Brits Spend £6.3bn A Year On Take Away Coffee, But 70% Plan To Cut Back Their Spending To Save Money

Coffee Bean Counters: Brits Spend £112m A Week On Coffee

Starbucks looks set for another problem following the furore over its corporation tax evading, as Brits are set to cut back on their coffee fixes.

The US coffee firm - valued at £25 billion - generated more than £3bn of sales in the UK since 1998 but paid less just £8.6 million in corporation tax in the UK in the last 14 years.

The revelations prompted widespread anger among customers, resulting in it paying an additional £10 million after admitting "customers expect us to do more".

And now coffee chains including Starbucks and rivals Costa and Cafe Nero - which are collectively raking in £6.3bn a year from British consumers - could face a new crisis; research suggests consumers are going to cut back on their coffee buying in 2013.

Britons currently collectively spend £122m a week on their take-away coffee fix, with each coffee drinker spending £393 each year and £15,725 throughout their entire lifetime.

Nationally, £6.34bn is spent a year with 16.1 million of us drinking at least one take-away coffee a week.

But Britain's high street chains will have to work harder to maintain sales this year - research from OrSaveIt, a money saving app firm, found the market could be in for a shock in 2013 as more than two thirds (70%) of coffee drinkers said they planned to cut down on their habit in 2013 in a bid to save money.

Alain Desmier, managing director of OrSaveIt, said in a statement: "Millions have fallen into the habit of spending a couple of quid a day on a cappuccino, but that spending soon mounts up. For some, switching to office coffee rather than heading to the coffee shop could add up to the cost of a holiday over the course of the year."

Top of the list for those looking to cut back on their caffeine intake is simply visiting the coffee shop less frequently – with 70% of coffee drinkers saying that they are planning to buy less this year.

More than one in five of households in Britain can now make their own espressos, lattes and cappuccinos with a coffee machine at home - a rise of 40% on the number five years ago, according to Mintel research.

Others say they are planning to buy smaller drinks in a bid to make savings and over half (56%) say they will start an office coffee round and make their own.

Close

What's Hot