Caffè Nero now trading at 90% of pre-pandemic levels, founder says

The first-half of FY22 also saw Caffè Nero experiencing sales increases in its new distribution  channels.

Caffè Nero founder and group chief executive officer Gerry Ford said the business is now trading at 90% of pre-pandemic levels, expecting further improvement over the next months.

In an update, the company reported sales of £135.7 million for the first half of its current financial year FY22 (June 2021 to November 2021), a 211% increase for the same period in 2020. EBITDA was at £29.4 million.

Sales from December 2021 to January 2022, considered to be the peak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the UK, were “resilient” at 82% of FY19.

“We’ve seen a very encouraging first half of our financial year. Our business showed great resilience and recovery. Further, even with the emergence of the Omicron variant, our sales have held up. We are now trading at 90% of pre-pandemic levels and we expect to see that improve further over the coming weeks and months,” Ford said in the update.

The first-half of FY22 also saw Caffè Nero experiencing sales increases in its new distribution  channels. Its delivery business through Uber Eats generated £3.4 million of revenue whilst its Coffee At Home business for the same period achieved sales of £1.3 million.

Said channels are now on target to generate over £10 million of incremental revenue, the coffee chain said.