The Nottingham-based coffee roaster and café chain says all areas of its business grew over the last 12 months and has outlined plans to further develop its e-commerce and wholesale channels in 2023
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200 Degrees currently operates seven barista schools across the UK | Photo credit: 200 Degrees
200 Degrees is seeking to double its e-commerce sales and boosts its wholesale channel by 35% following a strong end to 2022.
Stephen Fern, who was promoted to Managing Director of 200 Degrees in January 2023, said all areas of the business performed well last year, led by growth in the company’s online and wholesale channels.
200 Degrees is targeting further improvements across its e-commerce, wholesale and barista school operations throughout 2023, which will enable the coffee chain to further diversify its offering.
The company currently operates seven barista schools, although Fern said he plans to incorporate the training programmes in 30% of 200 Degrees outlets moving forward.
Founded as a roastery in 2012 and opening its first coffee shop in 2014, 200 Degrees achieved steady growth in 2022, opening its 18th outlet in the UK and reaching the milestone of employing 200 staff.
Speaking to Propel, Fern said like-for-like sales rose 25% in December 2022, despite train strikes across the UK negatively impacting in-store footfall.
“In December we were 25% up like-for-like on last year. We felt the impact of the rail strikes as two of our shops are next to the train stations, and we usually see a drop of 30% when there’s a rail strike – so to still be 25% up on last year is fantastic,” he said.
Fern, who previously served as Financial Director at 200 Degrees, has been tasked with overseeing the company’s operations and growth plans.
The company plans to finalise its 19th outlet in the second quarter of 2023, with further stores slated to open in 2024. Fern said 200 Degrees will continue to focus on its current northwest, Yorkshire, and Midlands regions, where there is ‘plenty of opportunity’ and strong ‘brand recognition’.
World Coffee Portal data shows the £4.9bn ($6bn) UK branded coffee shop market defied a tough trading environment over the last 12 months to achieve 11.9% and 4.4% sales and outlet growth respectively.
Project Café UK 2022 forecasts the market will surpass 10,200 outlets in 2024 and exceed 11,600 stores by January 2028. Sales are expected to exceed £6.4bn ($7.8bn) by 2028, representing growth of 5.6% CAGR.