The Industry
Over the past couple of decades the UK has been steadily moving towards the kind of well-established café culture countries such as France and Italy are famous for. An explosion in coffee chains has left few high streets without their branch of Costa or Starbucks. As the pub industry continues to suffer heavy blows, there’s a growing market for boutique and independent cafés offering an alternative place to sit and read the paper.
While the recent recession has taken its toll on chains such as Starbucks, who have closed hundreds of branches as a result, research conducted by Allegra Strategies in 2009 found consumer expectations for cafés has increased as a result of the downturn. So as expectations increase, the demand for good quality independent cafés is strengthened.
According to the British Coffee Association, the UK consumes over 68 million cups of coffee a day, while 11 million people visit coffee and tea shops at least once a week. So the demand is most definitely there, and the industry is responding: the number of coffee and tea shops in the UK increased by 5% between May 2008 and May 2009. In a climate where many industries are showing a slump in growth, this is encouraging news. The beverage market is still forecast to grow strongly over the next five years and likely to be made up of an equal mixture of independents and branded coffee and tea shops.
In fact, The Independent recently reported that 20% of all independents started within the past couple of years. So the chains aren’t killing off all the competition yet. Equally, if it’s true that ‘staying in is the new going out’, customers are more likely to flock to you for a good cup of coffee and dessert, rather than splurge on a three-course dinner at a pricey restaurant. Coffee shops also provide a cheaper alternative to lunch.
* Photo courtesy of
Ballistik Coffee Boy
on flickr