COFFEE NOTES MARCH/APRIL 2021
Spring has sprung! We hope that you’re all enjoying the warmer weather, especially as lockdown restrictions are gradually beginning to lift. In this edition of Coffee Notes, we’re looking at the creative impact that coffee shops have on our lives and why we’re so excited to see them start to reopen. We’re also sharing key points on how you can improve your café’s coffee education programmes and the benefits of doing so. We’ll also be filling you in on a new global collaboration amongst the giants of the coffee world, pledging to reduce carbon emissions in the industry by 2050. Finally, we’re giving you some top tips on how you can get the most out of your self-service coffee machines, before closing out by introducing you to our brand-new concept of Smart Coffee, which takes the science behind productive workplace behaviours and translates it into an operational hot beverage solutions model. Enjoy the issue and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need support with your coffee solutions.
4-MIN READ
COFFEE SHOPS AND COLLECTIVE CREATIVITY It’s been a long time since the first national lockdown began and we’re all missing the ‘fifth space’ that coffee shops provide — the space independent to our home, workplace, leisure pursuits and friends — especially as the weather gets warmer and the urge to venture outside grows stronger. But this void in our lives is about more than just missing the meet-ups — the absence of coffee shops as a fifth space is restricting our collective creativity. COFFEE SHOPS: CATALYSTS FOR CREATIVITY Research suggests that creative thinking is cultivated by simple habits like exercise, sleep and reading. But beyond these often independent activities, another catalyst for creativity involves unplanned interactions with work colleagues, casual acquaintances and even total strangers. With the disappearance of the traditional café experience (as well as experiences offered by other social spaces) these opportunities have largely vanished. Although you may not come up with a new, ground-breaking idea from every trip to your local café, each social encounter within the walls of a coffee shop has the possibility to inspire a moment of creativity or plant the seed of a new idea, simply through observing, listening and experiencing unplanned interactions with the wider world in an enclosed environment.
HISTORICAL ROOTS In our last issue we talked about the history of coffee in the UK and that the popularity of coffeehouses in London in the 18th century was rooted in the growing need for collaborative thought and discussion. Coffee shops remain as spaces where people can visit to get their creative juices flowing — clearly not much has changed since they first appeared in the UK!
DESIGNED WITH CREATIVITY IN MIND Creativity is social and architectural research suggests that café designs may work similarly to the way that classrooms impact the speed that children learn. Everything from the furniture and lighting — distinct from our home environments — can encourage faster learning, predominantly by cultivating a space where interaction with others is encouraged. Even the natural hustle and bustle of coffee shops can help, inducing cognitive disfluency, a state of deep and reflective thinking. Some coffee shops are designed around the idea of facilitating learning, with large windows used to create views which promote calmness, and lightweight and geometric furniture installed for customers to rearrange their seating to accommodate groups and allow for easier collaborative thinking. While the reopening of coffee shops in the COVID-compliant world might make it difficult to keep some of these more interactive behaviours alive (at least in the early days of reopening) there is no doubt that simply being able to sit down in a new environment again will encourage the sparks of creativity that many of us have sorely missed. Coffee can inspire creativity in the workplace as well, which we discuss in the last article of this issue, SMART COFFEE: MAKING WORKPLACES, WORK BETTER. Have a read if you’re interested in learning more!
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4-MIN READ
FOUR WAYS TO EXPAND YOUR CAFÉ TEAM’S COFFEE EDUCATION In recent years the increased understanding of the process behind coffee production — as well as a greater appreciation of the complex flavour profiles of the drink — have resulted in a growing interest in coffee education; seen amongst consumers as well as those within the industry. The ever-evolving classes, seminars, webinars, workshops and now even virtual events are a testament to this developing interest. While it’s heartening simply to witness this growing fascination with coffee, there’s also a commercial benefit to actively encouraging it as well. Offering coffee education to team members and customers alike can have a positive impact on sales. Customers who are exposed to new knowledge and skills alongside their coffee will be encouraged to return — whether this be from a desire to spend more on premium beans, put their sensory skills to practice on different roasts, or simply to learn even more — while developing your team’s expertise in this area can encourage loyalty as they see they are being invested in. Following on from the success of two education pieces in the last issue of Coffee Notes — ‘Latte Art: a Skill Worth Learning’ and ‘Coffee and Your Senses’ — we wanted to share some top tips on building your own coffee education programme, so that you can invest in the development of your team and offer your customers an experience that will provide even more incentive for them to return.
