For visitors to a garden centre, there is nothing more welcoming than a "proper brew" from Change Beverages.
The UK garden centre sector is unquestionably competitive. Sales are expected to reach a mammoth £4.3bn by 2021. Garden centre retailers hoping to get a slice of this extra spend really need to invest in high-quality tea and coffee.
Burleydam is a multi-award-winning, family-run garden centre in Wirral, selling plants, gardening products, homeware, gifts, craft essentials, pet accessories, clothing and more. It is also home to the Orchard Café; a modern, stylish and relaxed environment where garden centre customers can relax and chat over a brew in between shopping. Incidentally, the Orchard Café is also the perfect example of how garden centres can maximise their success with a strong hot beverage offer…
Since 2014, the Orchard at Burleydam have been working with independent hot beverages distributor Change Beverages to meet the ever-growing demand for artisan tea and coffee – and it’s working! According to hortweek.co.uk, 15-20 per cent of garden centres’ overall sales come from their restaurants and cafes. At Burleydam this figure is closer to 25 per cent and café sales continue to grow each year. The Orchard Café turned over £1m for the first time in 2017, over £1m in 2018 and further growth is forecast for 2019.
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Hot beverages account for one third (33%) of all sales at the Orchard Café which undoubtedly presents a generous return on investment for all the necessary drinks and equipment. Indeed, the Orchard sold a whopping 98,000 coffees last year. The latte was the most popular coffee sold (37,000), followed by cappuccino (27,000).
The demand for high-quality and speciality coffee at Burleydam is such that they require four coffee machines: 2 x Expobar G10 2 group traditional espresso machines and 2 x Marco Quickbrew filter coffee machines. Each machine was supplied and installed by Change Beverages. Free barista training was also provided to ensure that the Orchard can deliver the consistently great tasting coffee that their customers have come to expect.
The Orchard Café opts for Rainforest Alliance certified Lavazza Tierra 100% Arabica coffee beans for their Expobar machines. Change Beverages is an official Lavazza distributor and the Tierra program seeks to produce the highest quality of coffee, whilst also improving the living conditions of people in its country of origin. When production of the same blend for filter machines was halted, Change Beverages created a brand-new blend of the award-winning Change Coffee for the Orchard Café. The new blend consists of 100% roast and ground Arabica beans from Brazil and Honduras. Both the staff and customers at Burleydam Garden Centre love it.
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Serving customers a pot of tea containing a cheap and ugly paper teabag is somewhat akin to serving customers an instant coffee – it’s a big NO! Instead, garden centre cafes can attract additional spend by offering a premium range of speciality, fruit and herbal teas alongside the beloved “builder’s brew”. At Burleydam, the Orchard Cafe has been serving Change Tea to their customers since early 2018.
Change Tea is Change Beverages’ own range of loose leaf tea. It boasts exquisite flavours and delicate aromas with the added benefit of being significantly more environmentally friendly than teabags. Since swapping from another loose-leaf supplier to Change Beverages, the Orchard Café have enjoyed a 300% increase in loose tea sales. The café manager told us that the Change Tea packaging design attracts customers up to the counter to admire and smell the variety of blends available – ultimately resulting in a purchase.
To conclude, Change Beverages’ high-quality product and service offering has helped Burleydam Garden Centre to attract new customers, drive purchases and increase their café sales to over £1m. In turn, the Orchard Café increases footfall at the garden centre, keeps customers in store for longer therefore maximising Burleydam’s opportunity to sell products and increase profits. If you want to add value to your garden centre by working with Change Beverages, you can reach them using the details below.
Email boffins@changebeverages.co.uk
Telephone 07711 798 877 / 07743 809 900
Website www.changebeverages.co.uk
