• Do good research
• Focus on quality and reliability

Get it in writing
And, finally, when you buy the equipment of your choice, Get everything in writing! If they tell you the warranty guarantees your espresso machine totally for 24 months, you want that in writing. If they tell you they will come out on a Sunday to fix a problem with the machine, make sure you have that in writing. Then, when you call them on a Sunday and they say, "No, no, no, I never said that," you have something to fall back on.