How important is sustainability to your customers? Have you noticed an increase in interest from customers?
Sustainability really matters to our customers. Sustainability is no longer a niche customer interest but something that the vast majority of customers really value. As a business, we encourage sustainability by making the sustainable option the default without preaching or casting judgement, and what we’ve found is that many of our customers are very environmentally-savvy and are as eager as we are to be as environmentally friendly as possible. One thing we have really prioritised is ensuring that our plant-based options are so delicious that they appeal to people irrespective of their dietary preferences, and we’ve had incredibly good feedback on our plant-based alternatives across people of all ages and demographics. It’s clear that people are ready to embrace change and open to trying new things, so it’s an exciting time to be innovating as a café!
Looking at the lifespan of machinery used in your services, is machine longevity important to you?
Machine longevity is incredibly important when operating a fast-paced, high quality hospitality service like ours. We make hundreds of coffees every single day and pride ourselves on serving exceptional coffee every single time. Nue ground was one of the first cafes to use the La Marzocco KB90 Machine which allows our skilled baristas to work efficiently and quickly without compromising on quality. We invest in quality because that’s what we promise to deliver to our customers.
Do you find there are particular challenges you face as a small independent business?
As a small independent business, we were really worried about how we would be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, what we found was that nue ground went from strength to strength as we showed up for our community, and our community showed up for us. It is always challenging to strike the balance between running a profitable business whilst upholding the highest possible standards and values when it comes to matters such as sustainability, but it’s something I believe we do really well. We are continually evolving and growing alongside our wonderful community and believe after everything the last few years have thrown at us, we will be able to adapt to anything that comes our way!
