As the Irish coffee culture continues to boom we see a larger portion of Irish consumers visiting coffee shops, cafés and sandwich shops, with international brands such as McDonald’s McCafé and Starbucks proving most popular among Irish consumers. However, we find that as more consumers visit coffee shops and sandwich shops they are being hit by the extra expense – perhaps deterring more regular visits. This in turn, is causing these establishments to seek a greater pull to make consumers visit more regularly.
This report examines the coffee shop, café and sandwich shop sector in Ireland and highlights the types of coffee/sandwich shops that Irish consumers are visiting, their reasons for visiting these establishments, consumer attitudes towards coffee shops and sandwich shops as well as gauging consumer interest in new products and services for buying coffee out of the home.
Key themes of the report
What types of coffee shops, cafés and sandwich shops are consumers visiting? - Where are consumers going for their coffee and lunch time fix? Are international brands dominating this market? How often are consumers actually visiting coffee shops and for what reason?
How is the current economic situation impacting the market? - With improving macro-economic indicators such as GDP boosting consumer confidence, how does this translate into the coffee and sandwich shop market?
Which products and services attract customers to coffee shops and sandwich shops? With price still the most influencing factor for coffee shops and sandwich shops, what are some of the trends making customers more frequent visitors? What are some of the products and services which could be offered to encourage more footfall?
What does the future hold for the Irish coffee shop and sandwich shop market? Will international brands (eg Starbucks and Costa) continue to dominate the market in the years to come or will non-specialist brands such as service station concessions (eg Streat), bakeries and fast food chains (eg McDonald’s) eat into the market?
Other Mintel reports of relevance include:
Coffee – Ireland, December 2013
Coffee – UK, December 2014
Foodservice – Ireland, May 2014
Food to Go - Opportunities for Lunchtime Trade– Ireland, June 2014
Forecourt and Convenience Retailing – Ireland, June 2015
Innovations in Beer – Ireland, June 2015
Social Networking – Ireland, May 2015
Definition
This report examines the coffee shop, sandwich shop and café market in NI and RoI, looking at both independent coffee/sandwich shops and also international (eg Starbucks, Subway) and domestic (eg Insomnia, O’Brien’s) coffee/sandwich shop chains.
This report covers those foodservice establishments where coffee and sandwiches are the primary sales item. Included are those establishments offering a wide variety of hot drinks such as teas and coffee drinks, eg cappuccino, latte, mocha etc and sandwiches which consist of bread (pan bread, pitta bread, wrap, ciabatta etc) with a filling of cooked meat eg ham and/or salad which is eaten as a light meal.
Other items are usually on sale at these establishments, such as pastries, desserts, snacks, fruit, other soft drinks and smoothie/juice beverages etc. However, the food and drink offered in each of these establishments may be selective.
Coffee shops and sandwich shops include venues such as individual stores, bakeries, kiosks and concessions. These may operate in a number of locations – motorway service areas (MSAs), department stores and hospitals, for example, as well as standalone outlets. However, they must be independent of the facility they are located in.
Data sources
For the purpose of this report, Mintel has used exclusive online research to examine the café, coffee shop and sandwich shop market in IoI. This report examines where Irish consumers go for hot drinks, snacks and sandwiches and the frequency of their visits. The report also discusses the reasons for visiting coffee and sandwich shops as well as consumer attitudes towards coffee shops and the new products and service developments which Irish consumers would be interested in. The research was carried out by Toluna on behalf of Mintel in May 2015.
A total of 650 internet users aged 16+ in NI and 1,350 internet users aged 16+ in RoI were asked the following questions:
“Which of the following types of shops/cafes have you visited in the last 3 months?”
“You’ve said that you’ve visited a coffee shop or sandwich shop in the last 3 months.
How often do you visit these either to sit-in or takeaway?”
“Thinking about visiting coffee shops/sandwich shops, for which, if any, of the following reasons have you done so, in the last 3 months?”
“Still thinking about coffee shops and sandwich shops, which of the following statements, if any, do you agree with?”
“Thinking about buying hot drinks and sandwiches out of home, which of the following, if any, would you be interested in using if available?”
The results from this survey are discussed in The Consumer sections of this report.
Please note that the results presented in The Consumer sections of this report relate to the usage and habits of Irish internet users only, and do not account for the behaviours of non-internet users. Eurostat (January 2015) highlights that 80% of RoI consumers have used the internet in the last 12 months, while the Office for National Statistics (May 2014) highlights that 79% of NI consumers have used the internet.
In compiling this report, Mintel has gathered data from separate NI and RoI sources (eg NISRA,
CSO). In some cases, therefore, it has not been possible to provide comparable data for each region.
For the purpose of this report:
IoI refers to the island of Ireland.
NI refers to Northern Ireland.
RoI refers to the Republic of Ireland.
Therefore, ‘Irish consumers’ refers to both NI and RoI consumers.
