OPINION
Quality, branding and experience With Masteroast set to celebrate 40 years in business this October, the company’s commercial director, Matthew Mills (main picture), acknowledges the sector’s achievements and likely future challenges.
INCREASING IMPORTANCE Over the last decade, the palates of coffee drinkers have become ever more sophisticated, leading to a marked growth in the quality and variety of coffee brands and available formats, blends, brewing methods, equipment, and accessories. As it becomes a more fashionable product, coffee-loving Brits are even willing to stake their reputation on their coffee choices. The importance of product quality was once largely confined to the high street, but with increasingly discerning coffee connoisseurs taking a ritualistic approach to coffee prep at home, it is now also essential within the domestic sphere. This heightened coffee appreciation doesn’t stop in the home or on the high street; coffee is now often deemed a business status symbol too. Corporate coffee communities and employees are demanding better quality and variety from employers. Unsurprising, considering that better quality coffee has been proven to positively impact staff happiness and productivity. Whilst great quality product is always vital, the story behind the brand and the ability to emotionally connect with that story is increasingly driving consumers today. Sustainability practices, ethics, the traceability of the product, and manufacturer accountability are key consumer considerations, and with the robustness of a company’s CSR policies and practices inspiring confidence in a supply chain, the industry benchmark 28 CAFÉ LIFE | AUGUST 2021
with regards to sustainable practice is continuously rising as coffee brands are stepping up to meet demand. FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS Branding Product quality and accountability will continue to evolve and improve in the coffee industry. However, the definition of coffee brands is what will be the key to success. Whether through retail, foodservice or coffee shops, branding is critical to customer uptake, with the effective use of design and packaging and delivery of key messages ensuring buy-in and inspiring confidence. It is essential that coffee products meet the necessary criteria of a competitive price point, superior quality, reliability, consistency of service and robust CSR policies, but branding must be spot on for brands to triumph. Brands that are doing well and will continue to do so are those that get the proposition right; those that are achieving a good balance between correct messaging, a great quality product, and having the service level to back it up. The strongest players are price competitive. However, if a coffee company can follow this up with a good looking and good tasting product, and is successfully driving the emotional connection to both product and brand by way of doing right by the planet and its people, they’ll be meeting all the necessary criteria for the customer and ensuring continued loyalty and success.
Sustainability From investors and stakeholders to employees and customers, a company’s environmental stance is on everyone’s agenda, so as tech and infrastructure continue to develop, so will the way in which coffee brands meet environmental expectations. As pioneers for responsible practice, Masteroast supports all customers in making the necessary moves to deploy fully recyclable packaging - in some cases even subsidising packaging options on behalf of customers. With regards to compostable packaging, while this is an ideal goal, there is still a long way to go for it to become a reality due to complicated processes and the vast amounts of R&D required. The ever-growing interest in environmental impact extends also to production and manufacturing processes, significantly driving accountability among roasteries. Ahead of the curve, Masteroast has invested significantly in some of the most energy efficient roasting technology on the market, boasting catalytic converters to manage carbon emissions and on-site nitrogen generation, for example. All of this is possible thanks to our flexible economy of scale structure.
