Daybreak Ashbourne, Co. Meath, Ireland

Entry profile | Roadside Convenience | ‘The Best Foodvenience Store in the World’ 2024

Daybreak Ashbourne, located in the busy commuter town of Ashbourne near Dublin, serves commuters, schools, and local residential and commercial areas. Positioned on the outer ring of the town, this roadside convenience store focuses on providing high-quality, convenient food and beverages, although it does not operate a service station.

Company and Brand Overview

Launched in 2006 by Musgrave Wholesale Partners, Daybreak is a family of stores independently owned by local retailers who understand and respond to the everyday needs of their communities.

With over 300 stores nationwide, we are dedicated to providing the best possible shopping experience for consumers across the Republic of Ireland. With fast service, friendly staff and great variety and value, morning, noon and night, we are there for local communities when they need us.

Retailers joining the Daybreak family benefit from a fresh approach to convenience retailing that is driving exceptional growth in store sales and profitability.

The brand is complemented by three exclusive sub-brands launched in 2018 – Munch & Co (deli), Lickety Split (ice-cream) and 9 Grams (coffee), which were created for the modern Irish shopper to meet the growing demand for fast but high-quality food offerings.

Daybreak independent retailers are supported by an experienced team focus on growing their retail and foodservice business. Led by a dedicated Business Development Manager, this includes practical support tailored to each individual store’s local competitive environment. Stores also benefit from excellent Fresh Food, Store Development, HR, IT and Marketing support, along with the buying power of the Musgrave Group (including competitive everyday pricing, strong promotional offers, lower development costs and affinity deals).

Store Photos

Store and Offer Overview

The owners of the store are Danny Bowe and Regina Foley – who operate a joint ownership model.

Danny and Regina have operated a Daybreak shop on the site since 2018 and in early 2024, they invested in the store to implement a new store layout, interior design and product offer to reflect the latest thinking from Daybreak. The emphasis here is on good quality, high-convenience food and beverages.

The primary objectives of this project were:

Drive sales and retailer margin throughout the day by positioning the store as:

A key local destination for fresh, delicious food and beverages on the go, for breakfast, lunch and all-day snacking.
A highly convenient stop for everything you need for a great night in.
Leverage technology to drive efficiencies, reduce cost and maximise franchisee margin.

Hero sections within Daybreak Ashbourne are

The Munch & Co Deli,
9 Grams coffee dock and
Lickety Split ice-cream

All Daybreak exclusive brands. The store also dials up the ‘Big Night In’ section covering take-home snacking and soft drinks products and their off-licence.

Munch & Co deli

The Munch & Co brand presents a unique take on the traditional Irish deli, with all the favourites Irish consumers expect enhanced by higher quality ingredients and new signature options that bring greater choice and more interesting flavours. Some highlights include:

Along with the typical breakfast top sellers, such as sausage rolls and jambons, are new options including our premium Breakfast Sandwich (with Ballymaloe Stout Relish and a multi-seed bread from the Bretzel Bakery), a breakfast burrito and breakfast muffin options.
The chicken fillet roll is an Irish icon, and in Daybreak this has been brought to the next level by using fresh chicken fillets cooked in a pressure fryer to deliver a tastier, juicier bite. We’ve created a signature southern fried chicken menu including a Mediterranean chicken wrap and chicken goujons with a choice of dipping sauces.
Our signature gourmet sandwiches can be enjoyed hot or cold, with a popular choice being the vegan beetroot and hummus wrap.
A full carvery dinner is available serving a choice of two meats, with meat options rotating daily.
Our salad bowls offer a lighter choice with four signature options, including the popular chicken and cous cous and vegan falafel and hummus bowls.
A soup & porridge station sits beside the hot serve over, which offers freshly prepared Irish porridge up until 11.30am and soup for the lunch trade.

‘Real Fresh, Real Fast’ is a Daybreak guiding principle and the food offer is prepared fresh in-store daily. In developing the Munch & Co menu simplicity in preparation was key to ensuring a speedy service that also supports retailers. Ashbourne is successfully executing a diverse food offer. With clever use of a limited ingredients selection and effective training support they have comparatively low waste costs and can cope with a challenging labour market.

Grab & Go

A grab & go food section compliments our deli offer, allowing time-pressed consumers to access highlights from the Munch & Co menu in a hurry and taking pressure off deli staff.

