The UK’s branded coffee shop market is now worth £4.9bn and has grown 11.9% over the last 12 months. With approximately 25,000+ coffee shops in the country across branded and independent operators, there are promising signs of growth for the sector, despite the recent challenges from cost-of-living pressures and the longer-term impacts of lockdown.
Consumer purchasing habits have demonstrated the enduring appeal of coffee shop culture in the face of economic pressures, with out-of-home coffee continuing to be viewed as an affordable luxury. Our daily coffee is something we’re still willing to splash out on and the latte remains the UK’s favourite coffee shop beverage.
Like many hospitality sectors in 2023, cafés and coffee shops are also having to incorporate sustainability into their business strategy. We speak to Elbha Purcell, Director of Knowledge Labs, Nutritics’ expert sustainability consultancy arm, for her top tips on where cafés can minimise their environmental footprint:
Say no to single-use coffee cups: It’s a bold move, but one solution to break away from the negative impact of single-use cups is to stop using them all-together. Operators can encourage customers to bring their own cups, potentially with an initial incentive, and reiterate the sustainable benefits for this approach with messaging in-store and online so consumers buy into the approach. Some businesses such as Monmouth Coffee and Boston Tea Party Cafes also run their own loan schemes for reusable cups.
However, a major consideration is that with budgets squeezed for many businesses, potentially turning away custom on the basis of not having a reusable cup presents a risk in the current landscape.
It’s therefore clear that to really tackle this problem, more top-down government support is required to help coffee shops move away from single-use items, such as the recent ban on plastic cutlery.
Understand the footprint of your coffee beans: It’s important for coffee shops to know the origins of the beans they source, ensuring they factor in the potential impact on the environment and the conditions for the farmers growing the beans.
Ideally, cafés should source Triple Certified Coffee, which is Fairtrade, Organic and Rainforest Certified beans. We recently wrote in more detail about the environmental cost of a cup of coffee – you can read the full piece here.
Reduce your waste: It might not be your favourite job, but sometimes it pays to look at the rubbish your business generates. What items are clogging up the bins in your coffee shop that needn’t be?
We’ve already discussed coffee cups themselves, but there’s certainly more that can be done. If you use wooden sugar stirrers, consider replacing them with regular spoons. Ensure any discarded food is composted, whilst you could also team up with the app Too Good To Go to make use of any usable food leftovers. If you do offer takeaway food, try to source recyclable or compostable containers where possible.
Don’t throw away your grounds: You’ll likely produce a lot of coffee grounds and if these end up in landfill, they can in fact emit methane, which is more than 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Instead, if you have the space, you could compost your grounds, or if not, donate them to someone who can. Coffee grounds make an ideal compost, as they add nitrogen that helps organic materials break down, creating a nutrient-rich fertiliser. They can also be sprinkled directly onto soil, acting as a great slow-release fertiliser.
Provide plant-based alternative milks: One in three Britons drink plant-based milk, and their usage in coffees has soared, with almond and oat milks popular choices in lattes and flat whites from coffee shops.
Milk alternatives have less of an impact on the planet than traditional dairy, and by encouraging customers to try plant-based milks, you can lessen the overall footprint of your business, without compromising on the quality of your coffee.
Working with WSH and the Benugo estate…
Another way you can progress your eco-journey is by reviewing the impact of the ingredients on your menu. The use of a carbon and water impact scoring system such as Foodprint from Nutritics can help both employees and consumers make more informed, sustainable choices.
We’ve recently worked with contract catering company Westbury Street Holdings (WSH) to implement our environmental impact scoring system across the bakery grab and go range of its Benugo estate.
Already committed to sustainably sourcing its produce, the introduction of Foodprint software across the range, has not only enabled Benugo to gain greater visibility over the carbon footprint of their supply chain and identify areas for improvement, but also provided greater transparency to consumers.
Mike Hanson, Director of Sustainable Business at WSH discussed implementing the Foodprint software: “We wanted to reliably report on not only calories, allergens and nutritional content at ingredient and menu item level, but also on the environmental impact of each dish, from the field to the kitchen to the plate. Everyone – teams, consumers, management, is at a different stage in the ‘carbon literacy’ journey. But by having an accurate and easy to understand scoring system we’ve been able to create balanced menus that offer more environmentally friendly dishes, and in turn help customers make greener choices by displaying carbon scores.”
Simple to use and rooted in science and academia, the carbon scoring system has established itself as a fundamental part of the business. By building individual recipes into the solution, the software can use its data to generate an accurate carbon impact score for a specific dish or food item.
Scores range from A-E, with A being the most environmentally friendly choice, and are displayed on the bakery and grab and go range in a similar way to nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods. Not only is this valuable in encouraging consumers to make more environmentally friendly choices, but it also empowers WSH’s chefs to create more sustainable menus and identify hotspots in the supply chain where efficiencies can be made – for example, swapping out a certain ingredient for a more sustainable, low-carbon alternative.
Mike Hanson at WSH, commented further to say: “It’s an action that has been very well received by our customers and clients alike. Most importantly, it’s given the tools to our chefs to make informed decisions about the food that we serve, ensuring a balance of good food that does good.”
If you’re looking for advice on sustainability in your coffee shop or cafe, get in touch with the Knowledge Labs team today.
Knowledge Labs will provide Hospitality and Food Service (HaFS) operators with expert advice and support across a range of topics central to their ESG strategy, including food related sustainability, nutrition, employee wellbeing, and compliance.