February 3, 2011 4.28 pm This story is over 156 months old

Independents huddle for disloyalty card

Fidelity: Independent cafes in Lincoln will launch a loyalty card that will work across the city.

Three independent coffee shops in Lincoln will launch a social enterprise scheme, aiming to keep city coffee lovers away from corporate rivals.

The Disloyalty Card scheme is set to reward local people for getting their coffee fix from one of the city’s independent shops rather than from big multinational chains.

The premise is similar to that of the loyalty cards of popular high street stores: buy a certain number of cups of coffee and get one free.

With the Disloyalty Card, rather than having to buy all of the cups in the same shop, people can buy from any of the participating shops, including the free cup.

The Lincoln card offers the ninth cup of coffee free and people can pick it up from participating shops after it is launched next week.

So far, only two other city cafes have joined the scheme spearheaded by The Healthy Hub on Beaumont Fee: Joseph’s at the Lincoln Drill Hall (also run by The Healthy Hub) and the recently-revamped Stokes cafe on the High Street.

Other Lincoln independent cafes are noticeably missing from the list, such as Coffee Aroma on Guildhall Street and Angel Cafe on Freeschool Lane.

The Lincolnite understands that other cafes, such as the recently opened Union Espresso Bar on Monks Road, are considering joining the scheme.

The Healthy Hub’s CEO Rebecca Dray hopes the scheme will draw people away from the big chains and back to local shops:

“Lincoln has some fantastic independent coffee shops with knowledgeable baristas and above all great tasting coffee.

“Our hope is that local people will embrace Disloyalty [Card] and support local businesses at a time when they need it most,” Dray added.

Lincoln’s Disloyalty Card will be launched at the World Barista Championships taking place on February 9 at the Lincoln Drill Hall.

The original Disloyalty Card was the brainchild of Gwilym Davies, a world champion barista who is also the unofficial ambassador of coffee in the UK.

Source: The Healthy Hub