Only 12oz, are you crazy?
We will soon be dropping to only 12 oz hot sizes (and only 8oz for caps, and only 16 oz for cold) and I am trying to decide what to do with the drip coffee customers. What might be some possible situations to satisfy the 20 oz drip customer. Add shots are always an option. Any thoughts as to ways of helping the drip customer...thanks for any feedback.
Zach
Zach
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Spencer on
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How much of your business is eat-in vs. take-out?
for eat-in you may want to move to mugs with refills.
For take-out how about selling 2 12 ounce for the price of the old 20 oz???
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Permalink Reply by Jason Dominy on
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I'm with Spencer. For eating in, it's a no-brainer. Ceramic mug with free refills. For to-go, your choice is easy, you have a 12 oz. cup, and that's it. Either you do away with the larger size, or you don't. You can't just have 20 oz. drip coffee, and not a 20 oz. latte, it will only piss people off. You have to figure out the best way to satisfy your objectives and customers at the same time. Perhaps you go with a 16 oz. as standard instead? It's really the only way to achieve the balance you are looking for, I'm afraid. (And adding shots will not be fine with everyone, especially the taste of it.)
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Permalink Reply by Z Bancroft on
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Yeah, We will be pushing for ACF ceramic for here. And yes, we'll do refills. It is more of an issue fo rthe to-go people. I am on the run and don't have time for a refill. I thought of the 2- 12 ouncers for a discount price, but that gets really wasteful, something we are trying to avoid. I really think the add shot might be the best thing, but some will hate just because they can't get the volume, and it not being an issue of caffeine content.
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I won't likely offer a bigger (16 or 20) just for drip for that reason, people will say, "Well the cup is right there, just put more milk in it." And you are right, they will think we are jerks and crazy if the cup is available, but we won't do it. I will admit we are crazy, but not jerks. We are going traditional on this, so the largest hot will be 12oz, even at the risk of pissing off people and losing them as customers. I firmly believe we will gain more with our stance and commitment to quality.
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Here may be a possible solution. Bring in a traveler cup, and we will fill it for you, drip only, but we would adjust price for size of cup. We may however, run into the issue of them asking for a latte in their 20 oz travel mug...there's always a catch. Dang! A possibility at least.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Guglielmino on
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Jason, I'm going to disagree with you on this one. If you start doing free refills it devalues the coffee, the goal of single sizes is to encourage the customer to really enjoy the coffee and not see it as commodity. As for the latte while still having 20oz cups for drip issue, that is easy and I have seen it work. Get rid of your large sized steaming pitchers. Customer: You have the right sized cups, Why cant you just make one for me? Staff: I don't have anything large enough to steam it in. While Barefoot Coffee Roasters cafe (the company i work for) has only single sizes I never see a customer bat an eye after being told, "Oh, that only comes in one size" I see it work everyday.
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Thanks Scott. The truth comes out, Barefoot Coffee, my true inspiration. And I agree, 50 cents for refills baby! Adding a 16 or 20 oz size just for drip does solve the drip concerns, but could become a slippery slope with Americanos and Cafe au Lait? But alas, for the principle matter of realigning our Starbucks misguided culture, we fight and say, no, I am the soup nazi."No soup for you"!
Hoping to come visit soon.
Zach
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This goes to prove that going the "traditional" route, or even changing over is a challenge, and one that shouldn't be easily done. (Well, it should, but unfortunately, it won't be.) This won't work in all markets and areas, and it's a conversation I had with Ken Nye of Ninth Street. We couldn't go the traditional route here, yet. It is something I have thought about, and tried to work through the logistics of, same thing Zach is doing. There's alot to think about, or at least there is here in the Southeast. So, maybe I speak just for myself or my area, but it's awesome what Barefoot has done, and continue to do.
The arguments you offer would have no merit around here. So, we do what we can, but I enjoy the conversation on how to make it happen whenever we can do that purist thing around these parts! Good discussion!
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Are you sure that you are not in a market that could handle it? Is there ANYONE doing it? Are you just like Starbucks, but just way better? what if it was totally different than your typical coffee shop? Wouldn't people flock to that because it was so different? I feel the same way sometimes, that I am not in the right market. We are in pretty conservative, give it to me quick , I gotta run kind of community in SoCal. Maybe others that have had similar battles can chime in on those struggles and how they overcame it. I guess I just like being the black sheep sometimes.
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I can't say we are anything like Starbucks, but I can say our market is certainly more traditional. I know there's alot of people including myself that are working to change it, but right now it is what it is. Give us a couple of years here, and I think it's a different story. And there's still a big difference from SoCal and Charlotte, NC. That purist menu is one 90% of the people in our building would be all over if we could. We have been successful competing in Charlotte for 19 years, and am working to segway the first wave to the third.
But it is true you have to balance your ideals and your customers wants and needs. At the end of the day you gotta pay payroll and light bills.
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To the coffee purists and the specialty coffee professional each drink has value and cost, we want to build sustainability (using various definitions) within our company and industry. Thus, we ask why is the second cup of less value than the first?
On the other hand, our industry as a whole has embraced a volume at all costs mentality and no offers brewed coffee and espresso beverages up to 24 ounces with a variety of cost reduced refill programs.
What is the right answer? There is no easy or correct answer as each owner must investigate his or her marketplace, develop their concept, and operate using current consumer-market-competitive conditions. Please note that one of the hardest things in business to do is change your concept, radically change your menu, and re-educate your consumers.
All that being said, I applaud your desire and support going "traditional" using smaller sizes and charging for every cup! However for eat-in customers this may not be acceptable and considering a refill program may be the order of the day.
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I have accepted the fact that I will have to defend this for a long time. I am sure some of my existing customers will take off for another cafe, but I will likely gain others as the word gets out of our commitment to quality and different appproach. It is a daily struggle for me to figure out what battles are worth it, spencer, I appreciate your comments about the value of the product. I guess it is the expected thing, weird, but we all expect free stuff, what a culture we are, haha
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