Caffe Nero third-quarter UK sales up 10.5%

Caffe Nero has reported a 10.5% increase in sales for its UK business for the three months to 29 February 2024 versus the same period last year. 

The brand expects a strong finish to its financial year. 

At group level, Caffe Nero reported 12.7% year-on-year sales growth during the quarter versus last year.

The company said its performance was built on the strong first half of the financial year, driving year-to-date sales growth at group level of 14.1% versus last year at 10.9%.

Furthermore, the strong third-quarter sales performance was supported by “impressive Christmas trading”, with more than 7.7 million customers served during December and sales of £34.5m. In January, the launch of the honey oat latte helped drive sales of speciality coffee by 2% year on year. 

Business growth

The business said its UK third-quarter sales performance was also underpinned by the sustained growth of Caffe Nero’s new channels business. 

The company said: “The continuing strong partnerships with Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat saw sales through delivery grow 13% year on year, with total sales year to date up 20%. During the same period, the Caffe Nero ‘coffee at home’ business drove sales growth of 55% year on year, fuelled by double-digit sales growth through the brand’s own channels and retail partnerships with Waitrose, Amazon, Ocado and the Ambassador Theatre Group, as well as the successful embedding of the new partnership with Morrisons.” 

Caffe Nero also continued its new store opening programme, opening eight new stores at group level during the quarter, taking the total opened at group level during the financial year to date to 45. In the UK. The group currently operates 1,062 stores across ten countries, with 10,000 employees serving more than 150 million customers a year. 

Managing director, Gerry Ford said: “We saw robust sales during the third quarter of our financial year, which has built on the strong first half performance. Our Christmas sales were particularly pleasing with our stores delivering several record sales weeks during that period. I was also pleased to see the performance of the honey oat latte launch in January. Our delivery and ‘coffee at home’ businesses continue to perform well and with a strong new store opening pipeline in front of us, including our first drive-thru site at Stansted, I think we will have a strong finish to our financial year.” 

Caffe Nero will open its first drive-thru site at Stansted airport this spring, with the opening set to be the “template for further drive-thru stores in the future” for the business. The drive-thru will be 500 yards from the main terminal building on the main road in and out of the airport. With an investment of more than £1.2m, the store has been built from scratch with a bespoke design and further strengthens Caffe Nero’s partnership with the Essex airport, taking the total number of the brand’s sites there to five.

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