Thorntons to sell hot drinks and pastries - expands product lines - Brief Article

Eurofood, Oct 11, 2001

UK speciality chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons has announced its plans to move into the take-away coffee and pastry market at nine pilot outlets. If successful the retailer could expand the project to 400 outlets over the next three years.

There are also plans to double the number of Cafe Thorntons to 48 by 2004. Initially development of these were halted until the company had stabilised and existing cafe's were reviewed. Chief executive officer Peter Burdon said in the 2001 preliminary review, that the current cafe's were profitable and the introduction of the "sit-in" cafe's could form part of their `New Customer Proposition'.

A second expansion is to distribute a new range of Thorntons branded cakes, desserts and biscuits. Initially, lines will be available in Sainsbury with agreements with Safeway and Asda.