Sponsored Feature An international exhibition like Tea & Coffee World Cup is one of the best business opportunities offered today. Exhibitors can display their new products, demonstrate their machinery, meet with existing and potential clients and promote their company to a broad market. Companies ranging from associations and organizations at origin, to machinery manufacturers and [Read more]

Karin Ridgers, VeggieVision TV, offers an insight into catering for the vegetarian and vegan markets. The word vegan may not be the most sexiest word we agree however catering for a meat free plant based diet is very easy. Vegan items are suitable for vegetarians – and meat eaters too. The big tip is once you [Read more]

If there has been a common factor in the coffee trade during the first few weeks of 2012, it has been that everybody is running at full speed.  And there is no expectation that things will let up – in a delightfully quaint phrase, one significant coffee supplier to the high-class hotel sector has said: [Read more]

A new survey has placed coffee shops in the top ten businesses most likely to succeed for start-up businesspeople this year.   The Startups UK organisation has said that after two months’  of research, which involved interviews with such authorities as stars of Dragons’ Den, it has highlighted the ten most promising business openings for 2012. [Read more]

Sponsored feature, brought to you by Ferrari With more than 85 years of experience in running thousands of cafés and coffee shops, Ferrari’s brings much more to the table than you’d expect from a fine coffee roaster. Giancarlo Ferrari shares his invaluable experience in roasting coffee and running commercial cafés to help you maximise your coffee sales: [Read more]

It’s been busy year for the UK café bar industry so, as it draws to a close, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the highlights and interesting stories that hit the media over the last twelve months. December 2010 The old year ended on a serious note – with the recent attention [Read more]

As some green coffee output is hit by weather, some by crop pest, and some by alleged stockpiling, one international commentator suggests that we should stop complaining about climate change and take action to improve the entire worldwide industry. As weather problems hit many of the coffee industry’s prime origins, there have been further worries [Read more]

The food and drink market is certainly an innovative industry – driven by both one off entrepreneurs and the hugely competitive major chains.  Everyone is looking for products that will differentiate themselves, lure customers in and loudly proclaim that they are a hip, fun place to be. Here we take a look at how the [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]

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]

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 distinguishing factor between café-bars used to be the standard of coffee… but that doesn’t seem to apply any more. The real difference in winning and keeping customers is now appears to be based on the quality of service. So, is customer service is the next big battleground for the café-bar trade?  At a recent [Read more]

You can’t outspend the big chains, says Britain’s top lateral-thinking author… but you can outrun them. “Only the paranoid will survive…” As business philosophies go, that’s an attention-getter.  It came from the chairman of Intel, the computer chip people, and it has a major truth behind it – it means that if you do not [Read more]

The café-bar trade may not after all be entirely isolated in its position on outside tables, chairs, awnings and barriers. For many years, the trade has fought a constant battle against local authority planning departments and county highways departments – often both at the same time.  Even many of the councils who have spoken of [Read more]

Chris Brown, Turpin Smale Catering Consultancy www.turpinsmale.co.uk As an operator you want distinctive, high quality food that will make you a great margin and keep the customers flocking back.  What do most of the small guys do?   Buy standard, worthy items from 3663 or Brakes; make a sandwich or two and keep life simple.  This [Read more]

As the café-bar boom continues, so the number of suppliers to the trade increases.  The coffee trade is lucky to have many supremely professional and knowledgeable suppliers… but like any industry, there are some less than reliable ones too. How does an independent operator tell the difference? How can you be sure a supplier is [Read more]

It is fashionable in the coffee world to refer to the first wave of coffee bars, the second wave, and so on… but where do we stand now? What next for the British coffee bar? This is an exciting time to be in the café bar business. And it is also an exciting time to [Read more]