Shepherd Neame launches branded coffee concept

Coffee & Ale House is exclusive to its tenants and has so far been installed in 40 sites with more to follow. It includes branded equipment, cups, menus, signage and staff training.

The offer has been tailored to each tier of licensee with entry level tenants serving coffee in a cafitiere that includes a timer; mid-range tenants will use a bean-to-cup machine; and top-end publicans will use a traditional coffee machine for barista-style coffee.

The coffee is created by specialist Roasted. Every Coffee & Ale House pub will receive on-site training to ensure standards of service and will be audited by Roasted twice a year to check that quality is maintained.

Coffee boom​

"Britain’s coffee boom continues, with sales continuing to rise every year,” says tenanted operation manager Greg Wallis.

"A high quality coffee menu enables pubs to compete both with coffee specialists and managed pubs, and to target new customers and different trading times throughout the day.

"We believe we are the first pub company to provide tenanted licensees with a premium, branded coffee offer.

"The Coffee & Ale House concept has been developed to further enhance the specialist direct support we offer our licensees, enabling them to diversify their offer and broaden their customer appeal. In particular, having appointed Carol Haime as development chef for tenancies last year, adding a strong coffee offer alongside our increased support for food makes perfect sense, enabling pubs to grow sales of both.”