Scott Waddington, the chief executive of SA Brain, has told M&C Report pubs can learn lessons from coffee shops on how to entice customers back from the off-trade.
The Welsh brewer and pub operator last week opened its 50th Coffee#1 store and has plans to double that tally by 2020.
Waddington said expansion on the pub side would be considerably less aggressive with the focus on investing in the existing estate and picking up the occasional site when the opportunity arises.
He said the twin trading models gave Brains a “balanced business” because they flourished in opposing day parts and weather conditions.
He said there were many other benefits of the firm’s foray into hot drinks adding: “There is a lot pubs can take from the sort of dedication and focus on serve that is commonplace in coffee. A pint and a cup of coffee are not a dissimilar price and both are readily available for people to drink at home. But with coffee shops there is a real focus on the artistry of the serve and customers are willing to pay extra for that. Pubs and cask ale in general should be doing the same.”
Waddington said there were still “infill opportunities” for the pubs business in south Wales but that soaring property prices in the rest of the UK made expansion difficult.
He said: “We have done a lot of work on the key templates and how we evolve those and we have a new operations team in place.
“We are very much focussed on investing in the estate and doing what we do better. We have acquired the odd site, but our acquisitions in pubs have slowed down a bit.
“We haven’t seen as many good opportunities on the pub side.”
Waddington told M&C Report last week that he was “watching with interest” how Starbucks and Pret A Manger fare with their evening concepts before deciding if Coffee#1 will follow suit.
