Caffè Nero Builds a Scalable Data Platform for Real-Time Decision Making

Retail

Enterprise

Caffè Nero Builds a Scalable Data Platform for Real-Time Decision Making

Technology used

Snowflake

Matillion ETL

Microsoft Azure

Power BI

Oracle Simphony (POS)

Crunchtime

Rotageek

Braze

Solution

Designed and delivered a modern, cloud‑native data platform, migrating the legacy SQL Server data warehouse and Cognos estate to Snowflake, Matillion, and Power BI, creating a scalable, governed foundation for advanced analytics and AI.

Results

The new platform transformed data accessibility across the business, enabling real-time store reporting to support faster, in-day decision-making, AI-powered sales forecasting to improve product availability and reduce waste, and a trusted single version of the truth that democratises data across the organisation.

The Challenge

The Solution

The Results

The Challenge

Caffè Nero’s data estate had become increasingly difficult to maintain and scale. As the business expanded internationally, its legacy on‑premise SQL Server data warehouse and reporting environment struggled to keep pace. Caffè Nero’s ambition was clear: modernise its data platform, move to the cloud, and establish the foundations for becoming a truly data‑driven organisation.

Frequent ETL pipeline failures caused delays in critical reporting, particularly in sales data used by finance leaders and executives. In practice, this meant reports were often unavailable or delayed, with teams required to manually diagnose issues, rerun data pipelines, and restore outputs, consuming valuable time and effort.

The data environment restricted innovation; Reporting was static and inflexible, data quality inconsistencies reduced trust, and development teams were focused on 'keeping the lights on' rather than building new capabilities.

Business leaders lacked timely, actionable insight to operate effectively at scale.

For me, it’s the first step towards rolling out more data than they ever have done before, into more people’s hands than they’ve ever done before. Ultimately transforming more business teams at Caffè Nero to be data-driven.

Mark Todkill

Group Head of Delivery

United Kingdom

The Solution

Snap Analytics partnered with Caffè Nero to deliver a complete transformation of its data estate, moving from legacy on‑premise systems to a modern, cloud‑native architecture built on Snowflake, Matillion, and Power BI.

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Future-Ready Architecture

Snap conducted a comprehensive discovery phase to assess the existing architecture which had evolved over many years, presenting significant technical complexity. Rather than performing a 'Lift & Shift', Snap rationalised legacy assets to design a future-ready architecture with data products prioritised based on business value. Snap Analytics lead the end-to end migration of: SQL Server → Snowflake, SSIS → Matillion ETL, Cognos → Power BI.

Rebuilding of Data Pipelines

Using Snap Analytics' proprietary SETL Framework to ensure consistency, governance, and scalability across the platform. A Star Schema dimensional model was implemented to structure data for reporting, creating a robust and intuitive foundation for analytics.

"One Team" Co-Delivery Approach

Embedding Caffè Nero engineers within Snap Analytics' delivery team formed a unified 'One-team' model that accelerated delivery and ensured sound knowledge transfer. Continuous alignment with stakeholders across the business ensured new reporting solutions aligned with real operational needs.

Leveraging the Modern Data Stack for New Insights

Real-tme in store performance dashboards enabled store managers to make decisions throughout the day to enhance performance.

Weather Data & AI Powered Sales Forecasting

Weather data shared via Snowflake’s marketplace allows Caffè Nero to understand the impact of weather on footfall and as a contributing factor to sales, along with AI powered sales forecasting to more accurately predict sales to increase availability and reduce wastage.

The Results

Single Source of Truth

Caffè Nero now operates from a unified, consistent dataset across all reporting and analytics.

Real-Time Reporting

Store-level performance updates now refresh continuously throughout the day, supporting timely business-critical reporting.

Executive Leadership Visibility

Leadership has access to consolidated dashboards for real-time decision-making.

Self-Service Analytics

Teams can independently explore data, reducing reliance on IT and supporting faster insight generation.

Improved Reliability

Stable, governed pipelines replaced frequent failures and reporting delays.

Scalable Global Reporting

The new cloud platform supports reporting at scale across international teams.

Foundation for Future Innovation

Frontline teams have better data access through tools such as the operations portal, while IT can focus on building new capabilities and future AI initiatives.

Caffè Nero is one of Europe’s leading coffee house brands, operating over 1,300 stores across 10 countries. Known for its premium coffee and welcoming “third place” experience between home and work, the business serves millions of customers each year across multiple international markets. With continued global expansion, Caffè Nero is focused on leveraging data and technology to enhance customer experience, optimise operations, and drive strategic growth.

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