Warrens Bakery is upgrading its beverage offering having named Cardiff-based Bridge Coffee Roasters as its new artisan coffee supplier.
The business has selected the medium hand roasted Wild Meadow blend for customers at its 47 stores across the UK. Sourced from Costa Rica and Ethiopia, the coffee has notes of jasmine, stone fruits, and cocoa with a ‘sweet, clean finish’, and is roasted by the family-owned wholesale coffee firm.
Craig Wood, assistant retail director at Warrens Bakery described it as “exceptional tasting, responsibly sourced artisan coffee”. Warrens will use the beans to serve up iced and hot coffees, such as lattes, Americanos, and flat whites, at its stores across and beyond the south west, from Penzance, Falmouth, Truro and Taunton, and at railway stations in Cardiff, Bath Spa, Basingstoke and Slough.
“It’s a pleasure to be partnered with Warrens Bakery, a company with an incredible heritage and reputation who recognise that the coffee market continues to grow and innovate,” said James Legg, business development manager at Bridge Coffee Roasters. “We’re confident that Warrens will become even more widely recognised for their in-cup excellence and ethical sourcing. This is a hugely exciting journey for Bridge, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership.”
Established in 1860 and proclaiming to be the oldest Cornish pasty maker in the world, Warrens has undergone a strategic alignment over the past couple of years as it looked to place greater emphasis on institutional and travel locations. This resulted in a 6% increase in year-on-year turnover, although its profits were impacted by higher overheads, particularly wage inflation.
Coffee is becoming an area of increasing importance for bakery businesses, particularly those operating in the out of home or grab-and-go space. Retailer M&S, for example, recently unveiled a Coffee Bakery concept in its Food stores featuring a large in-store bakery offering complete with coffee offering.
A recent report by bakery supplier Délifrance, titled ‘A bitesize guide to coffee shops’, found that coffee shops and bakery cafes are increasing in popularity with almost one in 10 UK consumers visiting them every day and more than half (58%) popping in once a week.
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