Go into a forecourt store in Northern Ireland and chances are you’ll find a Barista Bar coffee offer inside.
According to Keavy O’Mahony-Truesdale, Barista Bar brand manager at Henderson Retail, Barista Bar is the leading retail coffee-to-go brand in the country, supplying to over 450 stores, of which over 200 have forecourts.
Barista Bar was launched in 2015. Today it is sold in over 800 retail sites across the UK, recently becoming the exclusive retail coffee-to-go offering for Spar Scotland. Wholesaler CJ Lang has reported that the volume of cups sold throughout its company-owned estate has increased by 37.5% since Barista Bar began its roll out in March 2024. And The Grocer recently reported that Barista Bar is on course to become the second biggest coffee brand in the convenience channel in Scotland, by Christmas.
O’Mahony-Truesdale says the product range has developed to include a flat white offering, integrated hot chocolate and larger ‘lux’ size drinks which launched as part of a relaunch in 2020. There are also now Barista Bar Planted machines, offering oat milk, dairy-free frothy coffees at five stores in Northern Ireland. O’Mahony-Truesdale adds that these are fast gaining popularity, so much so that Hendersons is planning to build on that number in 2025. For those sites without Planted, a jug of oat milk is available at every station.
“We produce seasonal specials where possible, offering flavoured syrups etc at counters in-store, alongside the likes of chocolate orange mochas or peppermint hot chocolates and iced drinks at our drive thru and Barista Bar Café. We have recently launched our new Christmas cups for 2024, which follow a magical journey to the North Pole aboard the Espresso Express.”
The first Barista Bar Café opened in Eurospar Fortfield in Carrickfergus in 2018 and will celebrate its sixth birthday next month. It’s an impressive place, indeed it won Best Coffee and Hot Beverage Outlet in the Forecourt Trader Awards two years running, in 2021 and 2022. Just last week it picked up the Best Coffee to Go prize at the NI Food to Go Awards.
“Our first Barista Bar drive thru opened at Spar Mallusk in 2022. This provides even more opportunity for consumers to engage with the brand, all while enjoying quality coffee as it should be. These additions to our retail offering have also boosted sales and footfall for the retail outlets, as both sites are key food-to-go forecourts, with the upweighted Barista Bar offering complementing their additional services,” says O’Mahony-Truesdale.
Barista Bar machines offer americano, cappuccino, latte and flat white coffee in regular, large or lux sizes. Thompsons Tea is also available, alongside hot chocolate and a small number of treats housed next to the drinks’ machine, including rocky road bars and caramel squares.
In Northern Ireland, the regular cappuccino is the top selling drink, accounting for 33% of the overall sales mix.
Barista Bar has had a digital loyalty programme since 2018. At the beginning of this year, the new My Barista Bar Rewards+ app was launched. It is currently available in Northern Ireland only. Shoppers scan their app at the checkout and receive every 10th cup of coffee for free.
“We encourage our customers to be as sustainable as possible, and therefore if they use a reusable cup (Barista Bar-branded ones are available) they will get every fifth cup free. This new digitised operation allows us to communicate even more effectively with our customers, while also enabling 24-hour promotions, such as triple stamps on World Coffee Day, for example.
“As part of our digitalisation we introduced a Rewards+ feature where with each coffee stamp collected on the My Barista Bar Rewards+ App, loyalty members now also collect 1 Reward+ Point per drink. This exciting new feature allows members to build up their Reward+ Points and redeem them for exclusive Barista Bar merchandise and other great offers. We’ve had over 35,000 downloads of the Barista Bar app since its launch in January.”
Any good coffee offer needs to be well maintained. At the time of installation, Henderson provides comprehensive training, ensuring that all staff are fully equipped to clean, restock and maintain Barista Bar coffee stations throughout the day.
“Our machines are designed to be easy to operate, allowing staff to manage the stations with confidence during all periods of trade,” says O’Mahony-Truesdale.
Proudly serving Starbucks
At Top 50 Indie Ascona, they have Starbucks ‘we proudly serve’ on 12 sites with the remainder of the estate having either Costa Express or Smokin Bean (Tchibo).
Richard Law, head of hospitality and food to go at Ascona, says: “We’ve had Starbucks since 2021. We are in the position as a business where we are not restricted by any exclusivity agreements around our vended coffee offer which gives us the ability to work with different partners across different locations.
“Customers are brand led to a certain extent in our market and branded coffee is certainly an expectation. The extent of that loyalty is driven by various factors including location, local demographics and that individual customer mission – is it a distress/convenience purchase or are they specifically choosing a location based on the coffee brand? Costa’s loyalty programme certainly drives customer loyalty.”
Latte is Ascona’s most popular drink across all its coffee offers and the company has recently introduced iced coffees with Costa and Starbucks in a couple of locations.
Some of Ascona’s busier sites can sell upwards of 150 cups a day so ensuring machines are well maintained is key.
“Machine downtime is obviously a critical area of focus for us, making sure our machines are available and working for our customers. Ensuring that you build and maintain strong working relationships with your partners is essential to escalate issues quickly and effectively, getting your equipment up and running as soon as possible.
“Our teams follow dedicated cleaning routines following the brand specifications to ensure both quality is maintained, and downtime is reduced.”
