When it comes to coffee culture, the UK falls behind the likes of Germany, Sweden and France. In fact, UK has among the lowest coffee consumption per capita in Europe. There is, however, a surprising growth of coffee shops and the increasingly popular coffee subscription services in the country.
The way Britons consume coffee has changed. In UK, coffee shops are growing to be social venues, a category which has been previously filled by pubs. It seems that families and women have found more convenient and friendly environment for social gatherings in coffee shops rather than in pubs. This new trend is likely to be the driving force behind the popularity of coffee in what was previously a country of tea people. Because more people use coffee shops for family meeting and gathering, they also start to shift from enjoying caffeine from tea to that from coffee.
Many coffee drinkers in UK are growing to be more serious consumers. For them, caffeine has changed from occasional expense into indispensable resource, and coffee industry has found a way to provide its best services for them. People want everything to be more practical, and a subscription service to everyday necessities including coffee, is such an attractive buy. A number of companies saw the opportunity and they are now growing to be very successful providers of coffee subscription services.
There are two popular coffee subscription models in UK; the conventional delivery service and the subscription to fresh coffee from independent shops. The best selling point of the former model is the fact that it does cut cost. A company will take the coffee beans from farmer, roast them, grind them, and deliver everything the next day to your door. With the traditional method, there are simply too many parties standing between farmers and consumers including agents and retailers. If each of those parties takes a margin, the subscription model is certainly less expensive because the supply chain is simpler and it involves less people.
The second model is based somewhere between delivery service and old style buying of beans from shops. The independent retailer selects an amazing coffee for a month (or two) which is their features coffee bar brew — this then also becomes one of the types sent out to subscribers (or indeed picked up in store). This kind of personal selection allows subscribers to maintain connection with their favorite coffee shop and help keep independent coffee shops open.
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Why Subscription Coffee is Becoming Big in the UK was originally published in SEO Andy on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
