When I visit any coffee bar or restaurant I always have a question in my mind and I believe every single customer does exactly the same thing – whether they realise it subconsciously or not. That question is: Do they really want me to be here? Do they really give a s*#t that i’ve bothered… Read More »
I’m just back from nearly three weeks in the US and spent considerable time in New York – it is, as ever, just about the most stimulating city on the planet. I saw some amazing retailing and some inspirational restaurants but I have to say the quality of the coffee bars (that I saw anyway)… Read More »
I’m increasingly obsessed with this concept since it applies to such a large extent in so much of our lives. Why does Tiger Woods want to keep getting better at golf for example? What drove Michael Schumacher, despite so many years at the top of Formula One, to still work harder than anyone else and… Read More »
Tomorrow evening in the US Starbucks are closing all their stores to retrain their baristas. They’ve pulled together some nifty new milk frothing techniques and changed a couple of the rules in terms of pulling shots. It’s their latest attempt to get themselves back on track after a pretty dismal year. All round the world… Read More »
On Sunday and Monday of this week Hugo and I were speaking at the Hotelympia show in London. Ultimately both talks went very well and we had good audiences at both but it was a graphic illustration of the need to have a strong “reason why” in terms of promotion. There had been very little… Read More »
Every coffee business of almost any type (even the unsuccessful ones) manages to generate some fiercely loyal customers. These customers very often visit every day and sometimes will visit several times a day. Occasionally they can be irritating and offer you all sorts of advice that you could easily do without. But ignore them at… Read More »
One of the biggest issues within the coffee business and the hospitality industry in general is the fact that many of our managers are very young. People get promoted into manager positions at a very young age, often just because they happen to be good at their job. I do a lot of young manager… Read More »
Coming through Edinburgh airport for the second time in as many weeks I was again struck by just how superb a job the West Cornwall Pasty Company do. They have the last stand in a long line of food and coffee operations but their branding and use of great images is so brilliant that you… Read More »
(Sorry – long winded post alert. But please bear with me.) I was passing through Edinburgh last week meeting some new clients and had some time to kill before I took my plane home. As usual my intention was to trot round all the coffee outlets I could find and see what was interesting and… Read More »
“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test… Read More »