More than a complement

One way to boost sales is to look at coffee as something more than just a companion to dessert at the end of a meal. More and more, the brand of coffee you serve matters to your customer.

Strachan says, “Interestingly, at full service restaurants, a well known brand may be a good consumer cue to promote a better coffee offering. Among customers who are familiar with the coffee programs offered at FSR, four in 10 (43 per cent) would be more likely to order coffee if they served a well-known brand of coffee.”

Joe Di Donato, vice president of operations for Faema Canada based in Toronto says, “A lot of time, restaurateurs say ‘it’s just a coffee, it’s not our main part of the business, and it’s just something you offer with a dessert.’ The restaurants don’t invest in a good quality coffee bean, and they don’t do the little things to make sure the machine is properly maintained, or give the extra training to their staff. So at the end of the meal, instead of completing the experience by serving a great espresso or cappuccino, customers end up having a great meal and ending with a horrible coffee. What’s left in the customer’s memory is the last coffee they had, so that everything they worked on that got that customer happy with their meal, they lose with the coffee.”

But Di Donato has a solution to that. “Now that specialty coffee has become mainstream, and offered in every type of restaurant, it’s time that the staff of restaurants is properly trained in coffee service.” At Faema’s new warehouse recently opened in Mississauga, restaurant staff can train for a couple of hours or whatever time they can spare. Staff can get proper training on the correct way to make an espresso, cappuccino and latte art, and learn about the importance of minor maintenance, keeping the machine in tip-top shape in order to offer a good product.

“We also have a coffee academy where we explain where the coffee bean originates and the process of the roasting,” says Di Donato. “At least that employee will understand more about the culture of coffee and when they go back to their restaurant, they can actually do a proper job in giving a great coffee to the customer.”

Opportunity abounds for tea

That sentiment is echoed by Louise Roberge, but in a related industry segment. As president of the Tea Association of Canada, she has some new groundbreaking research from the NPD Group that shows plenty of opportunity to improve the restaurant experience for tea lovers.  

“Tea is not served properly in foodservice and for 45 per cent of tea drinkers it’s not even top of mind for them to consider ordering tea," says Roberge. "In fact, 31 per cent of those tea drinkers opt for tap water instead.”  So if you could get 30 tables ordering a tea instead of tap water, just multiply those dollars seven days a week for a whole year. That’s a lot of money left on the table.

Hot tea totals 380 million servings annually in Canada, while iced tea accounts for an additional 206 million. Contrasting with coffee, only 35 per cent of hot tea is consumed in the morning. It is more likely to be chosen as an afternoon pick-me-up, or to accompany meals. Tea also skews to an older consumer than coffee.
 
The good news is, tea drinkers are willing to pay for a good cuppa, if they could just get it. Roberge adds, “The research shows us that the consumer is prepared to pay between $2.00 to $2.50 for a cup of Orange Pekoe, but by just changing the tea to English Breakfast, they would be prepared to pay between $2.63 and $3.15 - and that is not even talking about serving it in a proper tea pot, and preparing it properly. That was just asking what consumers would be prepared to pay. And I’m not even thinking about what [operators] could be serving to go along with that tea. When you sit down with a cup of tea, you are more likely to purchase something else to go with it, than coffee. So there’s a good story for foodservice.” Roberge is determined to spread the news that her association is ready, willing and able to assist foodservice in improving their tea service.

The formula to keep tea lovers happy is pretty simple:  Serve tea in a china teapot, with a good quality product, freshly brewed with boiling water. For more tea tips visit the Tea Association of Canada website at:  www.tea.ca

Tea teaser

Recently completed research by the NPD Group for the Tea Association of Canada shows that:

• 68 per cent of Canadians drink black tea
• Green tea  and flavoured green teas are rapidly gaining in popularity
• Herbal tea (although not technically a tea from the Camellia sinensis plant) is preferred by  37 per cent of consumers  
• 64 per cent of consumers use a sweetener such as white or raw sugar with their tea, although honey is the preference of 34 per cent of  consumers
• 37 per cent prefer the bag in when they are served tea, 29 per cent want loose whole leaf tea, and bag out (of the teapot) was the preference of 23 per cent of consumers.