Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/109835
"I find it irresponsible as a coffee professional to attach the term 'snobbery' (which is meant as a negative descriptor) to coffee shop owners and baristas who pursue excellence," Piquet says. "One does not call an accomplished chef a 'food snob,' nor does one call a sommelier a 'wine snob.'" The central dilemma is this: How far can and should coffeehouse personnel go to "educate" customers, yet avoid "snobbery"? And what exactly do those terms mean? Jack Groot, owner of JP's Coffee in Holland, Mich. and a columnist for this magazine, says "educating" customers should not be a priority over service. "No one said they returned to a coffee shop because they got a coffee education," Groot says. "My store's focus is not to expect my staff to educate the customer, but rather serve them a great product." WHAT'S A SNOB? Some coffee shops are, of course, more prone to what might be interpreted as "snobbery" than others. "There should be some recognition that 'snobbery' is a volatile term," says Marshall Fuss, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who serves as general counsel to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). "One person's snobbery is simply 'maintaining standards' to another....Demographic differences should also be considered. A shop that is known for its 'snobbery' may be a magnet with long lines of customers in some large cities, but would fail miserably in other areas." Piquet believes that customers have a responsibility to find a coffeehouse that fits their needs in terms of sophistication. "I think the customer also has responsibility as well," he says. "I don't think that it's that certain coffee professionals are being over-educational, passionate, or preachy...It's possible that the particular customer and shop are not a fit. I don't go to [Starbucks]-type shops for a reason, but if I were to go, it would be silly to complain about the coffee. To Mr. & Mrs. Everyman I say, 'Find the shop that suits you best, I'm sure that shop is doing its best to attract you.'" Nonetheless, some shops and operations find themselves having to guard against letting their sophistication turn into snobbery. It's an ongoing concern at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, the iconic retail/roasting operation based in Portland, Ore. "I definitely heard, 'Oh, your coffee is amazing and everything's great, but I don't need some 20-year-old hipster looking down on me and telling me that my coffee order is stupid,'" says David "Skip" Colombo, Stumptown's senior accounts manager. Stumptown had that reputation in past years, but the company is striving to get away from it, Colombo says: "We have a lot of concern going forward and we are trying to bring back the true Bob Cervas does a pour-over as a customer watches at Crimson Cup Coffee, Columbus, Ohio. term of hospitality, even beyond customer service. Sometimes 'customer service' can be a loaded term. But I would say 'hospitality' is a little bit better in terms of what we're trying to be successful at." The temptation to engage in snobbery exists in Portland at least partly because the city has become home to a vibrant, sophisticated dining scene. "We've managed to carve out a pretty good food and beverage culture, and it's really been wonderful," Colombo says. "But I think along with that, especially younger participants and members of that community, more often than not do sort of edge over into taking that to the nth degree. And instead of conversing with people and sharing information, it becomes talking down to them or talking at them." It's also a function of an individual shop's "attitude" rubbing off on its employees, Colombo says: "It's top-down. If that barista comes into a café and starts working there and Healthy Need a Boost? Profits www.SmoothieEssentials.com 415.382.6535 13