The trend that has been observed for several years in relation to coffee bars is a progressive specialization in service. The non-specialized activities offering an undifferentiated service – the so called “traditional cafés” – are those recording below average performances, especially within competitive contexts. The bars that are able to meet specific needs, however, are finding better results in terms of customers.
Hence it comes the choice made by many bars to concentrate their activity on a specific moment of consumption, specifically on the one the service records the highest performances. Five moments are generally identified as the busiest ones: breakfast and coffee break, lunch, break, happy hour and after dinner.
According to the latest Rapporto Ristorazione (Fipe, December 2017), the 63.8% of Italians prefer to have breakfast outside the home and over 5 million do it every day, preferring the bar/café and secondly the pastry shop. The interesting fact is that it is mainly young people (24-34 years old) who use to have breakfast outside. Talking about lunch, consumption in 2017 has risen and about 34 million Italians have lunch outside home (during the week) and 12.7 million of them regularly. Passing to dinner, 2.6 million dine out at least three times a week, preferring the pubs/taverns or pizzerias.
Therefore, meals consumed outside home, from breakfast to dinner, are increasing, as it is also the desire to try new types of consumption at any time of the day. For those reasons it’s becoming necessary to invest and adapt the activity to the demand of customers who are looking for new and complete experiences, even in cafés and small bars – a reality that was until recently typically found only in restaurants.
Which moment of consumption is it worth to bet in? It depends by various factors such as the manager’s interest and his objectives, the geographical location of the bar, the neighboring competition, etc. This is a business choice. If your business is just at the beginning or are you thinking about starting a new one, you should immediately make a choice and focus yourself in the moment that strategically interests you more. Otherwise, prepare yourself to the possibility to rethink and re-adaptat your business in order to keep up better with market trends and especially the competitive ones.
Next articles are waiting for you with some insights on each moment of consumption, so follow us!