Krispy Kreme, the new star of takeaway ‘superbrands,’ has also become the first high-street chain name to get involved in plans for Britain’s greatest-ever coffee year.
Krispy Kreme, the coffee-and-doughnuts chain, was a surprise ‘new entry’ into this year’s Superbrand ratings, making the highest entry in the top 500 at number 68.
The brand is now also the first to commit itself to entering its in-house barista champion for the UK Barista Championships, which next year will be followed by the arrival of the World Barista Championship in London.
There is a strategic move, says Krispy Kreme’s Lee Leadbetter – promoting its in-house barista champion to the public will be practical advertising of its high coffee standards. The company now intends to be seen as a ‘destination’ name for good coffee, and has grown its takeaway coffee sales five-fold in the past year.
“We are a doughnut-led operation – but we have always believed in quality coffee made with manual machines, even though we sell it at below the average price. And we don’t serve takeaway coffee in silly sizes – we focus on 8oz and 12oz sizes, which are the ones in which drink quality can be better controlled.
“All our retail teams are enthusiasts, and we’ve been talking about the barista championships for months – now all our people want to get up onstage and show what they can do. Our customers will see our people wearing t-shirts, aprons and badges showing how well they are trained, there will be promotion of the fact that our baristas are competition-standard, and there will be posters asking our customers to rate the Krispy Kreme coffee experience, using reply-paid postcards.
”Our champion will be promoted in front of the public, and will wear a special uniform.”
The Krispy Kreme regional contests will be held during September, with the final at the beginning of October.
The UK barista championships will probably start at the turn of the year; the World barista championship will be held in London next summer.
By Ian Boughton