I wanted to post a quick thought on situational appreciation. As many of you who share a northern climate I am engaged in Spring garden preparations, yard work, and lawn maintenance. The past weekend was seasonally warm in my part of the world and I had worked up quite a thirst while moving some soil. As I am conditioned to do, I turned on the garden hose and quenched my thirst the way I had since I was a child. I can honestly say that often I consider cool water from a garden hose to be the finest water I have ever tasted...because I am particularly thirsty, I have fond memories of childhood summer days, the weather was beautiful, I was having a great day etc.
This started me thinking of how we within our industry disregard and demean customers who enjoy corporate coffee etc without considering how we ourselves lower our standards or disarm our prejudices in favour of situational or conditional factors which eclipse taste. Sometimes a Big Mac tastes as fine as a Prime Rib, sometimes a snickers bar tastes better than a Pain au Chocolat, sometimes garden hose water tastes better than Perrier and sometimes grandma's commercial coffee seems better than Esmerelda. Not always, just sometimes.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The 800 Pound Garrulous
Ok, the title is a groaner but it was either that or "Garrulous in the Missed".
The following is my attempt to expand on my previous post and offer some suggestions to create discussion about bringing focus back on the consumer, or at least adding some programs so that all of us agree there is a focus on the consumer. Some of these ideas are things I've stewed about for some time, some have been inspired by comments on my previous post and some from conversations with interested parties. I'm not going to flesh out the ideas and describe how they would fit into SCAA systems because there are others better suited to that task.
1. Re-establish the Retailers Committee within the SCAA leadership group. I see this as a way to represent a company perspective to counter the barista/competition view that drives strategic planning currently. Barista/Micro Roaster input is invaluable, but we need balance. Coffeefest has established a program to reward great cafes presumably because they recognize there is too much focus on the individual.
2. Establish a Consumers Committee within the SCAA leadership. Stocking this committee may be problematic but if they can represent the full spectrum of consumers effectively they can also reduce resentment and provide some perspective on how we are serving our customers needs.
3. Add an additional component to EVERY lesson plan written by the SCAA in all its branches to apply lesson knowledge into how to better serve the customer. Asking course participants to articulate how they would leverage course material to better serve each customer would remind us all who we should be pleasing. If customer service is a component of every lesson plan and not just an online entry level course, it would no doubt improve service across the industry.
4. More effective and balanced use of conventional and social media by SCAA. Re-tweeting and publishing by the SCAA of individuals is perceived as an endorsement (like it or not). That endorsement damages the SCAA when the "endorsed" lash out and behave unprofessionally online or elsewhere. There are many within the Specialty Industry who are routinely criticized and demeaned simply for expressing an opinion. That has to stop and the offenders called out until it stops. There are too many knowledgable and kind coffee people (as Colleen reminded me in my previous post) who have no voice because they are afraid of ridicule or having their head photoshopped on Sprudge or some other form of cyber bullying that characterizes a very small minority of our peers. Having access to SCAA resources comes with responsibility and the beneficiaries can't always claim they were wearing their company hat when they offended some of our community. If it's mean, make it stop and make your voice heard.
5. Reform the barista competition format to make it more closely represent a customer interaction rather than a performance. Maybe it could be based on a sort of "iron chef" type format where signature drinks are based on a unique list of available ingredients for each barista and they are able to construct something blind, or simply shaking up the drink orders so they are not served as a flight, but random like a normal order sequence. There are no doubt many obstacles to this happening, but making the barista demonstrate "working barista" skills rather than performance craft would greatly expand the limited possibilities of the current format. What we would see is a more personal and edgy competition that would both thrill an audience and test the barista's ability to think on their feet, like a normal bar situation.
6. Establish a committee or working group to examine how to recruit more visible minorities into Specialty Coffee. This I think is long overdue. Minorities bring unique perspectives that are vastly under represented currently. I don't know anything about consumer habits within minority communities, but I do know that if the distribution of attendees at SCAA events is any indication, there is a massive amount of business to be gained by engaging with ALL of our society.
Those are my initial thoughts. Please know that these are not intended to demean or diminish anyones past contributions to the coffee community, but my personal suggestions for addressing what is a sore point with many within the industry.
The following is my attempt to expand on my previous post and offer some suggestions to create discussion about bringing focus back on the consumer, or at least adding some programs so that all of us agree there is a focus on the consumer. Some of these ideas are things I've stewed about for some time, some have been inspired by comments on my previous post and some from conversations with interested parties. I'm not going to flesh out the ideas and describe how they would fit into SCAA systems because there are others better suited to that task.
1. Re-establish the Retailers Committee within the SCAA leadership group. I see this as a way to represent a company perspective to counter the barista/competition view that drives strategic planning currently. Barista/Micro Roaster input is invaluable, but we need balance. Coffeefest has established a program to reward great cafes presumably because they recognize there is too much focus on the individual.
