DATE: 29/1/07

RAPIDLY EXPANDING ‘COFFEE TO GO’ COMPANY OPENS NEW EXETER SHOWROOM

With over 81% of the UK adult population drinking coffee ‘out of the home’, ‘Coffee to Go’ is the fastest growing sector of the UK beverage market and currently worth more than £75m.  Paignton based company; Simply Coffee who has achieved the high acclaim of ranking # 2 in the UK market within just 2 years of operation, announces the LAUNCH of their new state-of-the-art Exeter showroom situated on the Marsh Barton Industrial Estate, Exeter.

Quote by Jason McNally, Managing Director of Simply Coffee:

“The size, structure and operating formats of coffee shop outlets have exploded over recent years.  As a company we carried out intensive research and market activity, revealing that coffee accounts for over one-third of all beverages consumed “on the go” with Cappuccinos and Lattes the most popular.  As a result, the Simply Coffee Café in-store unit is specifically designed with the convenience retailer and their customers in mind.  It is the complete solution to sell a wide and aromatic selection of coffees in a high quality bean to cup beverage, which are now consumer prerequisites rather than simple preferences.  We are proud to say that Simply Coffee only uses fairly traded coffee, sourcing the finest arabica beans from the Rainforest Alliance, ensuring we conserve and sustain the World’s natural resources, and the added advantage for the consumer is that unlike competitors, Simply Coffee is only £1 a cup!  We have opened a showroom as a result of the growth of the company and chose Exeter because of its close proximity to our Head Office at Paignton and easy access to the M5”.

The rapidly expanding company currently employs 10 sales individuals nationwide and seeking to employ another 4 over the next 6 months to meet their current roll out opportunity. Audi South West installed the Simply Coffee machines at each of their dealerships at Exeter, Plymouth and Taunton in May last year. The high quality coffee bean to cup concept has been introduced at the local independent Plymouth Station Spar who have five sites in total, including Cardiff and Oxford.

Quote by Tony Goss, Retail Director Goss Brothers:

“The Plymouth Station outlet has been selected as a trial store for a major re-fit roll-out process in the new Spar “in transit” programme aimed at stores located near stations, airports and city centres.  This new type of refit includes the installation of Simply Coffee, and although early days it is right on track and we are delighted with the increased footfall and coffee sales have, without doubt grown the business”. 

Quote by Jason McNally, Managing Director of Simply Coffee:

“The total number of drinks consumed within the market as a whole is currently estimated to be 120m, valued at £75m at retail pricing. The share of ‘out of home’ coffee consumption met by our target segment, convenience retail outlets & petrol forecourts, is small and heavily under-penetrated, but shows the greatest levels of growth at 11.2% pa. This segment is currently not the strategic focus of our competitors and does not fit their business model.  With such a strong brand, we obviously have a recipe for success providing the complete solution in order for retailers to sell bean to cup hot beverage, as well as offering supporting marketing and POS material to promote their unit, a service we give absolutely free!”

The company is also launching a new website designed by specialist Paignton company, Createanet, giving local retailers details of how to get more profit per square inch with a  “café in store unit” which only requires 1 sq metre of floor space and as such does not eat into valuable retail space, as well as how to make in excess of 60% GP and potentially adding £15000+ to their bottom line and experience ongoing growth every year after that with this rapidly growing market.

Quote by Createanet Managing Director, Kevin King:

“The new web site www.simplycoffee.com will encourage more retailers to install the Simply Coffee machines by highlighting the valuable profit margins and enabling operators to download training videos showing them exactly how easy the machines work.  The site also contains information about the company as well as the product itself assuring customers that even though only priced at just £1 per cup, Simply Coffee is a Fairly Traded organisation”.

Simply Coffee are taking a stand at the prestigious Convenience Retailing Show @ NEC Birmingham 6 – 8 March, so just follow your nose to Stand E91, HALL 6 & 7 where they are holding a fantastic free prize draw for a chance to win a trip for two to Brazil as well as some amazing special show offers. 

Contact :

Jason McNally

Simply Coffee

T: 0870 4283301

E: Info@simplycoffee.com

W: www.simplycoffee.com

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Simply Coffee was established in 2004 to provide a hot beverages solution specifically for the convenience and forecourt sectors.   After two years of market activity and research we identified the need for a focused, innovative alternative to the foodservice & retailer competitors who at present use their existing out dated solutions within the emerging convenience sector.

Simply Coffee – Fairly Traded:

The Rainforest Alliance symbol guarantees that the coffee was grown on farms that meet demanding social and environmental standards as verified by experienced inspectors.  The standards ensure that forests are protected, rivers, soils and wildlife conserved, workers treated with respect, paid fairly, properly equipped and given access to educational and medical care.  The standards cover the critical social, environmental and economic issues and participating farms are on the path toward true sustainability.

The Market: 

As ‘on the go’ becomes one of the fastest growing sectors in hot beverage consumption, retailers are increasingly aware of the need to supply their customers with a high-end coffee and tea offer. Research by Simply Coffee reveals that coffee account for over one third of all beverages consumed ‘on the go’.  This sector of the market is currently valued at £75 million and is the fastest growing sector within beverage, at the rate of 20% per annum, with bean to cup coffee systems emerging as a key destination drivers for the convenience market.

Putting our Market Segment into context – The major dynamic driving this growth has been the emergence of heavily branded High Street chains led by Starbucks but quickly followed by smaller, but equally dynamic chains like Café Nero, Costa Coffee and Coffee Republic.  Between them, these chains have had significant impacts on consumer attitudes towards and understanding of coffee, patterns of consumption and propensity to increase spend per cup.                                                                                                            

The types of coffee drinks claimed to be most frequently consumed within High Street coffee chains are Cappuccino (47%), and Latte (45%). These, together with Espresso itself, are all espresso based and not only take the highest share of total consumption but are showing the highest rates of growth within the market. Share continues to be taken from both soluble and filter coffee.

Bean sales have grown at a rate of 15-18% in recent years at the expense of roast and ground in the out of home market. This is driven by the search for the highest levels of quality as bean coffee offers acknowledged higher levels of freshness, and therefore flavour, (shelf life) in de-skilled service situations. Simply Coffee uniquely offers exclusively espresso based drinks prepared with bean to cup technology in their target market segment to meet what are now consumer prerequisites rather than simple preferences.

More Profit for the Retailer per square inch: The new Simply Coffee Café In-store Unit requires only 1 sq metre of floor space (Width 1225mm Height 1900mm Depth 700mm). Ergonomically designed for safety and ease of use, this unit comprises a state of the art Swiss Franke Coffee system serving fresh ground ‘bean to cup’ coffee, Americano, cappuccino, latté, chocolate and tea options at up to 120 cups per hour. Sophisticated looking yet surprisingly straightforward to use, retailers can now offer award winning Rainforest Alliance fresh ground coffee, teas and chocolate from a unit, which doesn’t eat into their valuable retail space.

Coffee questions:

How does Simply Coffee differ to other options on the market - what's the major selling point?

Simply Coffee provides the complete solution in order for the forecourt operator to sell bean to cup hot beverage, from the provision of equipment to the servicing that equipment, from product & ancillary replenishment to the point of sale and marketing material required to promote the brand within store, we provide everything under one supplier. Our focus has been to offer the end consumer a high quality beverage for £1.