With a projected 4.06% CAGR (2022-2027), the global café and bar market is a healthy, fast evolving industry with many areas of opportunity.
Read: May 2023 Issue of Food InfoTech Magazine.
Consumers today want novel or extraordinary experiences that go beyond just eating and drinking — from the music that is playing, choice of drinkware and menu offerings, to the overall theme or ambience of a café or restaurant.
The rising popularity of novelty coffee shop concepts such as pet cafés (and pet-friendly cafés) and themed cafés shows that it is no longer just about the coffee or one type of experience. Add sustainable practices into the mix and you have the sweet spot consumers seek: the complete “taste good, look good, feel good” vibe.
Here are 3 trends to watch that will shape the multi-sensory café experience for consumers.
BLACK IS BACK… WITH A TWIST
In their quest for a healthier lifestyle, consumers aged 25 to 35 are forgoing milk and opting for black coffee. Thanks to innovation in technology, iced black coffee is now more palatable to consumers and as the demand grows, coffee lovers will look for new coffee bean flavours to lift their black coffee experience. Operators can offer this through coffee beans infused with new flavours to provide unique tastes or introduce new preparation techniques that offer customizable options.
The virtual Green Future Café by DaVinci Gourmet deep dives into the world of black coffee with industry insights on new ways to create, prepare and market black coffee to attract consumers with different coffee preferences. For example, visiting the virtual Roastery located at the back of the virtual café will bring you to the Coffee Flavour wheel which gives an in-depth look at both complex and mass market coffee flavours and taste profiles, aimed at giving baristas a helping hand in creating new and exciting combinations.
TEARAPY: THE NON-COFFEE BEVERAGE HIT
Global tea consumption rose 63 billion litres from 2013, hitting 297 billion litres in 2022. Tea and its herbal varieties are a growing opportunity in the space as consumer demand for “calming beverages” and alternative beverages application increases.
Operators can excite consumers with out of the box creations that offer a multi-sensorial experience of “Instagrammable” visuals, delightful aroma and captivating tastes. The Flavour Genius Academy by DaVinci Gourmet was designed to assist baristas, charistas (tea barista), and mixologists with detailed recipes, techniques and pairings. It’s a one-stop resource centre where they can learn about the different variants, procedures, equipment and applications.
ALL-IN-ONE PACKAGE
Menu offerings aside, consumers are also looking for a seamless customer journey when it comes to digital and physical interactions. Automated ordering systems, digital payments, digital menus and AI-powered coffee-making kiosks are changing on-site experiences. While these have become common, it is still important for customers to feel comfortable with the process.
Operators should look beyond just successfully completing an order and focus on creating a multi-sensory dining environment as well. For example, having dedicated staff to assist customers unfamiliar with new technologies can help with the digital transition. Setting the right ambience can also make a big difference to the overall customer journey and the Green Future Café has insights on how to create a multi-sensory dining environment, starting with the Café’s specially curated audio playlist. The site also has tips on how to maximize your layout or operations to create a “healing” space where customers can come in to unwind and enjoy a meditative moment.
The Green Future Café by DaVinci Gourmet is a virtual platform where foodservice operators, restaurant owners, mixologists, baristas and front of house staff can find inspiration and resources on how to run and operate their foodservice businesses. This virtual café which can be accessed anytime, anywhere and offers a 360° immersive learning journey with insightful tips on how to maximize the potential of every area in a café to attract today’s consumers. Specialty beverages brand DaVinci Gourmet products are crafted to create a premium experience for beverages and culinary creators through innovative flavours and quality ingredients.