Coffee consumption is booming in bakeries and sandwich shops, with sales increasing 15.4% year on year.1 Committed to providing our partners with the freshest insights and even fresher coffee, we were keen to find out more about this emerging market and discover the trends behind this growth.
To gather the all-important data for our Rise of Bakery Coffee report, we spoke to over 1,000 consumers aged between 18 and 65+ and received over 16,000 responses during a two week period in July 2025. Coffee in hand, we reviewed the responses, crunched the numbers and established what it means for the future of coffee in the bakery and sandwich sector.
We are proud to share a report that provides a detailed analysis of consumer behaviour within these outlets, exploring the factors that really matter when it comes to choosing your favourite bakery, identifying the hottest coffee orders and sharing our top tips for boosting caffeine-fuelled footfall.
As a taste of what you can expect from the full report, here are just some of the must-know insights for success in the sector when it comes to all things coffee.
Quality counts
Whilst it would be easy to overlook coffee as an afterthought in bakery and sandwich shops, our research demonstrates this to be far from the case. A staggering 81% of consumers say the quality of the coffee is a major factor in which bakery outlet they choose, with almost half of consumers (47%) buying coffee from a bakery or sandwich shop at least once a month and one fifth of 25-34-year-olds doing so at least once a week.
However, the quality of the coffee available is key to truly meeting consumer demand, with consumers ranking the quality of both the food and coffee as the two most important considerations when choosing where to visit.
Our research shows younger consumers aged 18-34 are most likely to state coffee quality as the most important consideration and 68% of consumers would recommend a bakery or sandwich shop based on the quality of the coffee alone.
Cold coffee is getting hotter
Amongst 18-24-year-olds, cold coffee is now the most popular coffee order, with 51% ordering iced coffees or frappes when visiting bakery and sandwich shops.
With our research also revealing 75% of 18-24-year-olds spend between £5 and £7 on coffee at a bakery, and 83% of 25-34-year-olds claiming the same, catering to the tastes of the younger demographic by offering iced coffee options, not only boosts purchase frequency but also boosts value spend.
Level up your loyalty
With almost 55% of consumers saying they use a loyalty scheme when buying coffee, the appeal of loyalty cards and apps shouldn’t be overlooked.
When competition is fierce and out of home eating and drinking budgets are being squeezed, consumers want to feel they’re getting good quality products at a fair price from an outlet that values their custom.
Mechanisms such as free drinks after a certain level of spend or number of visits is a great way to drive footfall and reward brand loyalty and operators should consider them as a key driver of consumer engagement and repeat custom.
Brewing success
As consumer expectations around coffee continue to rise across the out of home space, there’s no better time to enlist the help of an expert coffee partner to make sure your coffee is consistently hitting the spot and take advantage of the rising demand for quality coffee in the sector.
Backed by 30 years of knowledge working with the biggest names in high street coffee, independent coffee shops and wider retail hospitality venues, our Rise of Bakery Coffee report has been compiled by our passionate team of coffee experts and category insight specialists. Download it for free here and discover actionable insights to navigate this evolving market and opportunity for growth.
- Worldpanel by Numerator 52 w.e. 15th June 2025 ↩︎
