Cost-Per-Cup: that’s what it all boils down to when you’re vending coffee and here’s case in point focused on Lyons Signature
Bluebell Wholesale is a vending operator / wholesaler, based in Pershore, Worcestershire. They switched to Lyons Signature Freeze Dried Coffee around 18 months ago and since then, they’ve never looked back. Owner Bob Watson describes Lyons Signature as ‘a lovely coffee that works really well for us.’
The company has a lot of educational sites within its portfolio, in which customers are largely young people with no preconceptions, so Bob was able to move away from his previous brand without experiencing consumer resistance.
So, what was it that made him make the leap? ‘Well, he believed in me and what I was saying to him but in all fairness, he was driven by price’, says What Price Solutions’ Clive Evans. (Main Picture). ‘Bob is of the ‘old school’. His first question to me was, ’well, how much will I save? What’s the Cost Per Cup?
‘So we went through it all. Lyons Signature is known in the business as, ‘a coffee with a lot of character’, because it’s not bland; it has real strength in its taste. We went through the numbers and because of the strength of the coffee, Bob was able to produce a high quality, flavoursome drink with a very cost effective gram dosage. That meant he had achieved a great Cost Per Cup. It’s an old story in vending and once again, the maths demonstrated that a cheaper cost-per-case might actually be a false economy…
‘With many coffees out there – and especially with Colombians – you need to put more coffee into each cup to get an acceptable drink’, Clive said. ‘Lyons Signature Freeze Dried coffee can produce a very competitive and cost effective cup of coffee yet still maintain all the flavour and characteristics which you would expect from the Lyons brand’
Cost-Per-Cup: It’s the old Fairy Liquid argument
‘Like I say, it’s old school’, Clive says. ‘Never mind your case cost, what’s your Cost-Per-Cup? It’s the old Fairy Liquid argument that we all grew up with on TV and it holds true here with Cost Per Cup. It makes choosing Lyons Signature over other brands a very, very cost-effective strategy. Think about it: even if the difference is just 1/2p per cup, the savings you can make when you’re selling thousands of cups can run into hundreds of pounds. That’s exactly how it’s worked out for Bluebell Wholesale.’
‘Operators who’ve been around understand that immediately’, Clive said, ‘but there was a time less experienced operators couldn’t see beyond case cost. You have to think ‘Cost Per Cup’, because when you get right down to it, ‘yield’ is the secret of success.’
* Clive Evans was talking to Ian Reynolds-Young at Vendex Leeds.
More on Lyons Signature Coffee HERE
More on What Price Associates HERE
