Why the coffee shop has never mattered more and where 92 Degrees fits in.

Take a minute to think about the history of coffee shops in the UK.

30 years ago, there weren’t really any. Coffee was an afterthought in most venues, a spoon of cheap instant in a mug if you were lucky.

Then big name brands started bringing something resembling the real stuff to the UK in the 90s, and now they’re everywhere. It all started with the product, of course, real roasted beans properly prepared, but the massive success of coffee shops – and their evolution over the last 3 decades – has become so much more than that.

It wasn’t long before they moved past the simply transactional into destinations in themselves. Somewhere to hang out with friends and family which wasn’t a crumbly old tea shop, a greasy spoon, or a pub. It wasn’t long before we all started seeing coffee shops as somewhere we would choose to spend time working, meeting, thinking, or simply taking some time out from the day.

And that changed the industry again in a fundamental way.

Coffee shops have become part of daily life in a way they never were before.

There is a concept used in urban planning and social psychology called the “third place”, the space in your life that sits alongside home and work, somewhere that is neither one nor the other, but no less important. For a growing number of people across the UK, the coffee shop has become exactly that.

The rise of flexible and remote working has accelerated this shift considerably, but it was already well underway before that. Coffee shops are now used as informal offices, client meeting venues, creative spaces, study environments, and places to decompress between the demands of the day. They are woven into daily routines in a way that makes them feel less like a treat and more like infrastructure.

Customer expectations have matured.

Quality coffee is no longer a differentiator, it is the baseline. Customers increasingly want to understand what they are drinking, where it has come from, how it has been sourced, and how it has been prepared. Provenance, craft, and transparency, which were once the preserve of specialist independents with a niche following, have moved firmly into the mainstream. What was once considered added value is now simply expected.

There is a broader cultural shift happening too, and it has been particularly pronounced among younger consumers. The traditional pub or bar, once the default venue for socialising, meeting friends, or marking a moment, has been losing ground for some time. Coffee shops have stepped comfortably into much of that space.

They are accessible at any time of day, inclusive across age groups and lifestyles, and increasingly the venue of choice for everything from a catch-up between friends to a birthday celebration or a first date.

Most coffee shop brands, particularly the larger chains, have been slow to recognise this shift for what it really is. They have continued to optimise for throughput and consistency at the expense of the one thing customers are increasingly seeking. A gap has opened up between what people now want from a coffee shop and what most of them actually deliver.

This is exactly the space 92 Degrees was designed to fill.

From its very beginnings in Liverpool in 2015, the thinking behind the 92 Degrees franchise has never been simply about producing exceptional coffee, though it absolutely does that. The focus has always been on creating spaces where people genuinely want to spend time. The kind of place where the barista knows your order by Wednesday of your first week, where the walls reflect the neighbourhood rather than a brand guidelines document, and where people linger long after their first cup is empty.

The kind of place that becomes part of someone’s week rather than just an occasional stop.

That very deliberate positioning reflects a clear understanding of where the market was heading and what customers were increasingly looking for. The result is a brand which can truly stand out from all the faceless chains which are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. They offer a reason to belong – a place and a brand that fits naturally and meaningfully into people’s lives.

That is what the 92 Degrees franchise has been building since day one, and it is what makes this franchise opportunity worth serious consideration.

So, if you’d like to understand more about what that might look like for you in your local area, why don’t we have a chat? I’d be happy to talk it through with you.