Consumers today are not just looking for someplace to eat and drink — they want a multi-sensory experience. 

By Eloise Dubuisson, Marketing Director, Foodservice Brands & Chains, Kerry Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa 

With a projected 4.06 percent CAGR (2022-2027), the global café and bar market is a healthy, fast-evolving industry with many areas of opportunity. 

Consumers today want novel or extraordinary experiences beyond just eating and drinking — from the music playing, choice of drinkware, and menu offerings to the overall theme or ambience of a café or restaurant. 

The rising popularity of novelty coffee shop concepts such as pet cafés (and pet-friendly cafés) and themed cafés shows that it is no longer just about the coffee or one type of experience. Add sustainable practices into the mix, and you have the sweet spot consumers seek: the complete “taste good, look good, feel good” vibe. 

Here are three trends to watch that will shape the multi-sensory café experience for consumers.  

Black is back… with a twist 

In their quest for a healthier lifestyle, consumers aged 25 to 35 are forgoing milk and opting for black coffee. Thanks to innovation in technology, iced black coffee is now more palatable to consumers, and as the demand grows, coffee lovers will look for new coffee bean flavours to lift their black coffee experience. Operators can offer this through coffee beans infused with new flavours to provide unique tastes or introduce new preparation techniques that offer customisable options. 

The virtual Green Future Café by DaVinci Gourmet deep dives into the world of black coffee with industry insights on new ways to create, prepare, and market black coffee to attract consumers with different coffee preferences. For example, visiting the virtual Roastery located at the back of the virtual café will bring you to the Coffee Flavour wheel, which gives an in-depth look at both complex and mass-market coffee flavours and taste profiles, aimed at giving baristas a helping hand in creating new and exciting combinations.  

Tearapy: the non-coffee beverage hit 

Global tea consumption rose 63 billion litres from 2013, hitting 297 billion litres in 2022. Tea and its herbal varieties are a growing opportunity in the space as consumer demand for “calming beverages” and alternative beverage applications increases.  

Operators can excite consumers with out-of-the-box creations that offer a multi-sensorial experience of “Instagrammable” visuals, delightful aromas, and captivating tastes. The Flavour Genius Academy by DaVinci Gourmet was designed to assist baristas, charistas (tea barista), and mixologists with detailed recipes, techniques, and pairings. It’s a one-stop resource centre where they can learn about the different variants, procedures, equipment, and applications.  

All-in-one package 

Menu offerings aside, consumers are also looking for a seamless customer journey when it comes to digital and physical interactions. Automated ordering systems, digital payments, digital menus, and AI-powered coffee-making kiosks are changing on-site experiences. While these have become common, it is still important for customers to feel comfortable with the process. 

Operators should look beyond just successfully completing an order and focus on creating a multi-sensory dining environment as well. For example, having dedicated staff to assist customers unfamiliar with new technologies can help with the digital transition. Setting the right ambience can also make a big difference to the overall customer journey, and the Green Future Café has insights on how to create a multi-sensory dining environment starting with the Café’s specially curated audio playlist. The site also has tips on how to maximise your layout or operations to create a “healing” space where customers can come in to unwind and enjoy a meditative moment. 

The Green Future Café by DaVinci Gourmet is a virtual platform where foodservice operators, restaurant owners, mixologists, baristas, and front-of-house staff, can find inspiration and resources on how to run and operate their foodservice businesses. This virtual café can be accessed anytime, anywhere, and offers a 360° immersive learning journey with insightful tips on how to maximise the potential of every area in a café to attract today’s consumers. Specialty beverage brand DaVinci Gourmet products are crafted to create a premium experience for beverage and culinary creators through innovative flavours and quality ingredients.