#1 TRAIN YOUR TRAINERS
Operators often hand off training responsibilities to their most experienced and senior team members. While these individuals may be great coffee professionals, their skills don’t always transfer seamlessly to training. To get serious about a coffee education programme, it’s worthwhile looking into further training courses so that these individuals are continually invested in, their experience is constantly evolving, and they feel confident in passing on their knowledge as part of a coffee education programme.
#2 TEACH THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Studies suggest that learning is easier when participants can connect specific details to experiences 1. For instance, interactive coffee tasting classes demonstrating how scent impacts taste or highly visual sessions tracing coffee’s journey from seed to cup (take a look at ‘Traceability & the Ethically Driven Consumer’ from the October issue of Coffee Notes for inspiration). By integrating experience into education, team members are far more likely to retain what they’ve learned from a course, as they’ll be able to link the information they’ve learned to a physical experience.
1 https://www.envisionexperience.com/blog/the-benefits-of-experiential-learning
#3 EDUCATE YOUR CUSTOMERS
#4 DON’ T FORGET YOUR TEAM
Remember to include everyone in your team in a coffee education programme, not just those tasked with teaching. You’ll already know that the more development opportunities available, the more likely it is that your team members will stay with the business, as they feel valued and appreciated. In turn, team members who can communicate their knowledge and passion for coffee can inspire this interest in their customers too.
However much time you have to put into a coffee education programme, any effort will go a long way. The more you educate your people about coffee, the more engaged they will be with your business in the long term, and the more likely you’ll be to quantify this return on investment with the recurring customers you’ll gain for the future.
Having a comprehensive and refined knowledge of coffee can be an easy and engaging way to connect with your customers and add value to their visit. Customers don’t have time for an extensive lesson, so by simply sharing informative details such as the origins of their coffee, how it is roasted, how to brew it, and what it will taste like - while they wait for their order - will instantly make them feel more involved and spark a desire for them to return.
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2-MIN READ
COFFEE & THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE The giants of coffee production have recently made a pledge to significantly reduce the industry’s environmental impact by the mid-century. As part of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a coalition of over 150 major coffee producers, roasters and retailers have pledged to slash CO2 emissions by “at least” 1.5 gigatons by 2050. This is a momentous and vital commitment to the future of our planet being made by members including Starbucks®, Nescafé® and Nespresso®.
Coffee requires a huge amount of resources to cultivate and global production is expected to double by the target year of 2050 to meet soaring demand. The challenge to the champions of sustainability is to increase coffee yield per hectare in existing farms to ensure that greater expansion does not fuel further destruction of carbon-rich forests. The plans from the coalition aim to protect 1.2 million acres of forest in the next five years.
Research shows that effective land management and landscape protection could even deliver a net positive climate impact from the coffee industry, as certain strategies being implemented could potentially result in carbon being drawn down from the atmosphere rather than releasing more into it. Plans have also been approved amongst participants to this commitment to ensure that at least half of all coffee purchased by roasters and retailers has been sourced sustainably.
Beyond the environmental benefits, the challenge of sustainably sourced coffee can potentially provide a livelihood for millions and engage billions of coffee consumers in the quest for a sustainable future. The coalition of companies has also pledged to establish living income and wage benchmarks in around 80% of the 49 countries signed up to the International Coffee Organisation.
“The coffee sector has a choice to make, to either be a driver of the climate crisis — or serve as a climate solution.” Conservation International’s vice president of climate solutions, Shyla Raghav.
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3-MIN READ
TOP TIPS FOR DRIVING SALES IN THE COFFEE TO-GO MARKET Throughout the pandemic, the to-go takeaway model has been the saving grace for many of our beloved cafés across the country. Even as restrictions begin to lift and customers start returning to their local coffee shops, they may still feel uncomfortable going back to a dine-in arrangement and will continue to take their coffee to-go. In response to the increased demand for takeaway coffee over the past year, Nescafé® has put together some top tips to drive coffee sales based on the latest research. 1. CUSTOMERS FAVOUR ESTABLISHED AND TRUSTED BRANDS: 61% of respondents to Nescafé® surveys said that they would be interested in a well-recognised coffee brand.
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2. ENSURING A FRIENDLY SERVICE:
It’s important not to treat customers looking for a takeaway coffee any differently from those enjoying a seated dine-in drink. Friendly service will inspire confidence and drive loyalty.
3. THINK HARD ABOUT WHERE YOU PLACE YOUR SELF-SERVE MACHINES:
Coffee sales can be encouraged when machines are conveniently located and attractively presented.
