A business seeking multiple espresso groups simply orders additional modules.
"You can't please everyone with a fixed design. Our design is the answer to that,"
Waldron said. "The customer can't say 'I wish it was this way.' Instead, their mind
opens up as to what their bar could be. They can have it however they want."
The creative process and La Marzocco
While Waldron first thought of the open bar concept in 1999, it took several years to
put the idea to work.
"We started in '06 as Jet Steam Espresso, Inc. That was a one-group, under-counter
machine," he said. "The guts of the machine were attached to the counter top. It was
an all-in-one machine. We were tinkering a lot."
But, like many startups, Jet Steam was under-funded and the concept needed re-
view. Waldron went "back to my sketches from 1999" and re-envisioned the end prod-
uct. From that process came a renewed focus, a new company called ModBar, LLC,
and an investment partner in La Marzocco, the espresso machine manufacturer based
Photo
by
Anna
Hutchinson
Photograpy