2. Establish a Consumers Committee within the SCAA leadership. Stocking this committee may be problematic but if they can represent the full spectrum of consumers effectively they can also reduce resentment and provide some perspective on how we are serving our customers needs.
3. Add an additional component to EVERY lesson plan written by the SCAA in all its branches to apply lesson knowledge into how to better serve the customer. Asking course participants to articulate how they would leverage course material to better serve each customer would remind us all who we should be pleasing. If customer service is a component of every lesson plan and not just an online entry level course, it would no doubt improve service across the industry.
4. More effective and balanced use of conventional and social media by SCAA. Re-tweeting and publishing by the SCAA of individuals is perceived as an endorsement (like it or not). That endorsement damages the SCAA when the "endorsed" lash out and behave unprofessionally online or elsewhere. There are many within the Specialty Industry who are routinely criticized and demeaned simply for expressing an opinion. That has to stop and the offenders called out until it stops. There are too many knowledgable and kind coffee people (as Colleen reminded me in my previous post) who have no voice because they are afraid of ridicule or having their head photoshopped on Sprudge or some other form of cyber bullying that characterizes a very small minority of our peers. Having access to SCAA resources comes with responsibility and the beneficiaries can't always claim they were wearing their company hat when they offended some of our community. If it's mean, make it stop and make your voice heard.
5. Reform the barista competition format to make it more closely represent a customer interaction rather than a performance. Maybe it could be based on a sort of "iron chef" type format where signature drinks are based on a unique list of available ingredients for each barista and they are able to construct something blind, or simply shaking up the drink orders so they are not served as a flight, but random like a normal order sequence. There are no doubt many obstacles to this happening, but making the barista demonstrate "working barista" skills rather than performance craft would greatly expand the limited possibilities of the current format. What we would see is a more personal and edgy competition that would both thrill an audience and test the barista's ability to think on their feet, like a normal bar situation.
6. Establish a committee or working group to examine how to recruit more visible minorities into Specialty Coffee. This I think is long overdue. Minorities bring unique perspectives that are vastly under represented currently. I don't know anything about consumer habits within minority communities, but I do know that if the distribution of attendees at SCAA events is any indication, there is a massive amount of business to be gained by engaging with ALL of our society.
Those are my initial thoughts. Please know that these are not intended to demean or diminish anyones past contributions to the coffee community, but my personal suggestions for addressing what is a sore point with many within the industry.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Drop Dead Garrulous
Garrulous: Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative, especially on trivial matters.
Specialty Coffee has come a long way from the times when most aspired to be like Starbucks to now when most aspire to be most unlike Starbucks, but I believe companies may be better served taking a peek at what Big Green is doing right. Like it or not, Starbucks is still growing and is having an even bigger impact on coffee perceptions and customer expectations. Starbucks focuses very well on their customers wants and is constantly probing for the right formulae. Howard Schulz (Starbucks CEO) speaks with a very clear voice on satisfying expectations, delivering value and delighting their patrons. Starbucks achieves this by focusing solely on the customer.
Concurrent to this Specialty Coffee has been engaged in an exercise of self-indulgent narcissism that is completely removed from the customer experience and has more to do with gazing in the mirror than looking at the customer. Whether it is the proliferation of new and trivial competitions where contestants are encouraged to elucidate their solitary experiences and the judges stand in as proxies for real customers, or an effort to elevate the barista so far above mere counter service that they fail to serve effectively, the result is the same, an industry so engaged with itself that they've disengaged from the customers.
Very recently a twitter thread appeared in my timeline (re-tweeted by someone I admire and follow) concerning the inconsequential but fashionable topic of cold brew, leveraging standards and protocols that a lab would have a difficult time reproducing. The impression that the garrulous participants (two former Board Members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America) were clearly debating not so the customers might have a better experience, but so their audience might be impressed with their staggering mastery of all things trivial was not lost on the re-tweeter. These exchanges happen every day among the leaders of the Specialty Coffee Industry and are hard to miss given the disproportionate number of times these threads appear in SCAA publications and their social media feeds thereby securing the Associations implicit nod of approval.
Presently we portray an industry that has moved from taking twitter shots of latte art to examining nonsense in minute detail and fetishizing exotic coffees and preparation techniques in the hope of gaining affirmation from our peers instead of our customers. We have completely failed to understand that it’s the customers experience that matters, not the barista’s and that a great conversation over average coffee at Starbucks is better than a great coffee and a performance at (insert café name here). We don’t get it, but Starbucks does.
Here’s hoping that current and future SCAA Leadership and Executive Council positions are populated with people who act like customers, not competitors.
*Drop Dead Garrulous is (what I think) a clever play on words and not a desire that anyone die or be otherwise harmed as a result of my post.
