Caffe Nero has brewed an Espresso Revolution for Britons, now boss has a message for Chancellor

The British have developed a more sophisticated taste in coffee, according to Gerry Ford, the boss of Caffe Nero.

Twenty-eight years ago, when he launched the chain, ‘British people drank instant coffee,’ he says.

‘Many had no idea about espresso, they didn’t have machines in their home. We were one of the first movers and it was hard going.’

It is, says the American-born entrepreneur, ‘somewhat analogous to wines’. Back in the day Brits quaffed Blue Nun or Mateus Rose, but now the supermarket shelves are replete with Riojas and Rieslings.

Ford, 67, is tapping in to his customers’ more refined palate with ‘single origin’ coffee, currently from Finca La Arboleda in Colombia. Unlike a blend, where the beans are a mix from all over the world, single origin is one crop from one farm. La Arboleda has been owned and run by the same family since the 1950s.

The next single origin coffee will be from Brazil, then one from Kenya in the autumn.

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‘They cost a bit more because you are buying a higher quality bean,’ says Ford. ‘We have relationships with farmers and we sometimes even buy [the whole crop from] a hill so we can get a pretty good price.’

Caffe Nero has gone from a start-up to the largest independent coffee house chain in Europe, with 1,100 stores in 11 countries, including 700 in the UK. Sales in the UK for the first half of last year rose by 11.4 per cent to £185.4 million and sales hit a record over Christmas. The cost-of-living crisis has not dampened people’s willingness to pay £3.65 for a latte or £3.30 for a cortado, it seems.

‘It is a small treat in what might be a difficult world, with a new government and lots of uncertainty. It is a ritual and a routine.

‘There aren’t that many places where you can spend between £2.50 and £5 and sit there for a while. In today’s world of inflation, it is still a good bargain.’

Coffee prices are ‘extremely high right now’ on the commodity market, Ford says. Production has been affected by the weather, but also by ‘uncertainty in the world which feeds through to commodity prices’.

At the moment, he says, Caffe Nero’s strategy is to wait to see if the increase is sustained in the hope he will not have to hike prices for customers. ‘If it doesn’t come down, we will have to put prices up. At this stage, we don’t know.’

Speaking of uncertainty in the world, Ford, as an American, was able to vote in the presidential election. He declines to say whether he backed Donald Trump, whom he has never met.

Caffe Nero has 43 stores in the US, all of them on the east coast. Ford says: ‘There is a feeling of uncertainty and confusion. Where the tariffs end up, nobody knows.’

Does it affect his expansion plans in the US? ‘Not really. We are trading well. We opened one in Boston and there is another in construction on Rhode Island.’

He is forging ahead with plans to open around 90 stores a year, half in the UK and half overseas.

Turkey, which has been no stranger to political controversy under President Erdogan, is the second biggest market after the UK, with around 112 stores. Ford says: ‘Turkish coffee is not the national drink, Turkish tea is. It is reddish and very nice. But you find most people under about 40 drink espresso-based coffee.’

Caffe Nero employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, many of them under 30.

Ford argues Chancellor Rachel Reeves should encourage businesses to hire young staff. ‘Giving them opportunities is the way forward to get the country at optimum productivity. I am a big advocate of encouraging jobs.’

He points to Caffe Nero’s ‘pipeline’, where the company takes on youngsters as a barista and encourages them to work their way up to be a manager. He says: ‘Around 85-90 per cent of store managers have come through this pipeline. It is like a school in running a small business.’

Tackling the problem of young people not in employment, education or training is ‘very much an opportunity’ for firms like his, he says. ‘We have a big celebration when they become a store manager. These are all our own people. This works. The Government should encourage more small businesses to enable them to employ young people.’

Reeves, who in October introduced a battery of measures affecting employers including an increase in National Insurance Contributions, ‘could have had a more business-friendly budget’, he says. Her critics would see that as an understatement.