Consumers may be strapped for cash, but as coffee shop sales have increased by 5% since 2009, a latte a day is an affordable essential rather than an unnecessary luxury. There were 1.4 billion servings of speciality coffee in the UK last year, which is still a long way short of Italy’s 5.3 billion.
While ‘eating in’ has become one of the dominant trends of the recession, the increasing popularity of stopping off for a coffee at breakfast time bucks this trend. Breakfast visits increased by 9% on average every year between 2009 and 2012. Breakfast now accounts for just under 20% of total out-of-home eating visits, with Brits making an extra 25.6 million visits each year compared to 2009.
And it’s not just takeaway coffees driving the growth. On-premises consumption is growing in popularity, with visits up 3.5% between 2011 and 2012. In short, coffee shops have become a ‘destination’ in themselves. Time-pressed and quality-obsessed consumers increasingly see visits to coffee shops as a perfectly acceptable way to spend time with friends and family.
NPD’s research reveals that women and young people are increasingly addicted to coffee. Visits among women rose 4.3% in 2012 compared to the previous year, and visitors aged 18-24 grew by 12% in the same period.
Commenting on the continued popularity of coffee, Guy Fielding, director of business development for The NPD Group, said: “The surge in breakfast is great news for the likes of Caffè Nero, where this occasion accounts for just over a quarter of their total visits. This is particularly important as snacking is slowing, and this is impacting some of the quick service coffee operators. So, the enduring popularity of coffee is compensating for the snack slowdown. But in spite of the coffee uplift at breakfast, all the branded coffee players are still feeling the impact of the slower snacking market, most notably Costa Coffee, where snacking constitutes 57% of all visits – the highest among the ‘big three’.”
NPD Group’s research shows that out of home consumption of coffee is declining elsewhere in Europe, with the biggest decline in Italy.
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