A report has estimated that the UK sandwich and coffee shop market has grown by 34.9% in market value from 2009 to 2013.
The Key Note Report hailed the sector’s success in the face of a recession, and attributed the growth to several factors. They stated that coffee had become a more integral part of UK culture, in which people will plan meetings around a coffee shop instead of a pub, as they might have done before.
It also cited the popularity of sandwich products and the increasingly diverse range of sandwich alternatives as appealing to customer demand.
The report gave a market value of 6.27bn in 2013, compared to 4.65bn in 2009. It has also estimated a 22.4% rise in the volume of UK stores within this time period, resulting in an additional 2,950 coffee and sandwich shops opening in the UK.
Another factor found by the study to be aiding the market was the increase in commuters who, in turn, use shops that are conveniently located at railways and travel hubs.
The Department for Transport (DfT) recorded that 52% of all rail journeys are for business purposes, so shops can target commuters who need to make a quick purchase. However, such a reliance on commuter business means that shops are affected by employment trends.
It found that Costa was the largest coffee shop company in terms of the number of stores, with 1,755 outlets, dwarfing competitor Starbucks. Meanwhile, Greggs and Subway were the largest sandwich shop chains in terms of the number of outlets in the UK, with around 1,671 and 1,814, respectively.
The report subdivides the market into two sectors - coffee shops and sandwich shops- with particular focus on the five-year period between 2009 and 2013.
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