This section brings together hot and cold options in an eye-catching fixture that creates real standout in-store.
The chilled section includes an all-day selection of signature sandwiches, wraps and bowls, juices, granola and fruit pots.
The hot-holding unit changes by day-part. In the morning, we feature breakfast muffins, breakfast roll, jambons, sausage rolls and handheld snacks. At lunch, options include southern fried chicken fillet rolls, handheld snacks, wedges and other hot savoury options.

9 Grams Coffee

The 9 Grams coffee brand developed exclusively for Daybreak has a distinctive identity, giving coffee clear standout instore and communicating strong quality cues.

Our Ashbourne store has two self-service bean to cup machines with options including espresso, Americano, latte, cappuccino, mocha, flat whites and hot chocolate.
We have also introduced a new iced coffee offering with a variety of options such as Americano, latte and cappuccino.
The coffee dock also has a tea station offering breakfast tea and a selection of herbal teas under the Pukka Brand.

9 Grams customers can buy branded reusable cups in-store and enjoy a 20cent discount when using these cups.

Lickety Split Ice-cream

The Lickety Split brand has a unique identity that is brought to life instore with a visually impactful fixture and a product offer that appeals to children and adults alike.

The product offer includes soft serve ‘cool cups’ which are a particular hit with kids.
The innovative toppings and sauces display on the front counter helps to create engagement with this audience, and customers are encouraged to create their own cups.
Ashbourne features our new Lickety Split digital menu and rotating specials dial up seasonal occasions such as Easter, Summer, Halloween and Christmas to keep the offer engaging throughout the year.
Milkshakes are freshly produced on site, using a combination of fresh milk, whipped ice cream and flavoured syrups.

Big Night In

Given the objective of positioning the store as the convenient stop off for a great night in, a significant amount of space is given to take home confectionery (large bars, multi packs), sharing crisps and soft drinks (multi packs, sharing sizes).

The centre piece here is a 1.6 metre section clearly signposted under the heading ‘Big Night In’. The styling of this section echoes traditional cinema signs and suggests bringing that cinema experience to your home.

Off licence

A segregated off-license is available in-store consisting of a 3.85m chiller, 3.5m of wine, wine cooler and 1m of spirits.

The introduction of liquor segregation in Ireland created some visibility challenges for convenience stores operating an off-licence. Ashbourne features our new look off-licence which was introduced to more clearly signpost the alcohol offer instore. With new lightbox, section framing, and colour scheme the off-licence has clear standout instore.

The spirits section is secured behind the kiosk area, away from the off-license, but customers can peruse the spirits offering by accessing a digital screen in the off-license area that allows them to print off a ticket and bring that to the kiosk to receive the desired product.

Layout and Retail Environment

The store comprises a retail area of 183 sqm and parking for 20 vehicles.

The store layout and offer reflects the objective of creating a unique shopping experience that positions the store as a destination for food and beverages to go and all you need for a great night in.

Accordingly, the store is split into 3 broad zones.

Food & Beverages for Now (60% of retail floor space). Time pressed shoppers are catered for in the front of the store, with the run on the right wall starting with a 3.85m impulse soft-drinks offering (dialling up healthy hydration) then a 3m 9 Grams Coffee Dock including Iced Coffee and 3m of Grab & Go (with 1m of pre-prepared instore Hot Grab & Go and 2m of pre-prepared sandwiches, wraps, salad bowls & snacks, freshly prepared in store daily). This leads on to fresh bakery, showcasing instore baked breads and directly opposite are two treat tables with sweet pastry and savoury treats. This all follows on to the Munch & Co fully staffed deli counter, which offers a wide selection of hot and cold options for breakfast and lunch. Past the sit-down area and to the right of the kiosk is the Lickety Split fixture which offers whipped ice cream creations in tubs, cones and shakes.
Food & Beverages for Tonight (40% of retail floor space). Features a full off-licence with a digital ordering kiosk in for spirits (with spirits stored behind checkout). There is also a comprehensive take-home crisps, snacks & soft drinks offering, frozen ice-cream, along with chilled and frozen food and grocery convenience essentials. We also have a spider fridge dedicated to Daybreak exclusive chilled ready meals.
Seated area. Able to accommodate 16 people, the seated area at the front of the shop underlines the store’s position as a local hub for great tasting, quick and easy food. The seated area provides a real attraction for locals, school goers and busy workers looking to relax during breakfast and lunch periods. Consumers can benefit from Wi-Fi access in this area.