1. Onepoll UK 1,000 regular coffee drinkers survey, Oct 2020.
4. CROSS-MERCHANDISING IS KEY:
60% of surveyed customers said they would purchase food-to-go or confectionery along with a coffee, so operators should look to place food options beside self-serve machines to maximise sales.1
5. ENGAGING POS WILL HELP ATTRACT CUSTOMERS AND IMPROVE SALES: Seasonal POS and signs conveying special offers can be instrumental
in boosting coffee to-go sales. Something as simple as signage to inform passers-by that coffee to-go is available can drive them inside.
6. PREMIUM COFFEE IS IMPORTANT: Similar to our first tip, 67% of consumers cited coffee quality as the deciding factor behind their coffee to-go purchase.1
7. OFFER PERSONALISATION:
Customers like to personalise their drinks, so having a wide array of choice available will be key to encouraging their loyalty; from sweeteners and milk alternatives to chocolate dusting and sugar-free syrups.
8. QUICK, CONTACTLESS:
Now more than ever, many customers are looking to make quick, contactless payments with safety concerns over touch-based options being top of mind in returning to the workplace or study.
To discuss a self-serve solution that works for your needs, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. 1. Onepoll UK 1,000 regular coffee drinkers survey, Oct 2020.
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4-MIN READ
SMART COFFEE: MAKING WORKPLACES, WORK BETTER In last month’s Coffee Notes, we talked about the ways that coffee shops can create moments of collaboration and inspiration among clientele. Of course, the same can be said for workplace cafés, with hot beverages creating inspiring, social spaces and even offering respite in the workplace. They’re the social glue of our offices, providing us with a daily structure and bringing us together for moments of collaborative productivity. But with so many of us spending more time away from the office than ever before, the role of hot beverages in the workplace must count for more than just moments. At a time when businesses are likely to be considering the ‘hard sell’ of encouraging their people to come back to the physical workplace, we believe that hot beverage solutions could work harder to help answer this call. What if we told you the positioning of these branded hot beverage solutions could help support the productivity of your workplace and encourage productive behaviours, whether that’s individual working, team collaboration, or spontaneous unplanned interactions?
These are the opportunities we set out to address in our latest thought piece, with the support of months of academic and scientific analysis of productive behaviours behind us. We wanted to create a blueprint of how branded hot beverage solutions can be individually tailored to a business in a way that could support and encourage the effectiveness of its workforce.
SMART THINKING ON PRODUCTIVITY Smart Coffee is a new, holistic approach that combines our deep knowledge of the coffee category with the scientific thinking behind productive behaviours to create a playbook of solutions that, when deployed strategically, could support and contribute to a more effective workplace.
THE PRODUCTIVITY PUZZLE Productive behaviours are those that any business would want to drive. The main issue, however, is that there’s often no structured plan set out to achieve them, and many workplaces may not have the capacity internally to deal with any current issues. For example, open-plan offices often having a negative effect on focus and flow, meetings becoming highly unproductive or teams failing to interact, despite being in close proximity.
SOLVING THE PUZZLE WITH SMART COFFEE At its core, the Smart Coffee thinking is underpinned by an understanding of what helps to drive workplace efficiency, and it’s through this understanding that we’ve been able to build a catalogue of branded hot beverage solutions that sit under the Smart Coffee umbrella. When deployed strategically, these solutions could help to enable a better, more productive workplace. It could give businesses the opportunity to invest in hot beverages as a key benefit for their workforce — rather than simply a cost — to induce a positive impact on performance, innovation, and engagement.
WHAT ’S NEXT ? Hot beverages could be a simple and cost-effective way of inspiring both individual focus and collaboration between the right parties in the workplace, but to truly think smart about helping to improve productivity with these solutions, careful thought and consideration needs to be given to the sum of all parts. And that’s exactly what we’ll be exploring in the next edition of Coffee Notes, including giving you more on the behaviours that support productivity, how they’re measured and the real science behind how Smart Coffee could help drive a more productive workplace.
SMART COFFEE. MAKING YOUR WORKPLACES, WORK BETTER.
Nestlé Coffee Partners offers a range of brands and solutions to fit your customers’ requirements. If you’d like to talk through any of what you’ve read and explore how we can help you leverage the insight we’ve shared this month, or if you’d simply like to catch up over a socially distanced coffee, we’d love to hear from you. We’re available on +44 (0)203 124 1029 (Option 2) or at coffeepartners@uk.nestle.com