Constant evolution is the key to The Coffee Club’s ongoing growth.
The recipe for the perfect coffee franchise? Take excellence in service, a commitment to staff training and strong branding - and mix in more than 200 passionate franchisees. The result is The Coffee Club.
In 20 years, the business has grown from strength to strength, with 250 stores operating across Australia and New Zealand now and another 250 on the agenda.
Co-founder and director Emmanuel Drivas told Inside Retailing constant evolution and keeping up with market changes was one of the keys to The Coffee Club’s successful and continued growth.
The first The Coffee Club outlet opened at Eagle St Pier, Brisbane in 1989. Franchising was a natural progression to keep up with the growth the business was achieving and the number of enquiries about store ownership.
“The industry was very new to us at the time, and we had a lot of learning to do, but it happened by accident. There was no business plan to achieve X amount of stores in X amount of years. The timing was very good for us with Brisbane starting a regeneration of outdoor dining facilities and Expo ‘88 got people out and about so we got on the back of that,” Drivas said of The Coffee Club’s humble beginnings.
The chain has a combination of semi-counter service kiosk style outlets, as well as full service restaurant and bars. There are stores in every Australian state, and 25 in New Zealand.
“We’ve changed with the market. If you have a look at the original stores, we just had light snacks and coffee, but we gave the market what they wanted by adding more items to our menu and giving better service, which was what they had asked for.”
Service is a major focus for The Coffee Club, with training a key element of keeping service quality high. This service ethos is carried through by all of The Coffee Club’s franchisees, who each year vie for the title of The Coffee Club Franchisee of the Year and undergo training courses including service and barista skills.
Barry Lane, owner of three The Coffee Club outlets in Queensland and Franchisee of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2008, said The Coffee Club had a market niche which was very attractive.
“Nobody does service like we do in the casual manner. We pay attention to service and look for the wow factor, we do whatever we can to enhance the experience. We’re here to delight guests,” he said.
Lane runs the three stores along with his wife Jenny and four daughters who are also business partners, and has been involved with The Coffee Club for seven years. He said one of the reasons he chose The Coffee Club system was having met Drivas several years prior to going into business, he was impressed with the way he operated in a very straight forward, honest manner.
“I chose The Coffee Club because the model suited what I was looking for, which is casual dining. What I like about it is that I can go up to any table and ask people how they are, how their meals are and if we are looking after them. Customers can’t get enough of it.
“The best way to describe it is relaxed casual dining in a fast paced, professional establishment,” Lane said.
The Coffee Club is overseen by three directors - founders Drivas and Emmanuel Kokoris and John Lazarou. All three are completely involved in the operations of the business and are passionate about The Coffee Club.
“I think we’re all just a little bit more passionate about what we do than our competitors. Our success comes down to good service and passion. It’s as simple as that,” Drivas explained.
“What you put in is what you get out of it, and we are totally dedicated to what we do and believe in it.”
In the past six months comparable growth has increased by four per cent for the chain - no mean feat in an economy on the brink of recession.
Drivas says the business has felt no impact from the unstable financial environment, and does not expect to. In terms of challenges, he named staffing and maintaining service levels as culprits.
“Our staff are very transient - the majority are students working their way through university, so we ensure that they are always going through training. We have specialty training programs and we’ll be focusing even more on service training in the coming months.
“When there is a recession out there customers expect something extra, usually a discount. I believe if you discount a product someone has to pay for it in the end, so we’ll try and add value through good service to keep them coming back.”
The Coffee Club is currently conducting its annual menu review, a process which requires feedback from and collaboration with franchisees. The group’s master chef takes feedback from franchisee workgroups across Australia before collating the results and presenting new menu recommendations. Approximately 10 items change on the menu each review, with a core of around 10 popular items which remain constant.
“We’re dealing with a variety of people as franchisees and you have to treat them as though they are your own customer. It’s a partnership. You need to have communication and listen to their needs, which is something we are good at.
“At the end of the day, the franchisees are the ones that are listening to the end customers, the person who comes to buy a cup of coffee, so without the franchisees, we don’t know what’s going on.”
Branding is an important component of The Coffee Club recipe, with head office responsible for ongoing advertising and marketing. The company has based itself around the slogan “where will I meet you”, which is carried across all marketing materials and provides the opportunity for the brand to portray itself as the ultimate meeting point.
“Whether we like it or not, we are all brand shoppers and people seem to be attracted to our brand. Being part of a large brand like The Coffee Club offers security to franchises.
“We’re there to assist our franchisees with any part of their business, be it marketing, financials, operations or training. We’re basically a second eye for them.”
This feature first appeared in Inside Retailing Magazine.Click here to subscribe.