Bidvest 3663 launches new premium coffee range

Bidvest 3663, one of the UK’s leading foodservice providers, has launched a new premium coffee concept, Beans and Steam, exclusively available to its customers.

The full front of house concept encompasses everything from the coffee itself, to equipment, branded cups and point of sale materials to help customers highlight the quality of their coffee offer.

Beans and Steam provides foodservice operators with a bespoke and flexible way to serve the growing coffee market, which is currently worth £6.2 billion. The coffee beans available include four special blends which are sustainably-sourced and slow-roasted in small batches, to give a rich and intense flavour; Medium Roast, Fairtrade Brazilian Roast, Fairtrade Medium Roast and Dark Roast. Roast and ground coffee is available too.

Various pack sizes are available, allowing  customers to choose a product to suit their venue.  Plus, the decaffeinated coffee comes in individual pods, as Bidvest 3663 knows through its research that there is less demand for decaffeinated coffee, therefore the pods help to maintain the coffee’s freshness and flavour.

Bidvest 3663 has partnered with key equipment suppliers to bring customers an extensive range of reliable and robust coffee-making equipment through Beans and Steam, including traditional espresso machines for venues with skilled baristas on-site, bean to cup machines which work with both fresh and granulated milk powder and filter machines which dispense high quality coffee at the push of a button.

The Beans and Steam coffee concept includes branded disposable cups, as well as point of sale materials  including  menus, table talkers, customisable wall menus, loyalty cards and swing signs that customers can use to bring to life the credentials of their coffee offer to life.

Presentation is everything, with hot beverages as well as with food – especially if customers want to demand a higher price point. By purchasing coffee through Beans and Steam, customers will also have access to a selection of stylish crockery, offering a choice of either rustic and hand-crafted or sleek white.

Research reveals 70% of consumers bought a food item in coffee shops last year, therefore operators need to capitalise on this trend and present their food offer in an appealing and appetising way. The Beans and Steam brochure – available to download from www.3663.co.uk/beansandsteam – includes a selection of bakery items and presentation suggestions, which allow customers to command a higher price point. The brochure also includes syrups for coffee, speciality teas and a range of premium milkshakes.

Catherine Hinchcliff, head of customer marketing at Bidvest 3663 commented:  “We know that coffee and hot beverages play a key role in our customers sales, therefore we wanted to create a whole branded front of house coffee concept which will be as easy as possible for customers to implement, without being ‘locked in’ to expensive franchisee agreements. In addition, customers will be able to order their coffee consumables along with their regular orders so that all items arrive on one delivery and appear on one invoice – saving them valuable time.

“We are a nation of coffee lovers, with discerning taste, therefore we know we need to offer a premium concept, whilst remaining competitively priced. We believe Beans and Steam offers this for our customers.  We’ve carefully selected our coffee partner and are providing four varieties of ethically-sourced, slowly roasted coffee beans and Cafetiere and filter coffee in roast and ground formats; all of which deliver a rich and intensely flavoured coffee for both espressos and milk-based coffee drinks that are so popular in the UK.”

Customers can see – and taste – the Beans and Steam coffee during Bidvest 3663’s winter exhibitions, taking place in depots throughout September and October. Details of the concept and some coffee-making recipes can also be found online at www.3663.co.uk/beansandsteam.