Aoife Wycherley, Bord Bia London

2009 has been a turbulent year for UK food and drink industry. In the year ending September 09, sales of total out of home declined by 2.5%, mainly as a result of decreased traffic, according to NPD Foodservice’s CREST (Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends) data.  It may now come as a surprise this week to hear Alan Parker, Chief Executive, of leisure giant Whitbread announcing he expects 2009/10 financials will exceed City predictions.

Whitbread owns Costa Coffee, Premier Inn and pub restaurants Brewers Fayre, Beefeater and Taybarn. They also announced the acquisition of Polish café chain Coffee heaven in a bid to speed up its expansion in Eastern Europe. Costa Coffee, accounting for just over 20 per cent of group turnover, appears to be the star performer following their aggressive marketing campaign which stated that seven out of ten coffee lovers preferred its cappuccino to Starbucks.

According to Allegra Strategies the UK coffee shop market is far from saturated and as a whole the European branded coffee shop market has grown by 9% this year. Premier Inn, 44% of group turnover, continues to be the worst performing division. Like-for-like sales at the pub restaurant brands were up 2.3 per cent for Q3.  According to Alan Parker “Whitbread’s improving performance is the result of both our action to gain market share and the trend for business and consumers to seek strong value for money brands”