Scott Meneilly, CEO of Minor DKL Food Group.
Inside The Coffee Club’s triple concept rollout
The brand recently announced that it had changed its coffee blend after over 35 years.
When The Coffee Club made a major overhaul of the brand, it understood that it would not be without challenges, particularly for long-time customers who value consistency.
For 35 years, the brand delivered absolute consistency, which is one of the most important factors for a franchise brand.
Scott Meneilly, CEO of Minor DKL Food Group, the company behind The Coffee Club, believes that franchising has evolved, and so too must the brand.
“There is a lot of appeal to nuances in the market, and what makes independent coffee shops so special is that they all look different, come with a different personality, there are different items on the menu, and a lot of passion that goes with it. And it’s all those elements that we needed to demonstrate with our business,” Meneilly said.
With this in mind, The Coffee Club started rolling out three new formats for the brand: The Classic, The Community, and The Collection formats.
Meneilly said the idea behind these formats is to help augment the changes they wanted to bring to the brand and not restrict the brand from the growth they are targeting.
The Coffee Club’s original format, The Classic range, is still being retained. These formats are what consumers will typically find in shopping centres. They will have a similar look and feel.
“However, there will still be a lot of differences. They will be different in colour palettes, where and how the logos show up. And the product offering on the fresh food cabinet may be different from one location to another based on local preferences,” Meneilly explained.
The Community format aims to blend into the environment. For example, if the location is bayside, it will have a more beachy tone and design appropriate to the setting. Meneilly said aside from that it will have the same benefits in the franchise system, meaning the new coffee blend, highly trained baristas, and a more curated menu.
Meanwhile, the Collection format is the most elevated out of all the formats. The design is all about showcasing the best of what The Coffee Club has to offer.
In this design, the store becomes the primary focus while the logo is in the background. The Collection format offers a variety of barista-crafted coffees, chef-prepared meals, wines, beers, and cocktails.
To support these changes, The Coffee Club also launched a comprehensive national training programme. National Coffee Trainers have been deployed across Australia, training over 700 team members to ensure they possess the expertise needed to craft the perfect cup of Three Stories coffee, which will become a staple. This has been a huge undertaking that has taken months to achieve but has been pivotal in the success of the rollout.
The new formats will also be rolled out across The Coffee Club’s international locations. Meneilly said a Collection format has already been opened in China, situated at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.
“We're not, we're not about selling coffee. The Coffee Club is who we are, but we create spaces. We create spaces for people to come and meet. We create a place for an individual to go so they feel as though they're part of something, a community, a neighbourhood. But it's creating spaces. That’s what we are doing,” Meneilly said.
