Tea and coffee is a revenue generator like no other and new research from UCC Coffee UK and Ireland, performed by Allegral World Coffee Portal, has highlighted an extraordinary opportunity for pubs, bars and restaurants to diversify, retain and grow trade.
Indeed, the findings revealed that a huge 44% of consumers would be dissuaded from returning to an establishment if the coffee served was bad. Similarly, 41% of participants would be willing to buy coffee from pubs if the quality was better so if you are a pub, bar or restaurant manager and you aren’t serving coffee, or worse you’re serving a bad coffee, you are really missing a treat.
The statistics do not stop there. More than a quarter of the respondents (28%) also maintained that, if bars and pubs opened earlier, they would be their venue of choice for a morning coffee opposed to a coffee shop like Costa.
The likes of JD Wetherspoon have already cottoned on to this, offering a venue where customers can enjoy free coffee refills until 2pm. According to Wetherspoons, they sell more than 50 million hot drinks per year.
Tea, of course, should not be forgotten either. It is a quintessentially British drink, which The Telegraph recently described as “the new wine”. In the UK, we reportedly drink 165 million cups of tea every year, compared to 75 million cups of coffee. To put that into perspective, that’s a 120% difference.
We Brits spend £76 million every day on breakfast or brunch and as many as 14 percent of people eat the first meal of the day outside of their homes every day. And guess what the most popular breakfast beverage is? It’s tea, of course!
Nevertheless, tea is not just a morning drink. After years of Government campaigning, we are starting to see consumers shift from alcohol to healthier alternatives. Research from Mintel has also shown a decline in alcohol sales in recent years, which is predicted to continue. High-end restaurants in London have started serving handcrafted loose-leaf teas to diners, and even hiring tea sommeliers to advise them on the most appropriate food and tea pairing.
It is clear to see that tea and coffee are here to stay and if you want to invest in your business’ future and grow your customer base, it might be time to invest in some high-quality tea and coffee especially when two-thirds of us are willing to pay £2.99 for it!
