A wise man once asked me to define "quality". I stared at him for a moment, with no answer. He defined "quality" as how fit for purpose something is, which I thought was simple. He then provided an example. He held up a pool cue, and said "If this was splintered, and not straight, would it be good quality", to which I replied, "Of course not". He then said "Ahh, but what if I told you it was a tomato stake?". Suddenly I got what he was talking about. Quality is completely in the eye of the beholder, and quality is what defines a $100+ per head restaurant. The fitness for purpose is defined by the ability of the customer to see value in what they are getting, and has very little to do with flavour. It has to do with an experience, and an understanding that the chef and owner have researched everything, to make your experience better than if you were to go out and source it all yourself. The way I see it, Vittoria IS in fact good quality....if it is in a situation where you just want a quick cuppa. For most people, at home, the difference wouldn't be noticed, and it would be far better than instant. Note, I'm not saying I would drink it/enjoy it. I'm simply saying it is fit for the purpose that some people want at home, and fits a price. McDonalds would be another example. They sell a lot because the company, not the food is of a high quality, but the quality is in the consistency....the ability for the customers to get what they want time and time again. What I'm trying to get at is when you are in a venue that you are paying that much for, whether your palate can tell or not, aligning themselves with a brand such as Vittoria signifies they've just gone with the status quo. I'm not saying all large coffee suppliers don't meet my ideals of quality, either. It just depends on how the company grew in the first place. Companies such as Toby's Estate and Di Bella are huge nowadays, and grew through their quest for producing the best. The complete flip side of this is another company, whose owner recently stated in Beanscene, with pride "We're not a boutique roaster, we're a large roaster...My vision in the early days was that we had to be a national player if we wanted to work with the corporates". This was Pitzy Folk from Map. I'm once again not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing. They have a vision to make money, just like everyone else, and they've chased that dream, with much success. The point I'm trying to make with the above is that a restaurant that has bottled water tastings to decide which ones they will serve, can tell you with +/- 1 day accuracy on what day an animal was killed, and the age of that animal within a month, should not be aligning themselves with a company that doesn't hold their same philosophical views on the produce they use in their kitchen.