Customer Experience

Customer research consistently shows category consideration for Daybreak is highest for breakfast on-the-go, lunch on-the-go, hot beverages, soft drinks/water and snacks, followed by top up on daily staples. This is reflected in our Ashbourne store with breakfast and lunch day-parts being the strongest contributors to the store’s overall profitability.

The store does have a good evening trade (and is open until 9.30pm daily) but key shopper missions noticeably change in the evening to take home snacking, off-licence, small top ups and non-grocery products (e.g. lottery).

The store’s highly focused strategy of targeting fresh and delicious food and beverages to go for breakfast and lunch, all-day snacking and the convenient stop for a great night in are clearly appealing to local shoppers.

The store has a loyal customer base and feedback from shoppers on the store development and new offer has been overwhelmingly positive. Shopper ratings are strongest for store and staff (e.g. helpfulness of staff, ease of finding what you are looking for, ease of getting in and out quickly), range (in particular, wider range/choice of options at the deli) and product quality (in particular, freshly prepared deli options, hot beverage).

Key target customer segments for this store are local students, construction workers, commuters and empty nestors. How these groups shop the store tends to vary somewhat and they celebrate different aspects of the service.

The store is on a busy road with a range of options and commuters place a premium on quality food to go and speed of service, over-indexing on the stores’ grab and go food to go offer, hot beverage, hydration and snacking products. The store design purposely groups these close together in a loop from entrance to checkout to maximise the speed of customer flow. Students, empty nestors and local workers are heaviest users of the Munch & Co deli, with the main draw being the quality and breadth of choice of pre-prepared fresh to order options.

The seating space is also an important draw for local workers, helping to reinforce the store’s position as a foodservice destination and not just a convenience store.

Operational Excellence

People Development and Customer Service

The success of Daybreak’s positioning around fresh and convenient food-to-go rests on Daybreak retailers and their staff sharing our passion for food and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

For this reason, we have a strong focus on store engagement, people development and ongoing fresh food support. For Ashbourne, this has included the following:

The Daybreak Ashbourne owners and key staff were brought on ‘food safaris’ visiting best practice foodservice establishments in Dublin. These safaris were about creating excitement and commitment to dialling up the quality of their food offer and customer experience, as well as identifying best practices that can be implemented in store.
A training plan covering all aspects of the new store offer was implemented with all staff prior to opening. This was conducted primarily by a team of Daybreak fresh food advisors and supported as required by third parties (e.g. coffee training). Training covers topics such as menu preparation, health & safety, food waste management and equipment.
We run regular HR webinars and forums on people management and development, along with updates on the latest HR legal requirements.
We run bi-annual fresh food workshops covering best practice, food safety and seasonal food to go menu launches.
The store participates in a quality assurance programme audited by Lloyds which was developed in conjunction with Musgrave to meet the particular requirements of convenience and food to go retailing.
The store are also signed up to a Musgrave online training platform which allows remote staff training covering topics including food safety, HACCP, customer service and health and safety.

Technology

A comprehensive technology package is implemented in Ashbourne that allows the store to leverage efficiencies and manage their business in line with best practice, while technology support costs are kept competitive for a smaller independent retail site. Key elements of the technology plan include:

Data analytics solution installed on the back-office system that takes Epos data and presents easy to follow reports that highlight sales and margin gaps, reports on performance of price and promotion campaigns, identifies areas to spotlight and tracks and compares shelf price to competitor stores.
New digital screens highlighting menu options in both Munch & Co and Lickety Split enable a more responsive approach to price changes and seasonal new lines.
Telemetry on the coffee dock machines enables centralised monitoring of this section to ensure high ongoing product standards (for instance, that appropriate cleaning and servicing schedules are maintained).
Online training and rostering tool to support both instore staff training and time management.
Energy efficient refrigeration and LED lights to reduce energy consumption, reducing the carbon footprint of the store.

Overall Performance

The performance of the store has been very strong since re-opening.

Overall store sales are up 16%.
Foodservice is a strong driver of store performance
– the core categories of Hot & Cold Food (deli / grab & go fixture), Hot Beverage and Bakery Treats generating 46% of overall gross profit.

‘The Best Foodvenience Store in the World’ 2024