Trending: Coffee
Recalling in his famous diary a visit to the Royal Exchange, on a March day in 1661, Samuel Pepys made an interesting note. He had stopped by the Exchange at noon, as he put it, “to see, and be seen”.
Centuries later, London has changed immeasurably. The City, as we now know it, is a very different place. But some tendencies are carved in the eternal stone of a place. London is still about seeing, and being seen; it is still, very much, a city of appearances, of show, of outward identity.
And so this is a truth well understood by the business and brands making it in London today. Certainly by the best coffee shops and cafes, which millions of well-heeled professionals hit every week - to grab a bite and a perk, yes, but also very much to see and be seen. Wherever there are offices for London’s upper-end professionals, there is potential for a hip coffee joint or slick salad bar on the ground floor. They will spend their lunchtime in that queue, if to be seen doing so is a form of kudos in itself. And, in turn, they may transform your office building into the hottest things since a cold pour-over.
PEOPLE
The new big shot
It’s been one of the business stories of the past year. The dramatic turnaround at US-based Blank Street’s UK arm - which almost tripled its turnover in just a year - is also proof of the power and potential of speciality coffee, and what a well-run chain looks like - meaning perfect ops, tech, and scaleability, as much as the perfect latte.
With the company’s global division reportedly in talks to secure $100m for future growth, Blank Street is now a major player with over 40 sites from Clapham to Canary Wharf.
Coffee, cake, and buzz
Despite the British tendency to form orderly queues, the reality is most people hate waiting in long lines. Unless to be seen in a line is to be seen in the right place, with the right people. There’s even been a deep dive into the psychology of queueing; how the “exclusivity” factor creates “little communities” of queuers proud to wait.
And, so it seems, the well-heeled patrons of London’s high end coffee shops and salad bars are just as susceptible to the dopamine rush that comes with joining that line. Just look at Hot Dinners’ take on London’s “perma-queue” cafes.
Caffeine hits
Behind the hype and the maximalist menus, there is a core truth about coffee: it’s a serious business, and more popular than ever.
Stats from Lavazza show that 80% of the UK population visit coffee shops weekly, the UK drinks 98 million cups of coffee a day, and 41% of professionals drink at least three cups of coffee a day.
That’s a lot of cups, and a virtually infinite pot of potential - especially in London - for the coffee sellers who get it right.
PLACES
Times change, habits remain
In Samuel Pepys’ day the Royal Exchange was a place for trading stocks and shares, London’s first purpose-built site for doing so - and being seen to do so. Today, the building is no longer a financial powerhouse, but it is as elegant and ostentatious a place for dining and shopping as you’ll find in London.
And so it is fitting that the capital’s most premium, speciality coffee chains - Rosslyn, Hagen, Laduree, Kiani Tea - have taken some of the few, exclusive spaces behind those grand, august City pillars.
European Champions
Speaking of places getting it right, London has made a strong showing in the ranking of the best coffee shops in Europe, compiled by The World’s Best 100 Coffee Shops.
The capital has three entries in the Top 100 chart: 12th placed Rosslyn Coffee, perhaps the most talked-about chain in London, the Moonstruck Café in Stockwell at number 18, and the chic Fitzrovia favourite, Oma Coffee Roaster, in at number 94.
Image: Rosslyn Coffee
London is on the cutting edge
New trends and innovations are emerging in the coffee world all the time - just take a look at the lineups and talks at this year’s London Coffee Festival, and have a glimpse at what’s coming up next year.
Whether it’s the rise of matcha - which by the way lines up nicely with another trend, wellness - AI and automation, to the huge, ‘maximalist’ menus of foodie treats coffee shops are offering now, London is riding the first waves as ever.
PROPERTY
Salad wars
They serve coffee, but that’s not their chief draw. And quite a draw it is, towards some of London’s hottest salad bars, famous for their FOMO-inducing lunchtime queues.
So much so that a so-called ‘salad war’ has broken out in the capital, between a number of big brands, Salad Project, Salad Kitchen, Atis, Farmer J, and more which - landlords take note - are all rapidly expanding.
Image: Atis
Speciality Specialists
A special mention must go to two brands bringing it all together - buzz, efficiency, and rapid expansion that should pique a property owner’s interest. Founded in 2018, this year is a big one for Rosslyn. Not only did it make it into the aforementioned European ranking, it has just broken into double figures for sites across London. We don’t think they’re stopping there.
Nor is another light on the London scene, WatchHouse, whose arrival at a site near Millennium Bridge in February Hot Dinners described as a highlight in a “week of big coffee wins for the City of London”. WatchHouse was founded in a single site in Bermondsey in 2014, but a steady start has been followed by a rapid expansion across London, with a major presence in and around the City already established.
Coffee, and wellness, in one expanding brand
We love a fusion of trends. So do investors. And so, we think, should property owners looking for a potential rising star. First a word on ‘next big trend’, functional coffee, containing healthy supplements such as collagen, creatin, and protein.
Now meet Reformed, the company sitting right at the “intersection of specialty beverages and functional wellness”, and, with $22 million of fresh private equity investment secured, poised for rapid expansion from its London base.
Image: Reformed
P-THREE SAYS
“Tying all these stories together is a single thread, a concept, that is beginning to define the leisure sector: identity.”
The choice of coffee, or a lunch break salad, is as much to do with what it says about the buyer, as it is the products at the end. Gen Zers want to snap away, professionals want to be seen queuing outside the right places, with the right people, their little community, even if it costs them £14 for a salad at the end of the line. But don’t scoff. This is the age of identity. Get it right, and your property will buzz from the ground floor up.