At a time when Tesco is offloading many of its peripheral assets, the decision to hang on to coffee shop chain Harris + Hoole makes sense.
From a purely aesthetic perspective, it’s pretty hard to fault Harris + Hoole.
Although a chain, the coffee shop’s outposts manage to capture the feel of an independent. And for many of those passing through, there is probably scant awareness that the pit-stop is part of Tesco’s portfolio.
Wisely, the grocer opted to take a minority stake in this operation and has remained a sleeping partner for almost all of Harris + Hoole’s brief life. Now it owns the chain entirely.
At a moment when Tesco has been divesting its ‘add-on’ elements to concentrate on the core business, this might seem a strange move, particularly when Harris + Hoole remains loss-making.
But visit a Harris + Hoole standalone on the high street and it’s not hard to see why it avoids the somewhat snooty glances reserved for mass market-coffee chains by the cappuccino class.
Authentic offer
Treading that fine line between the cynical request for your name when you order a beverage ‘to go’ and waiting 20 minutes for a hand-crafted, artisan coffee in an indy, is a tricky one.
But given that there are now Harris + Hoole spaces inside selected Tesco branches, this still has the air of an operation that knows its Americanos from its ristrettos and can throw a half-way decent bun into the bargain too.
“What Harris + Hoole has the potential to do is to add a human dimension to a large supermarket space”
John Ryan
More power to an organisation therefore that has recognised the potential for long-term growth in a format – for that is what Harris + Hoole now is – and has gone with it, rather than throwing up its corporate hands at what might seem a distraction.
What Harris + Hoole has the potential to do is to add a human dimension to a large supermarket space and it is something that its rivals have, for the most part, signally failed to achieve, choosing instead to import the likes of Starbucks and Costa.
Nothing wrong with either of the latter, but the ability to install something that makes our better high streets better, must be to the grocer’s benefit in the longer term.
Increasing profit always has to be at the heart of what any listed retail outfit is about, and with its shiny coffee-making machines, friendly staff and some pretty winsome fit-outs, Harris + Hoole still has the potential to win over more to the great barista revolution.
The ones who should really be afraid are not Tesco shareholders, but overpriced purveyors of coffee in ‘independent’ surroundings.
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