SheeFood

Coffee Takes the Cake

Coffee is so strong, I’d say we are in a renaissance of premium brews. Just within the past two months, some surprising developments have been announced and rumored.

• McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales in January were up 3.1% over the previous year, and the company partly attributes that to its specialty coffee offerings, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Dunkin’ Donuts, which was named the top coffee brand for customer loyalty for the fifth year in a row, has partnered with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) with a plan to offer Dunkin’ Donut coffee for GMCR’s wildly popular Keurig single-serve brewer. You’ll start seeing 14-count boxes of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in K-Cup packs this summer.
• Starbucks will launch its coffee in one-cup brewers in hotel rooms this coming fall, and rumor has it that it is also working up a partnership with GMCR. Does this mean next to Dunkin’ Donuts K-Cup boxes we’ll see Starbucks boxes? Who would not love to see that happen?
• Starbucks has also gone the other direction in size and recently began offering an eye-bulging 31-ounce cup size of iced coffees and teas called Trenta.
• Caribou Coffee recently came to the rescue of truckers in a partnership with the National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO) to offer its high-quality coffee at truck stops and travel plazas throughout the U.S.

All this wouldn’t be happening if not for a shift in consumer coffee habits. Some of the executives of these companies have noted that consumers are craving premium coffee as never before, making it a great time to pour more cups in more places.

What has really led to all these coffee palpitations? I think it’s a convergence of McDonald’s bringing so much attention to specialty coffee (thanks to their bottomless advertising budget), the cult following Starbucks has drawn and the Keurig coffee maker that has opened wide the opportunity for personal premium brews at will.

Another way to look at the coffee craze is to see what’s happened at restaurants, not with the type of coffee served, but with the increase in coffee-flavored ingredients. Over a three-year period, the incidences of coffee-flavored ingredients on menus have increased 12.1%, however, looking at specialized flavors, Cappuccino flavored ingredients have increased 83%, according to Mintel Menu Insights.

Look for more great coffee news – with more space given to the category in stores and on menus.

Incidences of coffee-flavored ingredients on restaurant menus over time

	Q4 2007	Q4 2008	Q4 2009	Q4 2010	Number of Items	% change from 2007-10
Coffee	281	281	248	315	1,125	12.1
Mocha	109	104	106	112	431	2.8
Espresso	36	38	31	49	154	36
Cappuccino	18	34	33	33	118	83
Latte	2	4	4	5	15	150
Number of Items	438	452	412	502	1,804	14.6

Source: Mintel Menu Insights

Dinner at the Movies

Dinner and a movie anyone? It’s a growing proposition to take care of both in one place. Movie theaters have gotten with it and started to add foodservice to the movie-going experience. It started making sense to them for several reasons.

For one, home entertainment centers have become so elaborate, people have little incentive to leave their house to watch a movie. For another, dinner and a movie is the quintessential date, and so why not make it convenient to have both in one place?

There have been challenges to overcome. When you purchase a ticket, you rush into the theater to find and save enough seats, then hang out there while someone else in your group goes to get the popcorn. Theater operators had to changes a few things to get people to drop the worry. Some offer reserved seating, so then you are free to wonder around the building for a bite to eat from the expanded foodservice opportunities. In other cases, you can order from your seat and have food brought to you.

I haven’t experienced this personally, but I have vicariously. I interviewed several theater companies for an article for QSR magazine, and I was so intrigued. (You’ll find the article The Next Movie Star to the right). It makes complete sense to turn the movie theater into a restaurant, but it’s not easy, requiring many more skills sets, the right equipment, food safety training, and thought-through food-serving logistics. But my guess is, in 10 years, every movie theater company had better be on board with the idea or risk going out of business. Movie theaters as they are now seem like a dying concept with the changing times. As you learn in Marketing 101, adjust or self destruct.

What do you think?

Jody