For many coffee shops, takeaway orders play an essential role in increasing profits and brand awareness.
Takeaway options not only offer an additional revenue stream but allow coffee shops to operate beyond the confines of their brick-and-mortar stores.
Notably, recent research reveals curbside and pickup orders for coffee shops have jumped 5,380% in the last three years.
More so, a growing number of consumers are looking for convenient ways to enjoy high-quality specialty coffee.
Therefore, it is important that coffee shops have the equipment needed to cater to high volumes of takeaway orders without risking their sustainability credentials.
Read on to find out how your coffee shop can better cater to takeaway orders.
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Why offer takeaway options?
Increased revenue is just one of the most obvious benefits of offering takeaway options and delivery services.
Food and drink delivery is expected to grow by 5.3% in 2022, providing coffee shops that are tapping into this additional revenue stream a total of £13.3 billion annually.
It is important to note adding takeaway and delivery services may come with some additional costs, such as packaging and driver fees.
However, these can easily be offset by the increased efficiency of your operations. For instance, you could implement an online ordering system to streamline the process.
Customers can place orders and make payments online, eliminating the need for staff to do this manually.
This also reduces the chance of customers standing in long lines, as they need only approach the counter, recite an order number, and collect their purchase.
This, in turn, saves time and allows staff to focus on preparing orders.
Alternatively, you can opt to have a separate area within your coffee shop that is specifically for to-go customers.
Coffee shops with high foot traffic may find this particularly beneficial, as it can help ease workflow.
Additionally, customers who have sat down will not be surrounded by customers waiting to collect takeaway orders.
Therefore, you can have two staff members concentrating on to-go customers, while the rest of the staff engage with customers who are sitting in.
Essential takeaway packaging for coffee shops
Offering takeaway orders will often require you to invest in additional packaging.
It is important to note a 2021 report found 55% of consumers consider plastic packaging to be harmful, while 65% connected the material with ocean pollution.
Therefore, you will want to avoid using plastic packaging or accessories wherever possible. Fortunately, there are several sustainable alternatives, such as recyclable takeaway coffee cups, compostable bags, and biodegradable utensils.
An obvious investment would be takeaway containers for food offerings, which can be made from compostable materials, such as kraft paper or bamboo fibre.
Another essential form of packaging that every coffee shop will find useful is takeaway cup trays. Usually made from recycled cardboard, takeaway cup trays allow consumers to carry up to four cups at a time.
That said, these can come in several shapes and designs.
More traditional designs comprise a square tray design with four slots in which cups can be slotted.
Similar to egg cartons, the slots cradle the bottom of the cup to ensure it does not fall while consumers walk. This is the most common design used across the food and drink industry.
That said, more innovative designs have recently surfaced. For instance, some takeaway cup carriers come with slots for the cups to slip into, and two panels that encase the sides, coming together to form a handle.
The handle allows customers to carry their cups similar to the way they would carry a suitcase.
However, this design is slightly less popular than traditional carrier trays. This is because it may cause the lid of the cup to slip and the coffee to spill.
Coffee shops will also need to invest in takeaway utensils, such as knives, forks, spoons, and stirrers. These are commonly made from plastic for hygienic purposes, as they are single-use.
However, innovations such as bamboo fibre mean more sustainable options are now available.
What to consider when designing packaging for takeaway orders?
Much like on-the-go coffee cups, takeaway orders can act as an additional and free form of marketing for a coffee shop.
A recent report shows at least 60% of US consumers order delivery or takeaway once a week. More so, 53% of consumers say takeaway orders are essential to their lifestyle.
These statistics show both coffee shops and specialty roasters have several opportunities to showcase their brand to a wider number of customers.
Therefore, it is essential that the design of your takeaway packaging accurately reflects the brand of the coffee shop.
More so, it is vital that all adhesives and inks across the packaging are non-toxic and environmentally friendly.
The increased focus on sustainability has seen a number of eco-friendly adhesives enter the packaging industry.
Furthermore, these adhesives may have significant applications in the coffee industry. For example, biodegradable adhesives can be broken down by living organisms and are perfectly suited for biodegradable coffee bags or takeaway packaging.
Additionally, when introducing takeaway services for your business, you need to consider the vessels that hold your drink. When choosing takeaway cups, it is important to make sure that the materials of the cup do not impart new flavours to the drink or affect the coffee flavours.
The cups should fit effortlessly under the group heads to maintain an efficient workflow, while staff should be familiar with which cups go with which drinks.
MTPak Coffee can provide you with sustainable, custom-printed coffee packaging, takeaway coffee cups, cup sleeves, and takeaway packaging made from sustainable materials, such as kraft paper, or PET with a PLA lining.
In addition to being 100% compostable, our cups are strong, waterproof, and lightweight. Our design team is also able to work with you to custom print your takeaway coffee packaging to your specifications.
At MTPak Coffee, we use innovative and eco-friendly digital printing technology with sustainable water-based inks that are low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and are highly resistant to abrasion, heat, and water.
Our range of cups is available in different sizes: 4 oz, 8 oz, 16 oz, 12 oz, and 24 oz. Each one is available to order as either single or double wall, while customisable sleeves are available for all three sizes.
We also offer a range of low minimum order quantity (MOQ) options. This means you can order as few as 500 fully customised units in just five working days.
