Selling What?

I have an idea for a little coffee shop that I think is really great. Me, I would frequent often. But how do you know if the masses will come? The saying goes, "Build it and they will come." How do you know that will happen? Peter Drucker wrote, "The customer rarely buys what the company thinks it sells them." He said that over 50 years ago but it still rings true today. When you think of it his way, you start thinking more about the end user and what is most important to them. How do you satisfy and make them want to come back?


I look around every time I enter a Starbucks. It is usually full of people and not a seat to be had. Each have a cup of something in front of them. The line is long, and I dislike lines, but half the time I will stand in it and wait for a mediocre cup of coffee, latte or chi tea. After the wait in the line, and I have my drink in hand, sometimes not even really hot and just a simply a cup of coffee or latte but nothing really special, but I paid 2 - 4 dollars for it, I look for a place to rest and hope I find one. What is the draw of this place? My analysis is... people are buying a seat. It is a place to sit and check the email, catch up, meet a friend, or just a place to take a rest after a long day of being on your feet. Maybe a place to kill time before going to work or a meeting. Sit and prepare for the meeting or finish off some work that you can't get done with all the interruptions in the office. So I'm thinking Starbucks sells a spot to pull it all together before you continue on, Starbucks really isn't selling coffee.  It has to be that...the coffee just isn't so superb that you would stand in line, get a luke warm latte, and drink it anyway, service is ok but not great in most I have been in. That Peter is so smart! Starbucks sells coffee but what the customer wants is a spot to take the load off. That is the success of the place. Do I see people walking out with a Venti in hand? I do, but these people are in a hurry, or couldn't find a seat. I think what they are buying is a legal stimulant. The excepted drug of our day. I have long said that coffee is no longer a beverage to me, it is just a drug, my fix at 2:00 in the afternoon when I need a pick me up to get me through the rest of the day. If this person is like me, it doesn't have to be Starbucks, if a Redbull is closer, well that will work too. Starbucks in NYC is like Chase Bank. Every couple of blocks, you'll find one. Easy to make a habit out of it.

Easy Living

So, back to my great idea. Coffee, tea, bakery and botanic. Air plant designer, artist, baker, cultivator of creativity and a delicious cup of coffee. Select bakery items each day, but in the morning... fabulous french toast. The old fashioned kind made with french baguette bread and soaked over night in the egg and cream. This can be enjoyed at the table or you can take them away as a "to go" item in small little wax paper bags, and enjoy on your walk to work. 


I have it in my mind that I must include air plants (tillandsia). These plants speak to me. Growing in the most unlikely places, not only surviving but thriving. The spanish moss that blows lazily on the trees of the south... I love how it looks on its chosen perch, looks easy and like it just put its feet up and landed in this spot for a rest. You may see another tillandsia growing from a crack in an old building, for no apparent reason, it loves and thrives in this spot just landed and planted itself. I'm impressed at the success of these plants and that they need so little. They are little sculptures of nature and you can dress them up or keep them just all natural, and all they ask is for light and a bit of water now and then. These I will also sell, either designed as a group, in a vessel or just one for your desk at work.


They say that every business plan for a new venture should start with just a couple sentences that explains exactly what your business is. It should be clear to your investors or banker exactly what you are selling and what your investment will be just by reading the first paragraph. My business plan will be one of these special little plants and it should be easy to see that I will be selling the lifestyle of this plant in your visit to my shop. Just drop in, plant yourself and shoot the breeze, get yourself all in check with a perfectly brewed hot cup of coffee in an atmosphere that is relaxing as being under your favorite shade tree.


Jo Ann