Perc up your profits

When the weather hots up, some customers start looking for cold drinks, but that doesn’t mean ditching the nation’s favourites of tea and coffee.

Frappés are a fast-growing sector and many customers now expect to see them on coffee menus.

Managed pub and bar operator TCG relaunched its coffee offer across 30 sites last summer, partnering with ethical coffee business Cafeology and featuring frappés.

As operations director Ben Levick says: “Including the frappés allows our sites to compete more effectively with specialist coffee shops.

“The frappés have refreshed the coffee offer for existing customers, encouraging them to stay rather than go elsewhere, and attracted new customers, so they have brought in incremental coffee sales.”

The company charges 50p more for a frappé than a latte and a caramel coffee frappé costs 75p more. The company sells several hundred a week across the 30 sites, showing that the drinks bring a good profit opportunity for licensees.

Elaine Higginson, managing director, UCC Coffee UK & Ireland, says: “Offer your customers the basics but don’t be afraid to think creatively to help boost your profits. In Australia, iced coffee is usually served with cream and ice cream. To “premiumise” your iced coffee, blend it with chocolate, sugar and whipped cream to make a stand-alone menu item that will appeal to customers looking for an afternoon treat, or as an alternative to a traditional dessert at the end of a meal.”

Iced dreams​

Sean Pittaway, a specialist barista from UCC Coffee, recommends that iced coffee can be priced anywhere from £2.50 to £3.50.

He says: “If you’re aiming for the £3.50 mark, you need to really focus on the taste and presentation to make the customer feel that they are getting value for money.”

He recommends licensees offer two to three varieties of iced coffee, such as one plain version and the other flavoured, such as vanilla, toffee or caramel.

Among the company’s serving ideas are raspberry iced mocha.

Nescafé Alegria has also launched a series of summer coffee recipes, to help publicans drive sales .

The company has produced ‘Summer of Sports — Coffee Mocktails’ downloadable recipe cards, featuring a range of coffee ideas that are inspired by various countries participating in sporting events throughout 2014.

Each recipe includes a base speciality coffee such as latte or espresso, to appeal to consumers looking for an alternative to a traditional pub beverage while watching sporting events, particularly during the day or on weekdays, when 60% of consumers say they would purchase coffee in a pub.

Recipe ideas include a banana coffee mocktail known as the Brazilian Jumping Monkey; the English Coffee Fruit Cup, and the Sangria Coffee.

Matt Lane, beverage solutions lead at Nestlé Professional, says: “With many summer sporting events taking place during the day time or on a weekday — when consumers are less likely to drink alcohol — a fun coffee menu is just the thing for publicans wishing to create a point of difference for themselves and attract plenty of new customers.”

For recipe ideas visit www.NESCAFÉ-alegria.com.

CASE STUDY - Cool operator​

By offering an alternative hot beverage in the summer months, such as iced coffee or fruit- flavoured teas, operators have the chance to increase price points on speciality drinks as well as upselling other products such as pastries and cakes.

CJ’s Café Bar in East Grinstead, West Sussex, offers iced coffee on its day menu, serving frappés and Fredos (£2.50) and iced mocha (£3).

Manager Josh Smith has seen the iced-coffee trade pick up in the past few years, with more people looking for cooler alternatives in the summer, resulting in CJ’s serving about 30 to 50 iced coffees weekly.

He says: “People are opting for blended iced coffees such as frappés and iced mochas, which are the two firm favourites.

“We make our own recipes too, such as the Sammy Darko (£3) with ice, espresso and a shot of syrup, which has done very well.”

Iced coffee has been on the drinks menu at CJ’s for about two years and after trialling drinks at lower prices it has seen the popularity of iced coffee, especially without milk, exceed that of its hot counterpart.

“In summer, many people still ask for our smoothies and blended juice drinks rather than milk-based coffee drinks, but we have definitely seen iced coffee rise in popularity.”

Promotional deals and offers are known to drive sales and Smith is capitalising on this as well as upselling products that sit alongside coffee.

“We started offering a morning coffee and pastry for £3.25 and now offer this all day. On hot days iced coffee with a pain au chocolate or a pastry is popular.”

Smith carefully considered his coffee menu, looking at trends in larger coffee chains and tailoring his own menu to fit his clientele.

“Some of the big boys such as Starbucks, Costa and Nero have a similar kind of menu, so I did a lot of research before I brought the products to CJ’s,” he says. 

“I think the general trend is heading towards healthy drinks — a few years ago people wanted skinny milk; now they don’t want milk at all.”