I love coffee. I drink a lot of it. I’m kind of a snob about it. My wife got me about 10 pounds of coffee of several varieties and roasts for Christmas which will supply the espresso machine we got in September.
So I was interested to read that Starbucks is good for mom-and-pop coffee shops. I actually believe this to an extent, based on two data points. Point the first is the block I live on. There’s a Starbucks on the ground floor of new construction about 30 feet from my door. Across the street, there’s an independent place about 100 feet away. The independent place (under new management) has taken off since the opening of the Starbucks according to locals who have been here a while. The block has become a coffee haven. Point the second is an anecdote from Tom Monaghan’s autobiography, Pizza Tiger. Domino’s Pizza was getting sued by Domino Sugar for trademark infringement and started a second chain of pizza places called Pizza Dispatch in case they had to close all the Dominos. They found that when they opened a Pizza Dispatch near the Domino’s location, retail sales went up at the original location because the area became known for pizza. [Insert reader tirade on Monaghan here.]
Business for independently owned coffee shops has been nothing less than exceptional as of late. Here’s a statistic that might be surprising, given the omnipresence of the Starbucks empire: According to recent figures from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, 57 percent of the nation’s coffeehouses are still mom and pops. Just over the five-year period from 2000 to 2005—long after Starbucks supposedly obliterated indie cafes—the number of mom and pops grew 40 percent, from 9,800 to nearly 14,000 coffeehouses. (Starbucks, I might add, tripled in size over that same time period. Good times all around.)
The question is, when does Starbucks become bad for indie coffee? I suspect there comes a time when there are so many Big Coffee chains around driving up rents that indies can’t afford the leases in good retail areas. UPDATE: Lemme know, Murph.
Hooray for holiday coffee-blogging!
Yes, the officemate says that Starbucks’ entrance into a market helps the indies in that market – the theory goes that it makes snobby coffee-drinking safe for the masses, and, once they’re okay with the idea of espresso, they’re willing to venture out and try the indies, where they find a better experience.
From this theory of “mainstreaming” espresso consumption, McDonalds’ new line of “espresso” drinks is probably even better for the indies.
Though, eventually, I think we start to hit a saturation point – so far, espresso consumption seems to be highly elastic based on availability, but even I can only drink so much. At what point do the Starbucks and the McDonalds networks, with their predatory lease buyouts (as noted in the article), drive-throughs, etc, soak up a large enough share of the final market that the indies, with their 12-hour workdays (or 40-hour-work-weeks on top of day jobs), decide it’s just not worth it?
*shrug*.
I’m not sure about the McDonalds effect, as they would seem to downscale or Wal-Martize the consumption of coffee to the point that indies couldn’t be supported by the margins.
The
BridgestoneBridgehead, a local-to-regional chain in Ottawa, has some frigging good coffee (in a mug next to my computer now). FTO, small batch, roasted right. Definitely a good cup (in walkable locations, no less).Drive-throughs. Ugh.
I’m right now in Galaxie, a spare, concrete-floored indie in a neighborhood commercial strip in Seattle’s Beacon Hill ‘hood. Great coffee, green-tea-and-red-bean muffin, and the art on the wall is concept plan alternatives for a neighborhood park; apparently the cafe hosted a neighborhood forum for the design consultants, and convinced them to leave behind the displays for continuing reference. Good place.
New rule: all comments on your blog have to begin with a discussion of the coffee we’re drinking at the moment.
I’m not sure how much McD’s charges for their “espresso drinks”. I’m sure it’s cheaper than the average indie, but the competition on quality is a blindingly clear win. As long as the McD’s converts stumble into an indie coffee shop at some point in their lives, I expect they’ll be hooked on the stuff that doesn’t suck.
In the meantime, yeah, drivethroughs. I can’t tell you how many Ypsilantians I heard say that they or their spouses were excited that Starbucks was opening a drive-through in sprawl-land Washtenaw Ave so that they could get coffee on the way to work in A2 in the morning. I always start a fruitless conversation, “But, what about Luwak?” “Oh, it’s closed in the morning.” “Ugly Mug?” “Eh, it’s smoky.” “Bombadill’s?” “It’s out of the way.” “Three whole blocks!?” “Yeah, I know, but, hey, y’know?”
Stupid drivethroughs…