19 August 2015
Kiwi Friendships brew over a coffee and muffin
Friendship is alive and well in New Zealand if a recent survey* is anything to go by. And one of the most popular places
for it to be nurtured is in a café over coffee and a muffin.
The survey by bakery café Muffin Break reveals the majority of New Zealanders agree coffee is a great way to take a
break with friend(s) when out together (82per cent). And when we catch up with friends, most of us (55 per cent) do so
by having coffee away from the home in a café or similar outlet.
Kiwis also like to regularly keep in touch. Almost one third of New Zealanders catch up with their friends weekly for
coffee while a further 45 per cent catch up at least monthly over a caffeine fix.
Having coffee with friends is seen as one of the most effective ways of connecting and bonding with them (61 per cent)
and having coffee makes half of New Zealanders revitalised and ready to carry on through the day (50 per cent).
Perhaps surprisingly, 62 per cent of people think a group of two or three is ideal for a coffee catch up while less than
half that number (26 per cent) feel a one-on-one coffee break is ideal.
And don’t tell anyone, but almost three times the number of women (16 per cent) than men (six per cent) catch up for a
gossip-fest.
The survey shows overwhelmingly the reason we go out for coffee is most likely to be because we just want to catch up
(90 per cent).
However, almost one in six coffee drinkers go so far as to delay finishing a cup just to make sure they don’t have to
leave the premises.
Muffin Break commissioned the survey in support of its latest marketing campaign helping Kiwis celebrate their
friendships by offering a One, Two, Free Deal – buy any two coffees and receive a free muffin (to share).
And the survey reveals muffins are New Zealanders’ preferred food accompaniment with their favourite coffee (22 per
cent) compared with cake (19 per cent) and sandwiches (eight per cent).
“At Muffin Break we know coffee and friends are the perfect blend as our customers have been sharing coffees and muffins
at our bakery cafés for 21 years,” says Gemma Fitzsimons, Muffin Break Marketing Manager.
“We see daily, that our friendly café culture is alive and well, with many of our customers sharing our award winning
coffee with their loved ones.”
Other results from the survey:
· More than half (56 per cent) of us met our closest friends in school or college or university.
· We’re definitely the land of the flat white cloud – slightly more than a quarter of New Zealanders select the flat
white as their favourite coffee followed by cappuccino (13 per cent), mochaccino (12 per cent) and latte (12 per cent).
· For both weekends (42 per cent) and weekdays (35 per cent), the most popular time for coffee is mid-morning between
9am and 11:55am.
· Half of New Zealanders agree they generally split the bill when they catch up for coffee with friends (50 per cent).
· 13 per cent of New Zealanders say they don’t drink coffee but do drink other hot beverages such as tea and hot
chocolate.
· Quality food and coffee is the most important factor when it comes to choosing a café (77 per cent) followed by
location (62 per cent), value for money (55 per cent) and service (54 per cent).
· Around half of New Zealanders spend 30 to 59 minutes on the premises when they are enjoying coffee with friends (49
per cent). This is followed by between one and two hours (24 per cent) and between 10 and 29 minutes (20 per cent).
*Muffin Break, Taking a Break with Friends, August 2015. The participants were sourced from Buzz Channel’s online panel,
buzzthepeople and were surveyed online using a nationwide sampling framework. The results were weighted to Statistics
New Zealand census via gender, age and location data. In total, 506 respondents participated in the Muffin Break 2015
survey. This represents a margin of error of +/-4% at the 95% confidence of interval (considered an acceptable margin of
error).
ends