Star deal with Kimbo ‘will finally allow pubs to take on high street coffee chains’

Star says the deal is unique within the pub sector in that it guarantees credit for Star lessees with ongoing support and the ability to terminate the agreement without penalties rather than the obligation to sign long-term contracts.

Lessees will have access to a range of free on loan machines suited to different types of operation from small to barista models along with a choice of coffee beans and capsules. They will also have access to merchandising, helping to distinguish their offer them from their local competition.

Chris Jowsey, trading director of Star Pubs & Bars, said: “We are always looking to improve the support we and our third party suppliers provide our lessees.  Coffee is an increasingly important revenue stream for pubs with excellent profit margins of 80/90%. We want all our pubs to offer real coffee.  To gain a meaningful share of the coffee market pubs need to compete with a premium offer, necessitating good machines and great coffee at affordable prices.

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“Licensees have been stuck between a rock and a hard place with coffee suppliers until now, having to tie up a lot of capital to invest in buying a machine outright that they won’t get back for some time or run the risk of committing to an onerous contract that may not work for them.  The deal with Kimbo is groundbreaking and changes the dynamic of coffee supply in the leased pub and licensed sector. Our lessees recognise the value of this deal with 150 already expressing interest and we’ve only just started to tell them about it”

Angus McKenzie, managing director of Kimbo UK said: “Kimbo is delighted to have been chosen by Star Pubs & Bars as their preferred coffee partner for the UK market and proud to build on our long-term relationship with the Heineken Group in Europe.  We are committed to funding a long term machine investment programme on behalf of Star Pubs and Bars lessees, thereby removing the barriers that in the past have prevented lessees from challenging the high street coffee chains for a share of this ever growing market.

“Pubs already sell in excess of 3.6m cups of coffee a week. We expect this number to increase exponentially in the coming years as pubs are at the centre of their communities and many have free parking and Wi-Fi.  With the coffee shop chains looking to their potential for alcohol licences, our partnership with Star Pubs and Bars could not have come at a better time strategically for licensees, helping them increase their income from business and leisure customers.”