Nescafé opens first capsule café

Nespresso opened its first coffee shop in Vienna last week, a joint venture with Austrian catering company DO&CO. The café is serving more than 20 different capsule coffees both in-store and take-away, as well as serving DO&CO food. “Vienna has a longstanding tradition and strong culture of coffee drinking and coffee houses, so it is the perfect place to pilot a Nespresso Café,” said Christophe Cornu, Chief Commercial Officer at Nestlé Nespresso SA. “In addition, there is a strong level of awareness and appreciation of the Nespresso brand in Austria.” Located on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Strasse, one of the city’s busiest shopping strips, Nespresso Café will also sell capsules for at home use from a Nespresso Cube. A first for Austria, the cube is an automated capsule sales machine, which allows Club Members to purchase capsules using their club card or non-members to do so using a credit card. Cornu said a recent MindTake study found Nespresso was the most popular coffee brand in Austria, proving the demand was there for a flagship café. Nespresso is planning to open a second café in London later in the year.