Turning coffee into a growth driver for a global food services leader
Posted by | Fuld & Company
Introduction
A global leader in food services and facilities management serving nearly 100 million consumers daily across multiple sectors, faced high fragmentation and competition in the coffee category. Further, their coffee quality varied across sites, supplier partnerships were rigid, and POS data was under-utilized. The company required a competitive analysis in food service, focused on coffee, and a clear fact base for reshaping their global strategy.
Objective
The client’s goal was not simply to expand its coffee offer, but to understand how competitors were turning coffee into a core part of the customer experience. Specifically, they sought to:
- Develop a differentiated coffee strategy that could scale globally
- Gain clarity on how coffee is positioned as both a quality product and a service-led experience
- Benchmark competitor strategies across brand portfolios
- Provide the leadership team with a roadmap to improve quality, increase flexibility, and better align with consumer expectations around wellness and sustainability
Solution
To build a reliable fact base, Fuld combined primary and secondary research across three markets: the US, UK, and France.
- Internal interviews were conducted with senior leaders across strategy, operations, and regional management to understand how the company itself viewed coffee and where stakeholders saw gaps.
- 14 expert interviews were then conducted with former executives from five leading competitors. These discussions explored how rivals were structuring and activating their coffee strategy, from market positioning to service delivery.
- In parallel, a multi-market coffee market analysis was carried out, using subscription databases and open sources to validate and enrich the findings.
This approach ensured that the insights were grounded in competitor reality rather than assumption.
Analysis
The findings showed clear contrasts between the client’s approach and that of its competitors, including:
- Positioning: While the client treated coffee as a secondary offer, competitors positioned it as a core engagement driver that shaped brand perception
- Flexibility: Others avoided a one-size-fits-all model, instead tailoring menus, pricing, and partnerships to different sectors and regions
The study also highlighted key coffee industry trends, from wellness-driven menus to flexible partnerships that support sustainability goals.
Outcome
A detailed benchmarking deck and executive summary for senior leadership was produced for the client. Fuld delivered a phased roadmap that showed how to reposition coffee as both a quality product and a branded experience:
- Build capability: roll out barista training to establish company-wide standards
- Design the offer: create distinct core and premium tiers; align sourcing and partnership strategies with sector needs
- Execute by geography: use POS data to tailor menus and pricing locally while ensuring service consistency at scale
Impact
The project gave the client a defensible fact base and a clear set of choices for shaping its coffee strategy. It reframed coffee as central to customer experience rather than as a secondary product. By focusing on quality and the full experience, the company is positioning itself to compete more effectively in a market where expectations are rising quickly.
Tags: Business & Industry Research, Competitive Strategy, competitive strategy consulting, Consumer Products & Retail
