Spar Scotland is to conduct a wider rollout of its Barista Bar food-to-go service, as existing stores with the concept have seen a 25% increase in volume sales.
Last year, the symbol group’s parent company, CJ Lang, began installing the concept in several company-owned stores and within independent retailer Dan Brown’s store, hinting at further expansion. More than 230 of Spar Scotland’s 330 sites are independent.
Speaking to Better Retailing about the company’s annual results for the year ending 28 April, CJ Lang chief executive Colin McLean said Barista Bar offered better value and quality than the Costa Coffee machines it was replacing.
He added: “We will roll out Barista Bar to the best part of 100 company-owned stores and 25 independent retailers by Christmas. We are working in partnership with Henderson Group to bring it from Northern Ireland into Scotland and it will be the second-largest coffee brand in convenience retail. In existing sites, there has been a 20-25% increase in volume.
“From a customer perspective, it tastes better and has better pricing. We have meal deals such as a bacon sandwich and coffee for £2.99 in the morning. We are also driving a lunchtime meal deal.
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“The summer has been challenging with regards to poor weather. Newspapers and magazines alongside cigarettes are in decline, and the challenge is how we drive footfall back to stores in the current climate.
“We are also speaking with suppliers to ensure we have the products that customers want. The demand in convenience is there.”
The results revealed that group net turnover was up 14.2% year on year to £253m, while pre-tax profits rose by 8% to £4m during the same period.
McLean attributed the growth to Spar Scotland’s investment in food to go, alongside recent store acquisitions. Commenting on recent legislation, McLean said customers had begun to switch alcohol brands following the rise in minimum unit pricing to 65p at the start of this month.
He said: “There is clearly a switch as customers recognised price increases. It’s early days, but we are watching this space carefully.
“The disposable vape ban is also coming into force in from April next year. A lot of products are already compliant with the new legislation and vaping will continue to grow. It will be interesting to see where that goes.
“High fat, salt and sugar legislation is also due in Scotland, alongside talks of various other health taxes. We have also got the Budget at the end of the month. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market.”
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