Читать книгу Wake Up and Sell the Coffee! - Martyn Dawes - Страница 14

As well as targeting individual retailers, I also approached larger convenience store chains Spar and Alldays. I had read an article in The Grocer quoting the retail director of Spar:

“Coffee and food to go represent a huge opportunity for UK independents. Cappuccino machines offer a real profit opportunity that require little maintenance. Wawa sells over 2600 cups per day per store and refer to it as liquid gold.”

If ever I needed proof that I was on to something this was it! Wawa was a US convenience store chain and it appeared Spar had spotted the same opportunity I had. They were clearly open to the idea of selling takeaway coffee from their stores.

Within days I had penned a letter to Spar setting out how Coffee Nation was the only company set up to provide a bespoke coffee service exclusively for the c-store market. I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. They called me and on 23 December I was in their offices. Spar, by volume of locations, was actually the largest retailer in the world. There were no nerves though – I couldn’t wait to get in there.

I diligently talked through the Coffee Nation offer and how Spar could basically outsource coffee to us. I painted a picture of how we would make coffee-to-go from the local c-store an everyday part of life for the British public by emphasising quality, speed, value for money and the complementary nature of coffee to other products. By the end of the afternoon he had agreed that we should map out a programme of trials in various stores across the UK and if successful Spar would start rolling-out Coffee Nation across their estate.

Those breakthrough moments are extraordinary in the life of the entrepreneur and are like stepping stones across a pond. I was so excited when I left the Spar offices in Harrow and drove back into London.

On the way out of town to the meeting I had noticed a car dealer called Sparks on the A40 near Shepherd’s Bush, they had a beautiful Aston Martin Virage in the window. On the way home I couldn’t resist popping in and soon I was sitting behind the wheel. The car was not for now, but it made my dream real. I was sure I was going in the right direction.