Welcome to CaffeCulture.com, the new online community for the UK’s café bar industry.

When we launched Caffè Culture in 2006 the cappuccino was still the nation’s favorite coffee based beverage, the cupcake was something most of us had consigned to childhood and the flat white was hither to unheard of in the UK.  James Hoffman had just made his first appearance at the World Barista Championships and free customer WiFi access had just started to make appearances in independent café bars.

The show was created following extensive research with you, café bar owners and managers all over the UK.  We understood, as the café bar market was burgeoning, so was your need for a resource from which to meet new suppliers, find out about industry developments and generally network with your colleagues.

The event has proved to be a great success and continues to develop in response to the direct feedback you provide to us. We have now made the leap into providing a year-round, online community for the whole of the café bar industry. CaffeCulture.com is a culmination of over a year’s worth of research and discussions with independent café bar owners, suppliers and a host of industry experts.

We have built the site in direct response to what you have told us you want.  Key features include Caffè Connect, a social networking tool that will give you access to other café bar owners and managers who are facing all the same business issues as you.  You told us that running a café bar can be a lonely business  – Caffè Connect will allow you to share ideas, get advice and generally communicate with others who have an understanding of your business, without being in direct competition.  It is simple and free to use and allows you to create your own profile – log on here and get started.

Each week we’ll bring you the latest industry news, whether its relevant changes in government legislation or special offers and news from key industry suppliers.  There’ll also be a host of more in-depth features offering a real insight into key issues that may affect your business.  This month’s features look at everything from where the UK café bar is likely to head next and how to get the best from your suppliers, through to delivering a food offering to compete with the chains.

We’ve also brought together some of the industry’s leading experts to help us deliver sound business advice – whilst we know you know your business best, we hope to offer some additional ideas, information and support that may just offer a new perspective.  Take a look at the Caffè Business section where we’ll be posting ‘How to’ guides, videos of speakers from the Caffè Culture Show and, over the coming months, webinars with some of our experts.

There is also a comprehensive Supplier Directory giving you access to leading café bar suppliers and details of unique offers they will be offering our members.   Whatever you are looking for, whether it be a new coffee machine, the latest speciality tea or even a new chocolate brownie supplier, you’ll find the contact you need right here.

They’ll be recipe ideas, case studies from business owners sharing their personal experiences, access to unique research and, over the coming months, a range of business tools designed specifically to meet the needs of the independent café bar owner.

The site is can now be your first port of call when looking for support, advice and products for your business. Even better news, it is free to access!  All we ask is that you register to use certain elements of the site – including the Caffè Connect social networking tool and Caffè Business so that we can keep you updated with new features and business tools.  Simply follow this link to register now.

We hope you enjoy exploring CaffeCulture.com and, as always, would very much welcome your feedback so that we can continue to deliver a resource that serves ytour needs.  Please do drop us a line here ccfeedback@upperstreetevents.co.uk with any comments or suggestions you may have.

All the best

Helen

Helen Marriott – Editor

1 Comments

1. Why has it been so long coming – now its here, it will give me more time to sleep and less time trying to source everything myself. Congrats

Kay Middleton on August 2nd, 2011 at 5:06 pm