The Assignment
Keen to increase breakfast sales at Tossed, his chain of healthier eating places, Vincent McKevitt knew he would have to get serious about coffee. He took on the advice of United Coffee and has gone from selling one or two cups across the business a day, to hundreds of cups sold daily and it’s making good business sense.
Our Approach
“I wasn’t really into coffee,” says Vincent, “but when business took off and the working days became longer, I started to drink it like it was going out of fashion! It was then that I realised we’d have to raise our game at Tossed to compete with the other high street coffee offerings. We ran a trial using United Coffee’s Black&White semi-automatic bean-to-cup machines and started selling more coffee than before – people loved it.
“Elaine Higginson, managing director and her team at United
Coffee are passionate about raising standards and have given us the training
and support we need to execute a successful coffee offer. Staff have
had full barista training and are now coffee specialists, proud of the
drinks they are serving.”
United Coffee installed the Black&White machine into Tossed’s
stores. It offers consistently high quality espresso shots at the touch
of a button and has a bypass facility for authentic Americanos. The user-friendly,
cool-touch temperature controlled steam wand allows operators to add barista
style theatre to their offer by hand-finishing drinks.
“Sourcing and quality are important to me, so it’s key we can offer ethical coffee. Along with the machines, we’re using United Coffee’s Triple Certified coffee,” explains Vincent. “It’s certified by Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and holds an Organic accreditation.”
Vincent’s brand is quirky, fun and off-the-wall. As well as introductory coffee offers to help drive sales at his newest store in London’s Mortimer Street, giant murals adorn the walls tempting customers to purchase everything from salads and smoothies, to stews and coffee.
“United Coffee has helped us translate our brand onto our take-away coffee cups which now feature Tossed’s distinctive logo and a colourful creative,” says Vincent. “Without United Coffee’s help we wouldn’t have been able to get this initiative off the ground.”
The Result
Vincent continues: “We’re selling significantly more coffee than before. Along with the launch of our new breakfast toasties, coffee is pulling in the morning trade and we’re building up a loyal customer base.
"Coffee is a habitual purchase and you need to be aggressive to attract the trade and build up custom. We’ve gone from selling coffee in single figures to hundreds of cups a day. It gives a good margin, so this is good news.”
Vincent concludes: “We’ve got the best coffee out there. People love it.”
