Economic Crunch: How Will It Affect Our Business?
I would love to hear what you think the repercussions of the economy will mean to the coffee industry.
I have my inclinations and will share when the discussion begins to roll.
I have my inclinations and will share when the discussion begins to roll.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Matt Milletto on
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Sounds good to me. :)
Jon brings up a good reminder to all who have small to large staffs. Create your own group on bX. There are internal forums, messaging, etc. that you can use ... for free. :)
- Matt
Jon Mitchell said:Great idea javaqueen. Or if your wifi has a splash page that requires users to accept a Terms of Service agreement, maybe the next screen can be a "suggestions" box or redirected immediately to a group on BaristaExchange.... I'm sure Matt would love that. ;-)
javaqueen said:Just out of curiosity Richard... how did you find this site? Is your coffee shop leaving their computer up on this site?
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Permalink Reply by Jack Shipley on
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OK. Now it's March 2009 and the politics have been decided. Coffee shops have always been a place for debate ... hope your shop is, too.
Now, what are you doing to stabilize and grow your revenues? We roast in our cafe so we got serious about wholesale and that's helped offset softness at the espresso bar. We're planning a "how to get great coffee at home" event.
I'm a big advocate of 10-minute (10-mile) marketing. We focus on community engagement working with a lot of non-profit and community groups. We don't spend much, if any, on typical media advertising. Just stopped a coupon book because it wasn't generating new customers.
I recently read a blog piece about the depression era when Kellogg and Post were neck and neck. Post cut back marketing; Kellogg didn't. Guess who came out on top?
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Permalink Reply by Jesse -D-> on
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Things might not be so bad after all. This is an excerpt from an article on Yahoo about stocks doing well during the recession.
"The daily latte may not be toast. Starbucks stock was another early victim of the crash. The shares collapsed. Everyone beat them up last fall, because an expensive latte habit is one of the easiest budget cuts a hard-pressed consumer can make.
The market's rethinking this one, too. Starbucks stock has now jumped 55% from the lows. Sure, sales and profits are well down. But management is fighting back with cost savings and new initiatives. More than 750,000 people have signed up for Starbucks loyalty cards, triple what the company expected. (And that's a wireless play too: They give you some free WiFi with your beverage.) The coffee shop has become an important part of many people's day. Shares in rival coffee chain Peet's are up about 10% too."
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think about using your splash page creatively by not only adding a suggestion form but also links to an instructions for giving your shop a Stumble, Digg or review on Yelp, Yahoo and your directory listings that permit the same. We're just setting this up but I'll let you know the results.
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Permalink Reply by Samantha Bako on
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I wish I knew how to manage our own wifi. We have someone else doing it, and we asked them to put a small bit of info on our login page - well, he did, but he didn't even put line breaks into what we gave him, so it's this hideous mass of messy, useless text that just looks awful. It's a huge, huge pet peeve of mine, and since I'm an opener I have to see it every single day. I fixed the code and sent it to him, but he still hasn't changed our page.
As a mere barista with no control over the situation, it irks me something awful. I'd love to learn how to change passwords, create the splash page, and do whatever other management is necessary.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Yates on
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Hire a new tech. There are plenty out there looking for work. Shoot, find a teenager riding the free wifi and persuade him to do it for some fast cash, provided you can keep the site secure. There is no reason to settle for shoddy work, especially if it is the electronic face of your shop!
Samantha Bako said:I wish I knew how to manage our own wifi. We have someone else doing it, and we asked them to put a small bit of info on our login page - well, he did, but he didn't even put line breaks into what we gave him, so it's this hideous mass of messy, useless text that just looks awful. It's a huge, huge pet peeve of mine, and since I'm an opener I have to see it every single day. I fixed the code and sent it to him, but he still hasn't changed our page.
As a mere barista with no control over the situation, it irks me something awful. I'd love to learn how to change passwords, create the splash page, and do whatever other management is necessary.
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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on
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Jan-Oct '08 average versus Nov '08 down 28%, when the doo-doo hit the fan
Nov 08 vs Nov 07 down 15.7%
Dec 08 vs Dec 07 down 5%
Jan 09 vs Jan 08 down 15.4%
Feb 09 vs Feb 08 down 15.5%
Mar 09 vs Mar 08 UP 1.4%
Dec 08 vs Nov 08 up 1.8%
Jan 09 vs Dec 08 down 5.5%
Feb 09 vs Jan 09 up 8.5%
Mar 09 vs Feb 09 up 20.3%
Mar 09 also back up equal to Jan-Oct 08 average within a couple bucks
The next couple months may be a good indicator if my shop is actually somewhat stabilizing from the economic roller coaster initial big dive.
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If it were up to me, it wouldn't even be an issue. As it is, it seems to be someone who works for our service provider? I have no idea. I just know he's the wifi guy and he isn't paid to put our login stuff up, I guess he just does it as a favor in addition to handling our wifi service. I don't own the company, I just work here.
I do plan on harassing our owner about it a little more, though.
Paul Yates said:Hire a new tech. There are plenty out there looking for work. Shoot, find a teenager riding the free wifi and persuade him to do it for some fast cash, provided you can keep the site secure. There is no reason to settle for shoddy work, especially if it is the electronic face of your shop!
Samantha Bako said:I wish I knew how to manage our own wifi. We have someone else doing it, and we asked them to put a small bit of info on our login page - well, he did, but he didn't even put line breaks into what we gave him, so it's this hideous mass of messy, useless text that just looks awful. It's a huge, huge pet peeve of mine, and since I'm an opener I have to see it every single day. I fixed the code and sent it to him, but he still hasn't changed our page.
As a mere barista with no control over the situation, it irks me something awful. I'd love to learn how to change passwords, create the splash page, and do whatever other management is necessary.
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Devon said:Mike,
Are those figures based on revenue or gross profit?
Devon
Gross revenue, profits lately are indeed gross!
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Permalink Reply by lindsaytron on
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yknow what?
as long as things don't get TERRIBLE, we're okay.
at least in my area, it's actually pretty okay;
there's lots of restaurants in the area, and they are hurting, but americans hate making their own dinners and LOVE going out on the town.
light dinner and coffee and dessert at my cafe is way cheaper than going to one of the classy restaurants in town- so really, all things considered, we're in a good business for a recession.
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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Hitchcock on
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Thats the niche I think a lot of shops are hoping to fill. Its a great date idea and people will always want to go out on dates. When you look at beer sales numbers (which were thought to be recession proof) and their decline you have to think about their inflation rate. I think the inherent or perceived value of coffee is better than that of other "going out" items.
lindsaytron said:yknow what?
as long as things don't get TERRIBLE, we're okay.
at least in my area, it's actually pretty okay;
there's lots of restaurants in the area, and they are hurting, but americans hate making their own dinners and LOVE going out on the town.
light dinner and coffee and dessert at my cafe is way cheaper than going to one of the classy restaurants in town- so really, all things considered, we're in a good business for a recession.
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