More sugar, please!

– Daily coffee is the most characteristic product in catering and consumption habits only changed moderately. People go to bars and cafés less often, but on the other hand demand for coffee specialties increased – says Erika Gyarmati, Mocca Negra Zrt.’s key account manager. Mónika Varga, Sara Lee Hungary Zrt.’s trade marketing specialist agreed that the coffee market oriented towards home consumption. She believes that with a good marketing strategy and the right assortment, plus better service in bars and cafés market trends can be turned around. Gabriella Csvórics, marketing manager of Nestlé Hungária Kft.’s Nespresso division told us that espresso is still the number one coffee in Hungary. Gabriella Varjas, Espresso Kft.’s marketing manager’s view is that consumers are slowly but steadily turning to better quality. Consumers are increasingly conscious and they are craving for specialties; they want to buy products with an added value. Nespresso reacts to this by imposing stricter quality requirements than ever before and by offering more services. Because of the crisis volume sales will not increase significantly in the future and medium quality products are losing market share. One of the most important trends is the spreading of pre-portioned coffee (cartridge, capsule, POD) – after households they started to appear in HORECA as well.

The only problem with these solutions is that they are harmful to the environment, so some companies are already working on developing biologically degradable capsules. The next big thing in the world of coffee will be the entry of low-caffeine coffee. Illy started experimenting with laurinum – a low-caffeine coffee shrub – and they market the yield under the name Idillyium in Italy and the US. Sara Lee’s latest innovations follow two trends: serving the needs of Cafitesse systems and guaranteeing a large variety of flavours with coffee machines like BeMoved. ‘Coffee to go’ is not expected to generate huge sales in Hungary in the near future: coffee remains to be a reference product, one that makes guests stay at a place. At the same time large coffee chains are entering the country (the process focuses exclusively on the capital city). As for coffee machines, professional computer-operated coffee machines are forecasted to step on the scene. Bravos was among the first to appear on the Hungarian market with its automatic POD coffee machines. Nespresso’s machines feature an energy-saving option. Design and cutting edge technology also remain important: in 2010 Nespresso- De’Longhi Lattissima Premium was put on the market. Sara Lee’s BeMoved can be controlled with a touchscreen and offers various exciting functions. This year the company introduced Cafitesse European Dark Roast, a product which pleases the palate of espresso lovers. Nespresso recently refurbished its website, while Espresso Kft. expanded their webshop’s ordering service to HORECA partners too. Bravos tries to keep old and to win new partners by being flexible and reliable, offering top quality products swiftly.