The specialty coffee and brunch chain is targeting London’s ‘sophisticated coffee drinkers’ with an in-store beverage subscription it says offers better value and quality than competitors
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Yolk operates nine Central London stores serving all-day brunch and specialty coffee from Caravan Coffee | Photo credit: Yolk
London-based specialty coffee and brunch chain Yolk is launching a challenge to in-store beverage subscriptions offered by Pret A Manger and LEON in the UK.
Referencing its competitors directly in press release, Yolk said its BrewClub beverage subscription will cater to London’s ‘sophisticated coffee drinkers’ who are increasingly ‘frustrated at being fobbed off with commodity coffee beans and cheap milk disguised in clever packaging’.
Founded in 2014, Yolk operates nine Central London stores serving all-day brunch and specialty coffee from Caravan Coffee Roasters, which can be paired with organic dairy milk or Oatly.
Citing research that millennials on average spend £60 per-month on out-of-home coffee, Yolk is betting that affluent younger consumers are willing to ringfence spend on higher-quality specialty beverages.
Yolk Brew Club will be available in three pricing tiers from 6 January 2025, starting with a free BasicBrew loyalty scheme offering redeemable points. The £10 ($12.74) per month ClassicBrew scheme offers a 50% discount on all barista-made beverages and double loyalty points on post-2pm orders, while the highest £40 ($50) PremierBrew membership tier enables customers to redeem three barista-made beverages per day with double loyalty points.
The announcement comes six months after premium food-to-go and coffee chain LEON launched Roast Rewards as the ‘most affordable’ in-store coffee subscription on the UK high street, which offers five barista-made beverages a day for £25-a-month ($31.85) alongside a 20% food discount.
While in-store beverage subscriptions can deliver a lucrative and consistent revenue stream for operators, delivery can prove complex, costly and difficult for staff to manage.
Pret A Manger’s in-store beverage subscription has undergone several reinventions since being launched in September 2020. The JAB Holding-backed coffee and food-to-go chain increased the price of the service twice, removed blended beverages and rebranded as Club Pret in 2023 alone.
The following year, Pret sought to crack down on account sharing before scrapping its five-coffees-a-day for £30 ($38.99) offer as part of a significant overhaul of Club Pret, which it said had been “almost too good to be true’”. The current Club Pret model offers subscribers 50% off up to five barista prepared beverages a day for a reduced monthly fee of £10 ($12.74).