Biggby Coffee co-CEO reveals top 4 growth strategies

By Mike McFall, co-founder and co-CEO of Biggby Coffee

The past few years have been anything but ordinary. They have also been a time of learning, adapting and growing.

The pandemic, labor issues and the rising spending power of Gen Z have all contributed to whereBiggby Coffee is today. Specialty coffee saw a considerable rise in demand in 2020, and it hasn't stopped there. As the younger generations grow up and have more of an impact on society, we have been able to learn from them and implement new strategies in our stores.

Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from recent years and how Biggby Coffee has continued to grow:

1. The demand for specialty coffee

Something we learned throughout the pandemic is that coffee, especially the specialty coffee segment, was viewed as comfort food. When people couldn't go and sit down in a restaurant for a meal, they could still go through a drive-thru or pop into their localBiggby Coffee for a few moments of normalcy in their life. We were and still are thankful and honored to provide that to our communities.

Because of this, we had astronomical growth rates in 2020. Like many brands, we took a significant hit when the pandemic first appeared. However, near Mother's Day 2020, we crossed back into positive same-store sales growth rates and continued to see record sales.

By the end of the year, we were experiencing 25% to 30% growth overall. This was a welcomed surprise for us and a testament to our fantastic franchise owners for doing whatever it took to bring a little bit of normalcy back into people's lives.

2. Gen Z's increasing spending power

Interestingly, people in the Gen Z category, and even the Millennial category, don't know life before specialty coffee. Growing up, specialty coffee didn't exist until I was in my early 20's. Gen Z grew up in a readily available marketplace of specialty coffee, and the product is a more significant part of their lives than it is for Boomers and Gen Xers.

As Gen Z and Millennials become a larger percentage of the population, and as their incomes rise, they are becoming a more powerful market segment than the Gen X or Boomer population.

3. Leaning into the broader energy category

We have found that the Gen Z population is really into energy. However, coffee isn't the only place they are looking to get that energy. Though it's still a huge product category for that population, they are also looking to get that boost from other sources.

At Biggby, we have created a line of non-coffee, made to order, energy drinks–BIGGBY Blast: Scuba (blue raspberry & strawberry popping boba), Green Lagoon (Green Apple), Electric Dragon (Dragon Fruit with a slice of lemon), and Blood Moon (mango & blood orange), and build your own Blast option! Each energy drink is fueled with our proprietary Zip! injection, which is a combination of Taurine, Guarana, Vitamin C, B3, Ginseng and other magical properties.

4. Our approach to employment

As a company, we have been able to weather employment-related issues more smoothly than many. We believe this can be attributed to the way we treat our employees and our focus on continuously improving workplace culture. The pandemic and its aftermath have created a new dynamic between employees and employers. The employee expects a healthier environment where they are respected and appreciated for their contribution. We welcome this transition as this is how we have always aspired to treat our people.

At Biggby, we try to go one step further by building supportive and nurturing environments for our employees, which has hugely impacted our business. Employees who are healthy and enjoy showing up to work are more enjoyable to work with but ultimately take care of the customer better and keep them coming back. Everyone wins!