Back in the serene days of 2019, you could pay £2.67 for an average high street latte. Now the price of the country's favorite coffee has jumped to an astonishing £3.25.
This is a painful rise for a country that has become obsessed with brown beans, and there are growing signs that consumers are taking matters into their own hands. .
Dualit claims sales of Cafe Plus pod coffee machines are up 127 percent in 2022 as more drinkers prefer baristas at home.
“There has been a dramatic change in the type of coffee people drink. consume at home now versus before,” says Jeffrey Yang, managing director of coffee expert Allegra.
back was not so important.
“If you go back two decades, instant coffee was the only way to get coffee, or you could have some fancy coffee in a French press. Many homes now have a variety of coffee makers, Italian-style mocha pots, filter coffees, coffee grinders.»
There's no doubt that legions of caffeine drinkers are unhappy with the inflated prices of coffee to go. . . But the rise of homebrewing may be fueled by both the better taste now on offer and anger at the cost.
The UK often stereotypes the love of tea, but coffee has long been the country's favorite hot drink.
In the year to March 19, 2023, shoppers bought more than 533 million packs of coffee from supermarkets, compared to 287 million packs of tea, according to Kantar.
The sheer number of coffee shops that are now open is amazing. From popular brands like Starbucks and Pret to countless specialty retail outlets, they have become as ubiquitous on the high streets as supermarkets and newsstands.
3003 coffee competition
But going to your local coffee shop is becoming a luxury, as coffee companies cut costs.
“At every step of the process, we've seen some pretty significant price increases,” says Bradley Morrison, owner. East London coffee wholesaler and retailer Dark Arts. Everything from imports of beans to energy and transportation has experienced a crisis.
Rising prices, as well as an increase in home work, have contributed to a slower recovery of national coffee houses from the pandemic, as life returned to normal.
According to Allegra, take-out coffee sales in 2022 are up 11.9 percent, and sales are still below 2019 levels.
Not that that's stopping aspiring entrepreneurs. In fact, according to Future Foodservice, coffee shops are expected to grow by 1.5 percent in 2023.
0202 Caffeine in cappuccinos
And despite the hurdles they face, big business isn't about to back down: Starbucks, for example, has announced plans to open 100 new stores in the UK despite falling profits.
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This is true. not to say that they will have an easy trip. According to Simon Stenning, hospitality analyst and founder of Future Foodservice, instead of losing customers due to high prices, large chains may face problems because they cannot stand out from the crowd.
« The determining factor now is more around the offer of food than coffee, because almost every coffee shop has achieved good standards for serving coffee,” he says.
“We all know what a good flat white is, so we don't see much change in the market.
“The coffee standard has reached the point where McDonald's is as good as Costa. Still, it's a third of the price. So consumers choose other factors.”
He singles out brands such as Cornish Bakery, Bob & Berts, Soho Coffee Co, and Muffin Break, which also offer food and are growing faster than regular coffee shops.
“This is a problem for some of the big operators…who can't get their food offering right. That's why Costa turned to M&S to try and build credibility,» he adds.
Average takeaway coffee prices
Meanwhile, a new generation of coffee shops are offering high quality but lower prices, like London's Blank Street.
None of Blank Street's staple coffees exceed the £3 mark, according to UK Managing Director Ignacio Llado, due to its focus on smaller stores where it can hire less personnel and reduce other costs.
Llado says he's optimistic despite the cost-of-living crisis because shoppers are still looking for little treats to get throughout the day.
«When you make coffee right and trade, it's just right under this category is an inexpensive daily ritual,” he says.
According to Allegra's Young, the pandemic has helped transform Britain from a country of novices to coffee connoisseurs as it has forced many people to pay more attention to their food and drink and their origins.
«During the pandemic crisis, people really realized that their daily coffee is such an important part [of the day] and also [were looking for] better quality coffee.” he says.
Morrison of retail chain Dark Arts says companies are becoming more aware that consumers want to recreate the coffee shop experience in their home.
“[Before the pandemic] we didn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about homebrewing or trying to create products for people to use at home, or even just getting our coffee out to people at home,” he says.< /p>
«Right now we're sort of redirecting a lot of our resources and energy into finding the best way.»
It's actually coffee in the supermarket where shoppers cut costs. Coffee sales at retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury's were down 1.2% in the 12 weeks to March 19, compared to the same period in 2019, according to Kantar.
Ultimately, for those looking for the “barista experience”, as Young puts it, supermarkets are not necessarily the first port of call.
“What we have seen in the UK is a huge, huge growth in specialty roasters across the country that didn't exist 10 years ago,” he says.
“There are now hundreds of them, so consumers have access to local roasters, they have access to the Internet, and they can even sign up [for direct supplies]».
Even buying a coffee machine is not a cheap alternative.
«Some of the machines for sale cost £4,000, many of them cost [as much as] £1,000 … then you I need to buy a coffee grinder. There's also the bravado when friends are around and say, «You know, I'll make coffee and show off your barista skills,» he says.
«If they cut costs, they wouldn't buy espresso machines, but will drink instant coffee.
Customers may be willing to gulp down a £3.25 latte. But they are no longer willing to put up with the lack of quality.
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