By Laura McGuire
Caffe Nero generated UK sales of £150m for the first half of the financial year, averaging 104 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and an increase of 17 per cent for the same period in 2021.
The coffee chain added Deliveroo and Just Eat to its delivery partner service last year, which it said helped secure £3.5m in revenues.
Moreover, Caffe Nero reported £1.5m in sales for its Coffee At Home business, which was supported by a new partnership with Waitrose and continued partnerships with retailers Amazon, Ocado and Sainsbury’s.
Gerry Ford, Caffe Nero founder and group CEO, said: “We’ve seen a very encouraging first half of our financial year. Despite significant inflationary pressures which have continued to mount since June, we have demonstrated strong cost control and delivered solid sales growth. We traded at 110 per cent of pre-pandemic sales in December and had record weekly sales.
“That is a testament to the hard work and outstanding service from our store teams as well as a very well received Christmas menu with our customers. We expect to see sales continue to improve further over the coming weeks and months.”
The group also revealed it had opened seven new stores across the UK in the half year – despite Caffe Nero describing it as a “challenging period for costs”.
John Coldham, a retail partner at law firm Gowling WLG, added: “Despite its secondary position to the likes of larger, more prevalent hot beverage retailers, Caffe Nero has quietly increased its sales based footprint where store openings and profitability are concerned.
“Within a market where small, incremental improvements such as outstanding customer service and unique product offerings can drive increased customer loyalty, this brand is certainly leading the way where results are concerned. It will be interesting to see what competitive efforts are put in place by others to helped generate further cost and convenience benefits for customers and end-users.”
Caffe Nero operates 610 stores across the UK.
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