February 2015:
The popularity of the drinks-to-go market is booming on forecourts and as part of its commitment to the sector eXpresso PLUS has been rolling out its hassle-free hot beverage solution across the UK.
A Budgens forecourt located between Shepton Mallet and Yeovil which employs 15 people and sees an average of 6,500 customers a week to its forecourt, installed the eXpresso PLUS Lavazza machine in September 2014 and hasn’t looked back. The franchise’s new investment means they can now offer customers a wide range of hot drinks including coffee, tea, soup and hot chocolate.
Tom Taylor, franchise owner, comments: “We chose eXpresso PLUS as Lavazza has a reputation for high quality coffee and offered a viable alternative to the Costa brand. The machine gave us the flexibility to offer customers a wide range of other hot beverages including tea and soup as an example. 99% of feedback from customers has been excellent.”
Research shows consumers spend £6.3 billion on take away coffee each year, with one-in-four people drinking on-the-go at least once a week*.
“If you’re a convenience store and forecourt you have to have a coffee machine – customers expect to find one in the store and it is a great driver of other in-store purchases.” Mr. Taylor continues, “When you’re trying to run a business you want as little aggravation as possible, eXpresso PLUS have so far provided an excellent service and it genuinely feels like a partnership rather than a retailer / supplier relationship.”
eXpresso PLUS Managing Director, Manish Shah, concludes, “It’s great to hear that Tom is reaping the benefits of the Lavazza machine. With the coffee and hot drinks market growing so rapidly, it’s so important for businesses to be able to offer a quality product to customers.”
*Source: Allegra coffee report 2014