During the working week, Britain is full of time-pressed shoppers who only have a few spare moments to grab breakfast or a morning snack before dashing off to work, the school run, appointments and everything in between. Our coffee to go data suggets that 6 am to 9 am is peak coffee sale time, so this presents the perfect opportunity to introduce a morning meal deal on the go.
We’re often told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is eaten by a huge 95% of Brits1 and the on-the-go breakfast market is predicted to grow by 45% by 20262. This means having the right breakfast food-to-go options to go along with a great coffee offer can increase store basket spend.
Jo Cramp, Coffee To Go Marketing Executive, gives her insights on how breakfast and mid-morning meal deals can be a key reference point in driving footfall into convenience stores.
1. Start the day the healthy way
“According to Allegra, consumers generally enjoy a healthy snack in the early morning and a more indulgent snack mid-morning. This gives retailers a variety of options to tailor their morning meal deals from fruit and cereal bars early morning, to muffins and cookies mid-morning” says Jo. “Ensuring the quality, variety and best-selling price are all as important as the speed and convenience the consumer requires.”
Think about grab-and-go healthy options like individual yogurt and granola pots, fruit and cereal bars and offer your promotions on these items during the morning rush.
“It’s also worth considering those who are on their way to or from their morning gym workout” Jo says. “There are many protein bars on the market that appeal to this audience so it’s a huge opportunity – especially if you are located near a gym or well-known running route yourselves.”
2. Comforting breakfasts and indulgent snacks
“Cold winter days are the perfect opportunity to promote comfort food alongside a warming coffee” Jo advises. “The top breakfast food options are hot bacon or sausage baps, sausage rolls or warm croissants. All of these go perfectly with a coffee, so think about offering a meal deal to upsell and increase spend per person.”
One of the most popular snacks bought alongside coffee is cake, with muffins, cookies and brownies not far behind. These make perfect mid-morning treats, so why not offer one of these items alongside the purchase of a coffee for a competitive price to make the most of those mid-morning snackers?
Research even suggests that some customers actively seek out coffee sites with breakfast food options in mind so that they avoid having to buy items at multiple sites3. The key to this is ensuring your site offers the most convenient options to boost your sales.
3. First Impressions count
Ordering consumables like food and hot drinks means you really need to be on top of your game in in the visual department.
Jo says “Expectations of coffee and food to go are rising, so your offering needs to consistently look delicious to entice your customers and increase impulse buys. Make sure you have your to-go offering well stocked, well laid out, tidy and most of all, clean.”
A great looking coffee and food to go solution can encourage footfall into the store, add-on sales and repeat visits, so it’s important to get the aesthetics right.
Make sure the coffee point is cleaned thoroughly every evening, ready for the inevitable breakfast rush in the morning!
Jo concludes “if, as a retailer you place focus on breakfast and mid-morning food items along with your coffee offer, you could be making a large potential profit.”
For high quality coffee, accompanied by indulgent treats and healthy snacks, check out Smokin’ Bean, the perfect coffee-to-go for your business!
References
1. Mintel
2. http://hellostir.com/breakfast-occasion-evolving/
3. Allegra
Tagged with: breakfast • coffee • coffee-to-go • convenience • Forecourt • sustainable
