David Sands’ Pinkie Farm store in Musselburgh, East Lothian, has become the first independent Spar in Scotland to install premium coffee to go brand, Barista Bar.
Launching at Spar Scotland’s annual tradeshow in Aviemore in September, premium coffee to go brand, Barista Bar, developed by Henderson Foodservice, part of the Henderson Group, is expanding into Scotland with an exclusive £2.5m distribution deal with CJ Lang & Son Ltd.
The deal sees Barista Bar replace all of Spar Scotland’s incumbent coffee offering alongside a host of its independent retailers, the first of which has been Pinkie Farm.
Since the installation took place in August, Pinkie Farm has experienced a growth in sales of over 100% versus the previous coffee offering.
Dan Brown, managing director of Pinkie Farm, said: “We have been delighted with the performance of Barista Bar so far and have seen significant growth both in terms of the number of cups we’re selling and indeed overall sales. The unit and its branding look great in-store and our customers seem to love it – we anticipated some existing brand loyalty for our previous offering and were unsure of the impact this may have; however, we were delighted to find customers reactions were the complete opposite and we were met with a flood of positive comments when Barista Bar was introduced.
“We have found that the coffee is both a superior quality as well as a great point of difference, with most of our competition all saturated by the same coffee brand. This has improved our footfall as well as basket spend, with our breakfast offering reaping the benefits. To capitalise on this, we have introduced a coffee and breakfast roll meal deal which has gone down well with customers.
Keavy O’Mahony-Truesdale, Barista Bar brand manager said: “The success of Barista Bar at Pinkie Farm is extremely exciting for us and a huge testament to the commitment the team has displayed in making the product a resounding success since launching in Scotland. We look forward to more Spar stores in Scotland experiencing similar success and benefitting from our exceptional coffee to go brand over the next 12 months.”
Colin McLean, CEO from CJ Lang & Son added: “This exclusive brand franchise agreement with Barista Bar, the premium coffee to go offer, is a great commercial proposition for all convenience and forecourt stores looking to boost their coffee sales in Scotland. We are excited to see the roll out of Barista Bar continue throughout 2024.”
The agreement between CJ Lang & Son Ltd and Barista Bar means that since launching in 2015, Barista Bar is now available via 730 machines across the UK, selling over 12 million cups per annum. Barista Bar machines are amongst the best in the market, boasting a patented milk system to create a unique and satisfying foam on cappuccinos, lattes and hot chocolate drinks. In response to overwhelming demand and remarkable success, the brand has also diversified its offering and now offers a Planted machine, offering oat milk options.
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