As the dessert café brand gears up to reach the 300-store mark, Creams Café is fixated on driving innovation, whilst maintaining a reasonably priced offer, CEO Everett Fieldgate tells MCA.
The West London-born company now operates around 100 stores across the UK and this year signed a national franchise agreement with Tesco, after confirming the first kiosk sites to open under a new partnership with Park Garage Group.
Bringing on board Simran Sablok as CMO in April, the business has developed innovation as a “maniacal focus”, being careful not to fall into the trap of “innovation for innovation’s sake”, says Fieldgate.
Launching two nostalgia-inspired summer ranges, followed up with its Winter Warmers program, the brand’s most recent release - the Santastic Christmas range features limited-edition Christmas desserts and Winter Spice Gelato.
“The Winter Warmers program is really unique in the dessert industry at the moment, offering warm desserts during the winter months.
“I think that what we’ve been able to do is really elevate our innovation platform and that has really been a huge focus from us and will continue to be.”
Fieldgate says a high-quality image is coming from a combination of this creativity, alongside a core emphasis on customer experience.
“I am reticent to use the word premium because it implies a higher price and one of the things that I’ve been focused on is ensuring that the price is affordable.
“But I think that feeling is coming from the customer experience.
“If that is manifesting itself in a perception of higher-quality and premiumisation – that is fantastic.”
Guest experience is a part of the business that is magnified, says Fieldgate, due to its nature of having a treat-based offering.
“We are not functional food in any way whatsoever.
“When you come into Creams, you’re looking for a treat, whether that be the food or the experience that you’re about to have and we need to deliver on both of those”,
‘Young at heart’
Joining the dessert revolution in 2008, the Creams’ offering is designed for the “young at heart.”
“You can sit here and talk about millennials, and Gen-Z. But for me, anybody can have a sweet craving”
However, a move towards lower alcohol consumption among the under-25 age group has had an impact, says Fieldgate.
“That therefore means that there is an evening opportunity for businesses like ours, without a doubt.”
“We tap into that very well, in the context of being a place that has been designed exclusively around, people getting together and spreading a little bit of joy.
A recently launched range of bubble teas and renewed focus on coffee, cakes and pastries has played into satisfying this demand across day parts, including the morning trade.
“Very early on in my tenure with the business, I noticed that we were a 2pm until 2am business.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that if you drive that day part a little bit further, you can improve profitability.”
Unique challenges
Alongside shared industry challenges: inflation, reduced discretionary spending and workforce retention, Fieldgate says Creams faces its own specific challenges.
“The issue that is unique to us is the plagiarism that we experience as a market leader.
“There are times that you walk up to stores and think ’hang on, I don’t remember us having a store in X’, and it just looks the same as ours.”
“It’s not just on the look and feel, it’s actually around the product range and innovation as well.
The CEO says the best way to deal with this, is “being known for fantastic desserts that you can’t get anywhere else.
“That is absolutely critical in driving that USP, and brand perception forward”.
Fieldgate says that the ultimate ambition is to create “a brand and experience that our customers love.”
“That sounds like a fairly broad comment, but it’s the outcome of that that allows us to make our business goals.
“If our customers aren’t in love with what we do, and we don’t drive that profitability at store level, we don’t grow.
In terms of expansion, Creams has plans to reach 300 stores in the UK in the next five years, with ambitions to grow internationally in Asia and the GCC.
