Data Intelligence for the coffee industry
We recently spent four days at the London Coffee Festival held at The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. The event was the best yet with 30,488 visitors, both trade and the public, who came along to savor the sights, sounds, smells and buzz of what felt like a real festival. By spending time talking to hundreds of budding and experienced
According to a recent survey by CoffeeBI, customers’ main criteria when making an espresso machine purchasing decision was “price”, the “ability to provide technical assistance” and the “front staff professionalism”. These three items received a higher score among the 10 that were put to the vote among manufacturers. Other main criteria listed were the “punctuality in delivering”, as well as
How do I compete with the chains?
We get asked this a lot, particularly at a time when an existing independent coffee bar finds itself with a new big branded neighbor. We have had a lot of experience of this over the last 10 years and in fact, we compete in our own business successfully against a much larger national chain.
But what are the key elements to effectively attract customers in the face of the big brands?
Brand Comfort
The biggest advantage the chains have over you is that the customer knows what they are going to get when they walk through their doors. The chances of them recognizing the brand or even having already visited this chain in another town are high. It’s the same reason we drink coke when we are in a foreign country, it’s the safe option.
To combat this feeling of safety you should look at your business from across the road. Does it look inviting, are there visual clues for the customers so they understand what to expect? Is your signage clear and does it say what you do and stand for? For example, do you provide take away? It’s a given that the chains serve take away coffee but it’s not always so obvious in independents. Are your windows clean and your frontage litter free and are your food hygiene standards clearly visible? All these things will either encourage or deter guests from stepping over your threshold.
Consistency
Lack of consistency is a key reason you lose your customers. Your independence is a strength but the freedom that you give your team could be your downfall.
The chains expend a lot of corporate energy in ensuring that the brand standards are adhered to throughout their estate of shops. Strict rules are in place, much training is given and audits are happening every day to ensure that all drinks are made the same way and so taste the same everywhere they operate.
In some independents the lower levels of training, the cult of personality, where each barista has their own style of drink and the turnover of staff. All work together to reduce the chances of a guest getting the same drink made in the same way. This lack of consistency will drive customers away.
The successful independents work really hard to ensure that their drinks are always consistent and that their guests can feel comfortable that the flat white they order on Tuesday will be the same as the one they drank on Monday.
Service
This should be an easy win against the chains as your guests already believe the big chains are faceless so you are halfway there. What little things can you do to that will make you stand out from your competition? [Sign in to continue]
MILAN – The value of a cup of coffee is the result of a sum of specific costs. According the Italian magazine BarGiornale, basing on the data of FIPE (Italian Federation of Public Restaurants and food outlets), in Italy the price the end consumer pays is seven times higher than the first cost, which is, for the trader, 0,02 euro.
SHANGHAI – Hotelex, one of most important and largest trade show, has made its début at Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC) today and it will end on April 1st, 2016. During the exhibition, the World Coffee Events (WCE) has organized six events, such as the World Latte Art Championship, World Cup Taster Championship, World Coffee Roasting Championship and World Coffee in Good
CHINA – The number of Western-style cafés on the main streets of Chengdu in central China is increasing on a seemingly daily basis, just as it is in major cities across the country, where both foreign and local coffee shops are fiercely competing in the race to open new outlets, Nikkei Asian Reviews reported. The effect of changing tastes by Chinese people means that
If Southern Europe is the most interesting market in terms of quantity of Espresso coffee machine sold, the largest market for filter coffee machines demand in the Old Continent is Central Europe (where Germany plays a fundamental role) which represents 72%, followed by Western Europe with 23.2% (where the leading country is the United Kingdom). Buy the most detailed report on the
The different models (automatic or traditional) and the different cost of living in the countries lead the average price of espresso coffee machines among the European geographical areas. In Southern Europe the price of an espresso traditional coffee machine is around 1,600 euro, while in Central Europe, where fully automatic machines are mostly sold, the price is around 4,400 euro.
The consumption of coffee in Germany is increasing after reached 418.4 thousand tons recording a slight decrease (-0.4% in 2012). Compared to the previous years, quantities remained almost stable during the period 2010-2012. Among the different types of coffee, the roasted coffee decreased by 3.3% in 2012 while on the contrary the consumption of espresso/caffè crème increased by 11.6% (66
The breakdown for geographical area shows that almost half of the brands mentioned by distributors comes from the Eastern area (Cataluña and Comuntat Valenciana) where the competition is mostly concentrated. Taking a look at the dimension of respondents, Cimbali, Expobar, Iberital and La Spaziale are popular among small and medium coffee roasters (up to 1,000 machines distributed per year). Larger coffee roasters (>1,000 machines per