Cibo strengthens the brand with innovations inspired by old traditions
The brand shares its growth plans with QSR Media.
A major focus for Cibo at the moment is product innovation. Merissa Collins, General Manager of Cibo Espresso told QSR Media that this effort is heavily centered around authentic home-style Italian food, freshly prepared like Nonna (grandmother in Italian) use to make.
"We’ve been revitalising our menu with some delicious Italian delicacies, like the zeppole – which is a traditional Italian-style doughnut lightly fried and sprinkled in cinnamon sugar. They’re traditionally made for the festival of St. Joseph in Sicily but are popular throughout all of Italy and have also proven to be a sneaky indulgence product in our Aussie cafes when people are looking for a little something naughty with their coffee."
In addition, she noted that the brand has also spent considerable time reinvigorating the look and feel of both its new and refurbished stores, bringing a freshness to the familiar CIBO Espresso environment.
Cibo recently introduced baking on-site. "We have been able to bake authentic Italian pastries and Danishes in-store and our customers are loving the smell of freshly-baked products when they walk through the doors. It has resulted in a solid spike in our average transaction value and has lead the way to making us a tenant of choice for landlords looking for authenticity and freshness," said Collins.
"Feedback from our customers and franchise partners has been overwhelmingly positive and we are excited to continue to evolve this to suit the individual character and nuances of each site," she added.
LOOKING FORWARD
According to Collins, Cibo wants to take what it has done in South Australia and replicate the same success in other parts of the country.
"We’re already seeing incredible growth and in 2014 we opened two new state markets being Western Australian and Victoria. CIBO is now operating in SA, WA, VIC, NSW and QLD."
"Finding sites for the number of franchisee applications that are coming through has been a real challenge," she said. "We’ve had such a surge in interest in the brand that it’s been difficult to keep up. We’ve also been heavily focused on expanding our supply chain to manage the sudden growth of the brand around the country."
"When we were a single-state operation, it was a much simpler logistical solution but now that we’ve moved into five states, the challenge is much bigger and we need to ensure we have the national operational capacity to support the business as it grows."
Adding, "there’s a huge opportunity for a strong brand to claim leadership in the café space and we believe CIBO has the ability to become that powerhouse brand with the backing of Retail Zoo."
To assist their efforts, the brand has brought on a lot of new talent to the team, both in the Support Office as well as its in-field team.
"The first of our new team was our Marketing Manager, who we feel is undoubtedly the perfect fit to cement the brand and scale the operations to make it a truly national business. With Jodi Murray-Freedman’s mix of agency and franchise experience, our stores will reap the benefits in the future of having a consistent approach that helps to redefine the brand for the next phase of growth," said Collins.
"Joining Jodi are new members to our store design team, our field operations team and our product development team. As CIBO continues to grow in strength and size, so too does our support structure."
