For Chris Nikolakopoulos at 36th Parallel Coffee, the La Marzocco app isn’t a tool you reach for only when something goes wrong. It’s a long-term window into how machines are performing over weeks, months, and years, offering a full view of how coffee is being brewed across his entire customer base.
From the 36th Parallel Coffee roastery in Melbourne to partner cafés like Dish & Spoon in Camberwell, the La Marzocco app connects the dots between supplier and service. It gives the 36th Parallel Coffee team real time and historical visibility across their network, while also empowering café teams on the ground with clear, reliable data during dial-in and peak service.
Chris and the 36th Parallel Coffee team use the La Marzocco app to set up new machines, support upgrades, and ensure each blend is running at the right parameters from day one. It removes guesswork, creates a consistent starting point, and helps maintain quality across cafés, whether they’re down the road or interstate. At the same time, venues like Dish & Spoon are using the same tool behind the bar: monitoring extractions, checking parameters, and building confidence behind the machine during service.
We sat down with Chris to understand exactly how the 36th Parallel Coffee team uses the La Marzocco app to support their customers near and far, and how that shared visibility ultimately benefits everyone, from roaster to barista to the customer drinking the final cup.
How intuitive is the la marzocco app for you and your team to use during peak periods? It’s super easy and very intuitive because you can review all setup and dial-in data from anywhere, from the comfort of your own home, irrespective of how busy the café or the roastery is. It’s as easy as clicking onto the app, finding the customer’s machine, and cross referencing the setup data points.
How does having real time brewing data on your phone help maintain consistency? It helps because it’s accurate data that you can rely on, it’s black and white. There’s no guesswork. It’s documented, and you can see if there was an issue. You can see if the extraction has reached the required parameters. This sort of data allows you to very quickly identify and isolate where the issue is. For example, the problem may only be on one of the two or three groups. For me, it just makes it straightforward and very easy.
What difference has the new setup made to workflow, comfort, and confidence for baristas behind the bar? I think it’s given them confidence in the product, being a La Marzocco machine, because the baristas we’ve set up with it can see very quickly if the machine is doing its job. Previously, there was uncertainty about whether inconsistencies were caused by water volume, flow rates, or grinder issues. With the La Marzocco app, the water volume and flow rate variables have now been removed, resulting in a more reliable process and making it easier and faster to obtain the correct end result.
Another benefit is that during peak service, baristas may encounter situations where all parameters seem correct but they’re just not getting the right result. In those cases, and in consultation with the barista, we can make a judgment call as to whether we shut down a group or quickly change settings such as machine temperature, time, or pulses, from their phone or ours. It acts as a temporary fix until our team can get there and get to the root cause of the issue.
You have accounts in Sydney and Canberra, but you’re based here in Melbourne. Do you find it supports you in supporting regional businesses as well? In short, yes. However, whether we’re supplying a café down the road from our roastery or a café in Sydney, it’s the same value proposition. It’s the same information. We can help wherever they’re located because we’re both looking at the same data and the same information. To me, it’s the same value add.
Was the investment worth it, and what’s been the biggest win for you? Absolutely. The coffee industry is getting increasingly competitive for a number of reasons. As a business, we’ve decided that wherever we can value add to partners, we will, even if it means making a small sacrifice on the investment side. Maintaining quality, consistency, and service is always the priority. If we’re able to increase our value proposition to the café, we hope that translates to their customers, who are indirectly our customers, and we create greater value together. So yes, I think the investment is definitely worth it.
What’s your favourite feature on the app? We can use the app to program a brand-new machine depending on the blend. For example, we know our Northern Blend is set up with certain parameters and how it should run. On our dashboard, we can see all our different customers who are running Northern Blend and whether they’re running consistently. There will be slight differences due to different water filters, water supply, machine models, etc., but it’s an excellent starting point to have. We’ll set up our Northern blend at this recipe, machine temperature, pulses, and then set up our Southern blend differently. We really like that feature.
Final Thoughts? If I were to summarise from my perspective, I really like how easy it is to set up a customer using it. Coming from someone who worked on the old Classic models where you had to do everything manually, programming left to right… maybe some old habits die hard and people won’t change, but I really like it. If you’re doing a machine swap over or upgrade, it’s very easy to see what parameters they had set up on their current machine. Before you even get to the client, you can set up the new machine here at the roastery with the same parameters.
It smooths out the transition, and you’re a lot closer when you start. You may still need to make some adjustments, but you’re beginning from a pretty accurate, and very similar, starting point. That’s a huge advantage for changeovers.
The La Marzocco App isn’t about overcomplicating things. It’s about making support easier, faster, and more consistent. From setting up new machines and smoothing out changeovers to troubleshooting issues in real time during busy service, having clear, reliable data makes all the difference in an industry where attention to detail means everything.
For 36th Parallel Coffee, it strengthens the way they show up for their partners. It allows Chris and his team to be proactive rather than reactive. Identifying trends, refining blend parameters across multiple venues, and ensuring the quality leaving their roastery is being expressed exactly as intended in the cup.
At cafés like Dish & Spoon, that support becomes tangible. While 36th Parallel Coffee can view performance remotely and assist when needed, the team behind the bar is empowered with the same visibility. They can monitor extractions, check parameters, and make informed decisions during service, knowing their roaster is working from the same data. It creates alignment. The roaster, the café, and the machine are no longer operating in isolation, they’re connected by shared information and a shared standard.
When everyone is working from the same foundation, from the roastery in Melbourne to the bar at Dish & Spoon, consistency becomes simpler, transitions become smoother, and great coffee becomes easily repeatable.
Discover the benefits of the La Marzocco app for yourself. Download and connect today.
