|
No More Rip Off Coffee Please.
Wise Up Britain. Its time for all businesses that sell coffee (for a great margin don’t forget) to take responsibility for providing something that’s at least drinkable EVERY time.
There are an awful lot of people selling coffee out there. I have been doing a fair bit of travelling around the UK & Ireland recently and something very simple and very obvious struck me when I consider what to write about for this edition of Small Beans ….. I really struggle to get a drinkable cup of coffee when I am outside my normal environment. I regularly have to bin coffee and it is seriously not because I am fussy … I need my daily hit and while my expectation is over delivered sometimes, occasionally spectacularly, there is just too much absolute rubbish sold in the name of coffee that I think a stand needs to be made. In Belfast its not necessarily better (although I think it is) but it is easier because I behave like the average regular customer anywhere else and patronise coffee businesses that I have experience of and can trust.
Now I know that many of you (because you are actually reading a coffee focused publication), deliver a decent coffee experience, God knows its not that difficult, so maybe for you its time to start saying to the Hotel you have stayed in for the first time, that coffee bar at the train station you had never heard of, the latest restaurant that you have been recommended, the service station you found a coffee offer at, the chain in the centre of Manchester, London, Birmingham, Glasgow or Dublin …. WISE UP … and make a stand by insisting that they refund your money. If everybody reading this makes a point of returning the one bad coffee in the next month we might make a small impact on the majority of businesses that in my view are ripping us off. Maybe Small Beans could set up a Crap Coffee helpline where coffee fans could call for some emotional support after handing over up to 2 quid for something undrinkable or barely palatable – Andy Bishop could be chief counsellor (we are looking into it Hugh! - Ed).
For those of you reading this who know they are guilty of selling badly made coffee then do something about it right now. Life is all about action … those that do win.
Really great tasting Coffee . . . Its hard to find . . . Great Coffee, like good food or cocktails comes from understanding it first, making it with care and delivering it consistently with the right attitude. Timing is everything & Keeping it Simple to start with is the key. In my experience coffee issues can be turned around really quickly by starting with a clear quality taste expectation, setting some challenges and getting everybody focused.
So first step - determine where you are — what your regular coffee tastes like at different points of the day. Is it fresh ? Is it hot ? Is there flavour ? If you don’t know ask your customers – Look for the emotion—the Coffee pain, the Coffee disgust, the Coffee frustration. Get clear that you TRULY want to change. It's about being certain about what you're willing to accept and what you won't from your staff. You could also start with the last customer complaint. Its valuable feedback. One complaint may represent hundreds of others who didn't take the time to complain—but also won't buy again.
Another very simple starting point is to look at your competition. Who does it better? We can learn from what others are doing. What do they do better than we do? How do they do that? And why DON'T we do it as well? It's not that we are trying to be just like them, but we can always learn from others.
At some point, either through motivation, inspiration or just plain disgust, we have to say, "No more!" Enough of accepting that our coffee is good enough. No longer will we settle for mediocrity and the status quo. Instead, we'll raise our standards and accept nothing less. An important part of doing this is to upgrade our belief system and consider carefully what's actually possible and actually how much profit can be made from a great taste. There are usually no quick fixes …. but wherever you are you can start today.
If you want to create excellence, if you're truly committed to raising the bar, you will have to be willing to look at what's true and confront the brutal facts about your coffee service.
Go on …. Raise your sights. Raise your expectations. Raise your standards. And make your coffee consistently taste good. Its not that difficult you know and nobody ever minds paying you a bit more for a good experience improving your profitability no end. Get into decent coffee …Life is too short for anything else.
| 
