4 July 2017

Game, set and coffee match – for coffee shop food menus

Our report, ‘What’s next for coffee shop food menus’, shows that it’s time for coffee shops to rethink their food menus. Over two thirds of consumers buy coffee shop food regularly. Yet satisfaction with coffee shop quality is in decline.

The report reveals that a quarter of consumers are eating and drinking on coffee shop premises. And with consumers willing to pay more for quality food, upping your food game means increased sales and maximum profitability.

upping your food game

Fierce competition between coffee shop operators has raised the bar when it comes to offering the best quality coffee. So in the report, our chef ambassador and pastry chef, Sarah Hartnett, explores how operators can go beyond coffee to create a point of difference.

Matching your coffee to your food offering is an on trend way to set yourself apart from the competition. Sarah comments, “When was the last time anyone challenged the norm? A chocolate cake, the number one cake choice, won’t necessarily work well with the coffee served. These popular choices have been the same year in, year out – are they what consumers really want or is it because that’s what’s available? We have to be prepared to offer twists and encourage people to try something new. Proactively recommending a pairing at the point of order could be a simple start.”

Sarah has developed pairing sweet snacks, designed to bring out the best in the coffee and make it easy for operators to offer an inventive, fresh and exciting food menu. One of the pairings is the creamy caramel flavours of our Grand Crü Composition No. 2 which are enhanced by a brown sugar ‘short’.

To see how you can bring coffee pairing to your food menus and give your profit margins a boost, check out the full insight report

Research sources: Allegra World Coffee Portal – UK Retail Coffee Shop Market – Strategic Analysis, December 2016; Allegra World Coffee Portal – Allegra Coffee Track Q2 2016