The trend for high street coffee-shops, where customers can grab a cup of their favourite brew and a bite to eat for lunch or on-the-run, continues to increase. As a result, workplace catering sites and businesses with vending machines face strong competition, highlighting the need for the industry to sit up and capitalise on a huge opportunity to recapture what seems to be a migrating customer base.

"The coffee shop revolution has been around for more than 10 years and looks set to stay. With fierce competition, quality and innovation are key drivers in succeeding," according to Simon Kershaw, Sector Marketing Manager (vending) at Aimia Foods.

He adds: "What this means is the UK vending industry has to raise its game to compete with coffee-shops. Aimia is ahead of the game when it comes to developing solutions for coffee shop vending. Although we were not the first company to identify the influence and the impact of coffee shops on the vending market and the potential for new hot drinks concepts, Aimia is leading the way in providing truly different solutions for vending.

"Quality is one area which companies and operators alike really shouldn't shy away from. Using the cheapest ingredients to make drinks, seriously compromises the quality and flavour of the end product. We feel that creating a bespoke coffee concept brand is important. While it's hard to persuade consumers to pay a lot more for the same instant coffee brands that they buy in the supermarket, high street coffee shops offer that extra special ‘something' as far as the coffee they serve. This means that customers are more willing to part with their cash for a great-tasting cup of coffee simply because it's not the same as the coffee drunk at home."

Value-added vending is what Aimia prides itself on and suggests that its new Pour MoiTM coffee shop concept represents this thinking. Simon says: "Our new Pour Moi offers a genuinely value-added coffee-shop experience from a vending machine. Created with the coffee-shop in mind, every detail and design feature shouts ‘great tasting coffee!' tea, hot chocolate and soup are available too!

"The attention to detail means that we have got rid of the smaller cups traditionally associated with vending machines, and instead produced a 12oz cup to mirror the high street coffee shops. Our research has showed that 96 per cent* of people prefer the Pour Moi cup to the standard 9oz vending cup, giving customers great value as well as a great quality drink. The Pour Moi vending machine also supplies an optional sip through lid to reflect the coffee shops and to make carrying the drink easier.

"We know that people buy with their eyes as well, so designing a visually impactful vending machine has been vital in the process. There are more than fifteen specific style cues and design features that we have taken from the high street and the combination of all of these factors makes Pour Moi, in our opinion, the UK's best vending concept for public sites.

"There is always a great deal of scepticism on new ideas and new thinking, but Pour Moi has been proven in consumer research and in sites to really deliver on its claims. The feedback on every element has been overwhelmingly positive*.

Research indicated:

Appeal: 80 per cent of people would choose a coffee from a Pour Moi machine given the choice between this and a standard vending machine

Repeat Purchase: While only four out of 10 would go back and regularly buy a coffee from a standard vending machine eight out of 10 would regularly use Pour Moi.

Price: While people were not satisfied paying more than 40p for a standard vending machine drink, they would be prepared to pay 80p for a Pour Moi drink.

Throughputs: Machine sitings in real-life shows throughputs are not adversely affected, despite higher prices - in fact there is evidence that sales are growing by as much as 79 per cent**

Simon adds: "We recognise that Pour Moi is not the right solution for every operator or every site. That's why we are increasingly working in a consultative capacity with a number of operators to help them develop added-value solutions around their own coffee shop style."

Simon is confident that Aimia can support customers who have their own initiatives as well. "We haven't got a monopoly on good ideas but I think we have some great marketing advice and support which can assist our customers with their own plans and even their own concepts," he says.

"My advice to all operators is to stop thinking that coffee-shops are a threat. They are giving people an appetite for something ‘better' which can only be good for vending. Think about hot drinks vending as a category, a ‘Good - Better - Best' three-tier solution. Having a hot drinks solution in each box is a good start. In addition, using the services of a well qualified external advisor, who understands the vending sector, can help operators look at their coffee-shop style vending impartially. Here, it will quickly become clear where the opportunities are."

*Research was conducted by QSR Research in December 2007

**According to Calvenda, Leeds University Feb-May 2008

http://www.aimiafoods.com/

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