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/38014
EDITORIAL OFFICE 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 • (847) 720-5600 Visit us online: www.specialty-coff ee.com E-mail: specialtycoffee@m2media360.com Collective genius F or what seems like forever, the economy has been mired in the Recovery that Isn’t Th ere. According to standard economic metrics, the recession actually ended in the summer of 2009. But try telling that to someone who’s been out of work for a year or more, or even someone who’s just worried about losing his or her job. As long as unemployment remains above 9 percent, consumers are going to be jumpy. And cautious. Th at’s refl ected in certain consumer behaviors that are potentially terrible news for coff eehouses. Th e latest Harris Interactive poll showed that 21 percent of respondents no longer buy retail ready-to-drink coff ee in the morning due to fi nancial concerns, up from 15 percent in the last poll, two years ago. Add that to coff ee prices that recently reached 30-year highs, and you have a potential disaster. But if the general economic recovery doesn’t seem quite there, neither does the coff eehouse disaster. Quite the opposite, in fact. Coff eehouse owners are giving the Specialty Coff ee Association of America a message of optimism. According to SCAA’s latest surveys, monthly coff eehouse sales, fi gured against the same month the previous year, have been rising consistently since mid-2010. Th ey expect good times to continue, too, telling SCAA that they expect growth of up to 10 percent over the next year or so. What accounts for this uphill progress? Luck? Caff eine addiction? Or is it the collective genius of coff eehouse proprietors? Yes, there are a lot of smart men and women running cafés across America. But there are a lot of equally smart people in charge of industries that are fl oundering. What I think makes a big diff erence is not sheer brainpower, but the fl exibility that allows that brainpower to be applied quickly and practically. I came to this magazine, and this industry, from a background of covering general consumer retail goods. As I’m learning the coff ee industry, one thing that consistently surprises me is the degree of decentralization. All up and down the supply chain, from farmers to importers to roasters to coff ee shops, there’s more fragmentation, and therefore more independence, than you fi nd in almost any other major consumer goods segment. One advantage of decentralization is fl exibility. Foodservice proprietors are in a great position to observe consumer preference shiſt s. In an industry as volatile as retail coff ee, where owners have to constantly wrestle with basic questions—speed vs. quality, what kind of food (if any) to sell—fl exibility and responsiveness are the keys to coping with change. Th e fragmentation of the coff ee industry, retailing in particular, makes for a collective fl exibility that maximizes speed and responsiveness to consumer trends. So when you make decisions based on listening carefully to your customers, you’re not just benefi tting your own bottom line. Th e benefi ts percolate upward, to the industry as a whole. — Pan Demetrakakes, editor 4 | August 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com EDITORIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief PRODUCTION STAFF Art Director Production Manager CIRCULATION STAFF Vice President of Circulation & Collateral Services SALES STAFF Sales Manager List Rental & Reprint Services EXECUTIVE STAFF Group Publisher CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dan Bolton, Maura Keller, Ann Meyer, Brenda Russell EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jason Burton, lab5702 Desiree Farden, Big Train, Inc. Jack Groot, JP’s Coff ee And Espresso Bar Wes Herman, Th e Woods Coff ee Meghan Hubbs, Equal Exchange Rob Jeffries, North Atlantic Specialty Bag Craig Min, LAMIL Coff ee Lon LaFlamme, Dillanos Coff ee Roasters Kate LaPoint, Sound Provisions, Inc. Joe Monaghan, La Marzocco Tom Palm, Design & Layout Services Steve Schnitzler, Port City Java® Andi C. Trindle, Atlantic Specialty Coff ee Bill Waddington, TeaSource Corporate Offi ce: 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 PRESIDENT/CEO VP FINANCE & OPERATIONS VP OF CIRCULATION & COLLATERAL SERVICES PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AND REQUESTS Phone (847) 763-9565 Marion Minor Gerald Winkel Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei Fax (847) 763-9569 Subscriptions: $39 for one year, $61 for two years, U.S.; $48 for one year, $72 for two years, Canada; $110 for one year, all other countries (includes airmail postage). Single copies $10 each; Annual Buyers Guide $25. Payable in U.S. funds only. Customer Service: (847) 763-9565 PRESS RELEASES: Press releases on supplies, services and new products are welcomed and encouraged. Direct them to Specialty Coff ee Retailer. Color print photography is preferred, slides and transparencies are accepted. Specialty Coff ee Retailer reserves the right to edit all submissions. Pan Demetrakakes pan@m2media360.com Britt Menendez Robin Walton Joanne Juda-Prainito Brian Grau (314) 487-6568 Cheryl Naughton (678) 292-6054 Charlie Forman cforman@m2media360.com Specialty Coff ee Retailer (ISSN 1077-3460) is published monthly by Bev-Al Communications, 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068. Copyright© 2010 by Bev-Al Communications Inc. Postmaster please send address corrections to: Specialty Coff ee Retailer, P.O. Box 2121, Skokie, IL 60076-7821. Periodicals postage paid at Park Ridge, IL and additional mailing offi ces.