The growth of the drive-through facility during the pandemic has presented new opportunities for convenience and integrated formats for petrol stations. Minor DKL Food Group CEO Nick Bryden spoke to Convenience World in an exclusive interview about The Coffee Club’s quality food and coffee offer, and the future of the coffee and cafe sector. 
The Coffee Club was launched in 1989 in Brisbane, founded on the principles of good food, great service and excellent coffee, as well as being a place to meet. The company has expanded into 13 countries with more than 420 stores worldwide, with 260 of them in Australia.
As with the whole industry, The Coffee Club did it tough during Covid.
“Through our focus on making our brand relevant, distinctive and easier for customers to connect with, we’ve found that our sales have bounced back pretty well,” Mr Bryden said.
“We’re a business that’s well known for our food offer, and so those sales have been strong. And we’re focused on bringing more sales into our coffee side of the business.”
In March, The Coffee Club launched a major above-the-line TV supported campaign with the platform ‘Coffee is our middle name’ to promote its passion for coffee to the Australian market.
The Coffee Club has a long history of supporting the community, in particular through its partnership with the Queensland Children’s Hospital, and the Telethon Ball. Its franchisees are also highly active in their communities.
“We’ve been able to maintain that support during Covid,” Mr Bryden said. “In 2022, the main focus has been on helping flood-affected areas in the communities where we have Coffee Clubs, and supporting community organisations throughout Australia.”
The Coffee Club has been busy responding to Covid driven changes in consumer behaviour.
“What we certainly have seen is a pivot in the way customers are shopping with us, and to be more focused on convenience-based offers,” Mr Bryden said.
“We were one of the first cafes to launch delivery via Uber Eats. We did that prior to Covid but that certainly grew very fast during that [pandemic] period.”
The Coffee Club also launched a digital loyalty program before the outbreak of Covid, and this has grown considerably over the past few years.
“The main focus in 2022 is to share our coffee obsession through our above-the-line campaign, ‘Coffee is our middle name’,” Mr Bryden said.
Read the interview in full in the May issue of Convenience World.
