We were all just happy that reality is returning to normal after the pandemic, and here we are: war, inflation, and energy prices. When we talk to many people in the industry-not just coffee, but gastronomy more broadly – we find that the already prevailing feeling is fear of the approaching winter. Rising energy prices, less-than-enthusiastic consumer sentiment, and the prospect of a recession are making entrepreneurs seriously wary of the future and the harsh reality that is fast approaching.
Is there anything to be afraid of? Certainly. Will it be very bad? Optional. While I'm not one of those incorrigible optimists, I'm pretty good – at least when looking at the coffee market and especially the speciality niche we operate in!
I'll start with the cliche: the quality of the weapon itself. Well, not directly, of course, but let's look at it another way. First of all, in the food industry, the better a product is made, the smaller its price component is usually (of course, there are exceptions, but let's leave them aside) - the most basic costs associated with electricity or gas.
In our example, the burnout of high-quality coffee requires the consumption of the same or even slightly less gas than the burnout of cheap "market" coffee, and the difference in the cost of grain is significant, and this is mainly due to the price gap. Consequently, an increase in energy prices will have a much smaller impact on the final price of the product on the shelf; the consumer, in turn, will not feel its sharp increase. The same can be said for a craft bakery or craft brewery.
Continuing the thought: it doesn't seem to me that such "small pleasures" as good coffee, the conscious consumer wanted to give up from the very beginning. Someone who already knows something about quality, has a developed taste and understands where the price of a given product comes from, will not look for savings of, say, 30% (on a pack of coffee worth 100 PLN) in order to drink something significantly different in taste from what they have drunk so far por. It will be easier for him to give it up completely than to look for such small savings – and for many people, coffee is not something they would want to give up. Moreover, in 2020 and 2021, being doomed to work remotely (and faced with the closure of public catering), a lot of new consumers joined the speciality trend, studying and buying the necessary equipment.
I understand that not everyone shares my opinion, but well – it's worth doing your own thing, it's worth continuing to do a good job and monitor the quality of your product. It blooms, maybe not quite professionally, but definitely very homely: somehow it will be, somehow we will manage!
Junior specialist in Marketing Communications and PR.
He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw and the Main School of Agriculture. We have been in the HoReCa industry for more than 10 years. For many years, he has been associated with the Trip group, Sobienie Royal Golf and Country Club, and the Florentin Restaurant in Warsaw.
She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw Technical University with a degree in Architecture for the Knowledge Society and Visual Communications at the Polytechnic University of Milan. A specialist in creating a mood. She has gained experience at home and abroad at numerous international seminars (Seville, Lisbon, Florence), fellowships at La Sapienza (Rome), etc. m.in. in Carmi e Ubertis and ADM Milano.
A manager with many years of experience in the cosmetics, food, and children's industries. During his career, he was associated with such companies as: L'Oreal, Samsung, Danone-Nutricia, Unilever. During his professional life, he was responsible, among other things, for the development of e-commerce sales and content in Poland and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. 
