At heart, positioning can be understood by one simple concept. It’s about getting the right product in front of customers who are predisposed to buy it.

October’s interview was carried out with Tim Hume at Redroaster in Brighton Location: St James Street, Brighton Number of outlets: One (along with a roasting site) Opened: 2000 Who owns the business? Tim and Caroline Hume Annual turnover? £500k Number of staff? 10 full time staff and 3-4 part time staff Best selling product? Cappuccino [Read more]

Councils continue to complain about ‘too many coffee-houses’ on their high streets. But have we reached the limit? Or do is there still scope for the market grow? The tenor of public opinion, and regional press news coverage, has made a small but perceptible move against the coffee trade. In the very early days of [Read more]

La Maison Du Café of Yorkshire has won an extremely unusual award – it has taken the ‘outdoor caterer of the year’ prize in the Piper-Heidsieck Racecourse Awards. The contest is sponsored by the champagne brand, and recognises various hospitality facilities in British courses. The Harrogate-based coffee company was set up in 2005 by Tom [Read more]

It is now thirteen months since an espresso machine exploded in a public café. There is still no formal word to the beverage trade from the authorities investigating the incident, and yet the trade continues to experience a number of new puzzles allied to the situation. By Ian Boughton There have been some very interesting [Read more]

Do you always look closely at the margins on each of your products?  Whilst we all want to serve the best food we possibly can, it is also really important to make sure that the ingredients you are using aren’t making it impossible for you to actually make a profit on your most popular products. [Read more]

Vhari Russell from Image on Food, offers some pearls of wisdom about how to generate sales based on your seasonal offering. Making seasonal sales work for you Many of you may ask what all the fuss is about when it comes to seasonal sales, why do we need to be stocking Halloween products before the [Read more]

Starbucks has finally announced the launch of free high-speed Wi-Fi access for all its customers in the UK. Customers will now have unlimited internet access at over 650 company-owned stores across the country. Previously, Starbucks users had to be members of the Starbucks Rewards programme to access free Wi-Fi, and has now gone free as [Read more]

Following our recent article about the apparent idiosyncrasies that exist within the process of applying for a licence for outdoor chairs and tables depending on your location, Laura Leatherbarrow of DHA Planning has put together a simple guide to help you achieve success with your application. A guide to the pavement café application process “Alfresco” eating [Read more]

The latest in the continuing series of rows between councils and café-owners over the ‘retail mix’ of high streets has now led to criticism of council officials by the public in their local papers.  In some cases, opinion appears to be turning in favour of the café trade. The Lancashire Telegraph has reported that the [Read more]