The Coffee Business Paradox    Coffee Talk : September 2006

The more it changes the more it stays the same.

Coffee Taste and The Coffee Experience move with consumer times, and yet they are timeless. They speak to the same people, their understanding and their expectations. Uncompromised taste will never go out of fashion and always sell more.

My comments today go to the heart of this Coffee branding: That it is all about that taste and that experience. Today we all actually really only care about ourselves. Great if we think a brand can help us but if a business is so much about cuisine and it is all about controlling the factors that make that special coffee moment then the responsibility has to lie with us as that business owner/manager to control that cuisine/taste.

In the business of coffee consistency and above all communicating that consistency through time is the name of the game. To be successful in the coffee business you need to work the past, present and future of that quality experience and then communicate it to everyone. So … accept what you had, understand where you are and tell everybody what you are going to do. It could be that you were Instant or really poorly brewed …. are now real or mediocre brewed and sales are static …. and are going to put as much effort into your coffee as your food and make it taste fantastic. (guaranteed to increase your sales)

The Espresso Logic Program operates with an unswerving premise. To build your coffee badge you need a great coffee plan & idea and you need to stay true to it. One idea. One strategy. One equity. One message. Great Coffee cannot be all things to all people. Nor should it – cheap coffee is an allusion. Consistently good taste is what will drive your coffee business to profitability and so your task is to get that quality taste message into the mind of your customers consciousness. Without that control of brewing factors you get diluted and soured results.

Consistency allows you to build and sustain respect. Respect looks to performance, reputation and trust as its organising principles. Whether you're about mass or class, you have to earn respect with everybody and fantastic coffee demands loads of respect.

Consumers, however, are tougher to connect with - They set their own terms. People are about 80% emotional and 20% rational. Its all about your communication and how effective you make it so don’t dare tell mistruths or exaggerate – it results in (to quote a famous play) ‘Death of the Salesman’ and as you know from my previous articles we are all salesmen! Get 80% coffee production rational (Focus on Cleanliness, Freshness & Extraction – oh yes regular readers you have heard that before) and 20% coffee selling emotional to arrive at yet another coffee business paradox – where the actual profit lies.

Paradox is a mysterious art. Work with two opposing concepts in all their complexity with equal passion. Refuse to make a choice. Instead of the best of neither, you get something better than both. Reason and emotion. Long and short term. Exclusivity and experience. Never changing and moving forward.
In fantastic coffee there is no best, only better. Big isn't beautiful. Small isn't beautiful. It's simple that is most beautiful if you want to successfully sell lots of coffee - massively increasing your bottom line at the same time.