This insightful conversation with Craig, co-founder of Bear, reveals how a passion for coffee grew into a thriving hospitality business with 8 locations, 130 employees, and £6 million in annual revenue. The discussion highlights key marketing opportunities for scaling a regional coffee brand.
The Bear business journey:
- Started in 2016 with “two flat whites and two best buds” experimenting in a shed
- Grew to 8 locations across the Midlands with one southern location
- Positioned as a day-to-night concept offering coffee, brunch, and cocktails
- Focus on revitalising high streets and creating community hubs
The brand’s evolution stems from Craig’s background in music, where he discovered that coffee shops could create the same emotional connection as bands. This realization led him to build Bear as a hospitality concept that extends beyond product to create experiences and community.
Key marketing challenges:
- Limited digital marketing budget (under 2% of revenue vs industry standard 5-15%)
- Minimal ecommerce presence despite strong in-store operations
- Underutilisation of paid search and limited paid social strategy
- Need to drive evening business when venues have available capacity
- Optimisation of local SEO for physical locations
Bear has built impressive brand strength primarily through organic channels and in-store experiences, but lacks a comprehensive digital strategy to match its physical presence. Their current marketing approach is campaign-focused rather than having always-on components.
Strategic recommendations:
- Implement retargeting campaigns using existing customer data
- Create localised paid social campaigns to drive store visits
- Optimise store location pages with better SEO fundamentals
- Develop specific marketing for evening/cocktail business
- Test different geotargeting radiuses to determine optimal reach
A critical insight revealed that while Bear excels at daytime operations (often at capacity), their evening business represents a major growth opportunity. Targeted digital marketing could shift customer perception from “coffee shop” to “all-day destination” with minimal operational changes.
Digital marketing implementation:
- Create campaign sequences that showcase different dayparts
- Use paid social to reinforce cocktail and evening offerings
- Leverage email lists for retargeting through Meta
- Better optimise store pages for local searches
- Test increased marketing spend in select locations before rollout
The conversation emphasises that building a marketing department should follow a “GP vs specialist” model, where in-house staff maintain broad oversight while bringing in specialists for specific channels when the scale justifies it.
Moving forward:
- Increase marketing budget to match industry standards
- Focus on retargeting existing customers before prospecting
- Test digital campaigns at store level before wider rollout
- Create content that reinforces the day-to-night concept
- Establish always-on marketing to supplement campaign-based approach
Bear’s expansion goals (growing to 25-30 locations) will require more robust digital support beyond their current efforts. By implementing these strategies, they can leverage their strong brand and physical presence through digital channels to accelerate growth.
___
👋 Never miss an update. Sign up to T.E.A Break, our weekly newsletter.
👉 See our case studies to discover how we grow brands online.
👉 Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
👉 Follow our Grow with Evergreen podcast on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts.
👉 Download our new Home and Garden sector paid media report
