INDUSTRY PROFILE
The convenience sector is beginning to embrace specialty coffee as a way to create brand loyalty with customers.
Coffee is servo-ed The petrol and convenience sector is embracing barista-quality coffee to draw in new customers and create a one-stop shop for people seeking convenience.
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n the past, the petrol station is the last place a person would expect to find a good cup of coffee. However, with the bar for quality set so high in Australia, customers have come to expect the same quality everywhere they go. At the same time, Barista Technology Australia CEO Brett Bolwell says consumers are looking for faster and easier solutions for all of their products, including coffee, a trend petrol stations and convenience stores are primed to take advantage of. “The leading brands in fuel around the country, whether it be Caltex, On the Run, or BP, have seen the rise of coffee in Australia and want to be a part of it,” Brett says. “The partnership between BP and a brand like David Jones shows there’s growth for more ‘sophisticated’ offerings in the convenience sector. People want everything from their coffee to their grocery shopping to be convenient and quick, and it’s even better if they can get it all in the one place.” Just like people will go out of their way to visit their favourite café,
the petrol and convenience sector is motivated to adopt a high-quality coffee offering to build brand loyalty and a point of difference to its competitors. “When you’re out and about and need to top up your petrol, you’d usually just go to whoever is closest. But if a person could also get their morning coffee from you, and it was just as good as at their favourite café, they will intentionally seek you out,” Brett says. “It’s been a pretty ordinary two years for the convenience sector, with people staying at home because of COVID, and they’re all looking for new ways to draw more people into their shops, and a quick, good, and profitable coffee is a great way of doing that. “Some service stations have used super automatic machines for a while now and have had a lot of success with it, but a lot of people just prefer their coffee be made by a barista. They’d still appreciate the convenience of getting their morning coffee in the service station, so if the offer is right, the branding and experience is done properly, and the quality is there, there’s potential for massive growth in
that sector.” While cafés usually have a dedicated barista on shift to maintain quality and consistency, most petrol stations and convenience stores won’t enjoy the same luxury. Brett says this is especially true given current barista shortages around the world. “Even in cafés, it’s clear we’re going to have a massive shortage of skilled baristas over the next few years,” he says. “Unless you’ve put the proper systems in place, you won’t succeed long term.” Instead, petrol stations and convenience stores will need to have the proper training, tools, and systems in place so any of their current workers can jump behind the machine and make a consistent coffee. “The coffee set-up needs to be formulated with a number of different systems that maintain quality. Using a Puqpress automatic tamper, Perfect Moose for milk texturing, and grindby-weight grinder for dosing, you’re removing the variables that usually take years of training to understand,” Brett explains.
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