Dive Brief:
- GetGo Cafe + Market, the c-store chain owned by grocer Giant Eagle, recently completed a companywide coffee program upgrade, according to an emailed press release on Tuesday.
- The company added new bean-to-cup coffee machines that both grind and brew coffee. They feature the chain’s new “signature blend” coffee, which is made using four different types of beans. The chain also introduced cold brew and nitrogen-infused coffee drinks to its menu.
- The chain also set out to source better beans for this program, so it could create coffee that “gives those large coffee chains and QSRs real competition,” said Marion Clarke, the category manager for GetGo who led the upgrade project, in a statement.
Dive Insight:
The four-month coffee upgrade is the latest step in GetGo’s program to enhance its foodservice program. The chain’s menu is overseen by three professional chefs on staff, and it recently introduced a new burger program that includes the “Sweet Heat burger,” as well as a beer-battered cod sandwich and a shrimp po’ boy, with more additions coming, according to an email from a GetGo Spokesperson.
“Our goal was to serve the freshest and best-tasting coffee in the market, which meant undertaking a large-scale upgrade across our entire footprint,” Farley Kaiser, GetGo’s director of culinary and innovation, said in the release.
The chain chose bean-to-cup machines, which include a touch screen shoppers use to make their selections, to avoid the sometimes extra bitter or metallic flavor that can be imparted to coffee that’s brewed in large batches and then kept in metal urns until customers dispense it. While not as immediate as already-brewed coffee, customers can get their hot brew or iced coffee in less than a minute with the new machines.
The chain also added nitro and cold brew after seeing “strong consumer demand” for them, Clarke said. The machines even allow for the two to be mixed together.
“Our guests’ reactions to our new coffee products have made all the effort worth it,” said Kaiser. “We couldn’t be happier with the results.”
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based GetGo has more than 270 stores in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, northern West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana in a variety of formats. Some locations also include WetGo car washes.