Specialty Coffee has come a long way from the times when most aspired to be like Starbucks to now when most aspire to be most unlike Starbucks, but I believe companies may be better served taking a peek at what Big Green is doing right. Like it or not, Starbucks is still growing and is having an even bigger impact on coffee perceptions and customer expectations. Starbucks focuses very well on their customers wants and is constantly probing for the right formulae. Howard Schulz (Starbucks CEO) speaks with a very clear voice on satisfying expectations, delivering value and delighting their patrons. Starbucks achieves this by focusing solely on the customer.
Concurrent to this Specialty Coffee has been engaged in an exercise of self-indulgent narcissism that is completely removed from the customer experience and has more to do with gazing in the mirror than looking at the customer. Whether it is the proliferation of new and trivial competitions where contestants are encouraged to elucidate their solitary experiences and the judges stand in as proxies for real customers, or an effort to elevate the barista so far above mere counter service that they fail to serve effectively, the result is the same, an industry so engaged with itself that they've disengaged from the customers.
Very recently a twitter thread appeared in my timeline (re-tweeted by someone I admire and follow) concerning the inconsequential but fashionable topic of cold brew, leveraging standards and protocols that a lab would have a difficult time reproducing. The impression that the garrulous participants (two former Board Members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America) were clearly debating not so the customers might have a better experience, but so their audience might be impressed with their staggering mastery of all things trivial was not lost on the re-tweeter. These exchanges happen every day among the leaders of the Specialty Coffee Industry and are hard to miss given the disproportionate number of times these threads appear in SCAA publications and their social media feeds thereby securing the Associations implicit nod of approval.
Presently we portray an industry that has moved from taking twitter shots of latte art to examining nonsense in minute detail and fetishizing exotic coffees and preparation techniques in the hope of gaining affirmation from our peers instead of our customers. We have completely failed to understand that it’s the customers experience that matters, not the barista’s and that a great conversation over average coffee at Starbucks is better than a great coffee and a performance at (insert café name here). We don’t get it, but Starbucks does.
Here’s hoping that current and future SCAA Leadership and Executive Council positions are populated with people who act like customers, not competitors.
*Drop Dead Garrulous is (what I think) a clever play on words and not a desire that anyone die or be otherwise harmed as a result of my post.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Pay Your Taxes...All of Them!
This is a friendly reminder in this season of the taxman, to pay up!
Importers, Roasters, Cafes, Cafe Owners and Barista all have special and individualized obligations to accurately and truthfully assess and remit tax returns to their respective governments. Governments have special powers to make sure you eventually pay your taxes or face stiff fines, staggering interest rates and even jail time.
While I don't know much about the tax code here in Canada (my accountant does) let alone the Euro Zone, Pacific Rim or the US, I do know that failure to submit a return and tax fraud (intentionally lying on a return) is reserved for especially harsh treatment by the authorities, so here's my advice.
1. Get your paperwork in front of a qualified bookkeeper, accountant or tax professional in good order and on time.
2. File your completed and accurate tax forms on time even if you don't have the money to pay what is due.
3. Immediately contact your government tax office and make arrangements to pay off any tax that is due in a time period you can afford.
4. Business owners must absolutely pay payroll, sales, health taxes and report them accurately. These monies are generally collected by the business owners from customers on behalf of the government and is therefore held "in trust". Failure to pay these taxes can result in the government immediately seizing your bank accounts and shutting down your business overnight.
5. Ignoring the problem will definitely end up in personal and business failure...guaranteed. There is an infamous case of an espresso bar owner who at year end will owe over $800,000 and with it compounding at an annual rate of 20%, will owe over a million dollars next year.
Life changing, life sentence. Pay Your Taxes...All of Them
Importers, Roasters, Cafes, Cafe Owners and Barista all have special and individualized obligations to accurately and truthfully assess and remit tax returns to their respective governments. Governments have special powers to make sure you eventually pay your taxes or face stiff fines, staggering interest rates and even jail time.
While I don't know much about the tax code here in Canada (my accountant does) let alone the Euro Zone, Pacific Rim or the US, I do know that failure to submit a return and tax fraud (intentionally lying on a return) is reserved for especially harsh treatment by the authorities, so here's my advice.
1. Get your paperwork in front of a qualified bookkeeper, accountant or tax professional in good order and on time.
2. File your completed and accurate tax forms on time even if you don't have the money to pay what is due.
3. Immediately contact your government tax office and make arrangements to pay off any tax that is due in a time period you can afford.
4. Business owners must absolutely pay payroll, sales, health taxes and report them accurately. These monies are generally collected by the business owners from customers on behalf of the government and is therefore held "in trust". Failure to pay these taxes can result in the government immediately seizing your bank accounts and shutting down your business overnight.
5. Ignoring the problem will definitely end up in personal and business failure...guaranteed. There is an infamous case of an espresso bar owner who at year end will owe over $800,000 and with it compounding at an annual rate of 20%, will owe over a million dollars next year.
Life changing, life sentence. Pay Your Taxes...All of Them
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