Out tomorrow (2 April), the cover feature looks at how coffee shops and café brands, once seen merely as places to grab a quick morning coffee, lunch-break sandwich or afternoon slice of cake, are now being regarded as dining destinations in their own right.
It argues that with quality coffee, free Wi-Fi and a relaxed atmosphere, coffee shops better placed to take advantage of the all-day dining trend than restaurants.
“When something is fundamentally associated with a restaurant experience the psychology among customers is that they can’t just come in and order a coffee or a cake,” says Jeffrey Young, managing director of Allegra Strategies’ World Coffee Portal.
“Even in places that advertise breakfast or coffee, it still plays on customers’ minds that they are a lunch or dinner place. Coffee shops, by comparison, don’t have this problem with moving into food.”
With operators like Loungers, Caravan and Shoreditch Grind serving alcohol alongside coffee and food, pubs are also having to up their game by opening earlier and improving their coffee offering.
“The world is changing: pubs are changing. Loungers has shown this,” says Allegra Foodservice strategy director Simon Stenning.
“Pubs are becoming more like coffee shops in style and coffee shops are becoming more like pubs and applying for licences.”
To read the feature in full, pick up April’s issue of Restaurant magazine, out tomorrow.
Also in April’s Restaurant magazine:
- Premium casual dim sum brand Ping Pong under the spotlight in the Business Profile.
- A report from the innaugral Development Chef Summit and Awards, which took place at London catering college, Westminster Kingsway last month.
- Dev Biswal talks about his ambition to become southern England’s most prominent Indian chef in Table for Two.
- Pearls of Wisdom: Mourad Mazouz, the Algerian-born restaurateur behind London’s Sketch and Momo on pop ups, seeking investment from friends and why he objects to his restaurants being referred to as a mini empire.
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