clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Caffe Nero Snorts 10 Espressos Before Declaring Itself ‘the Waitrose of Coffee’

To be the hypeman, first get hyper

If you buy something from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.

Caffe Nero declares itself the Waitrose of coffee Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

To beat the competition, make coffee and analogise

High street coffee chain Caffe Nero — the company that tried to make the espresso and tonic happen in the mainstream — has thrown out a gambit to its competition: Which supermarket do you most represent? As part of a marketing drive for its new food range in MCA, Nero chief executive Will Stratton-Morris has declared his company ‘the Waitrose of coffee,’ presumably in the belief that the analogy cements some kind of premium edge against Starbucks, Costa, and the rest. But then — who is Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer, Aldi, Lidl? Waitrose has coffee machines in its stores, so does the analogy even hold? What goes beyond Waitrose, for London’s various, excellent coffee shops? Isn’t analogising like this a lazy way of performing analysis anyway? [MCA]

And in other news...