If One Must Have a Vice… Make It Coffee!

I am not a smoker and I am not a huge drinker but I DO LOVE COFFEE! So if I must have a vice, I choose coffee. It is legal, relatively inexpensive and, OH SO GOOD! I began my coffee love when I was six and having café con leche with my Grandma in the mornings. Then, in the early 90’s when gourmet coffee was becoming the rage, I worked for a local gourmet coffee company called Brother’s Coffee (originally Boyer Brothers). Here my love for café con leche became a love affair with gourmet coffees and a vice was born.

Part of my training with Brothers Gourmet Coffee was to learn to make a really good pot of coffee as I was a product manager which included demo-ing or sampling coffee when I was in stores to do merchandising of the product. I now make a killer pot of coffee and am quite a connoisseur of coffee. My preference is homebrewed coffee in a non-plastic container with cream and sugar. Not enough to mask the flavor of coffee but enough to enhance the flavor. I love everything about coffee, the international places it comes from, how it is harvested, how it is roasted for different levels of taste and caffeine, the smell and, of course, the flavor. When I don’t have time to make it at home or I’m out-n-about, I seek out places to find a good cup of coffee. As soon as I said that something popped into your mind… most likely it as either Starbucks or Caribou, I suppose it could have been a local coffee shop or even Dunn Brothers.

The debate over Starbucks and Caribou has been going on for at least 15 years, if not more. As I did some research for this post, it was clear that the debate leaned hard in Starbuck’s favor in the business world. Starbuck is the number one coffee chain company with Caribou coming in second. Starbucks is touted for its longevity and its branding prowess. They have been around since the 1972 and have been on a steady growth until the current recession. They are heralded for doing a fabulous job with making their brand a local household name and continuing to do with efforts in practically every media outlet. The target audience is the 20-30’s age group however, one study showed that 30% of their patrons earned over $100k per year. They use Social Media for Marketing, PR, Branding, News Outlet, CSR and Inter-relationship development and maintenance. They have chains all over the world and have plans to continue expanding. The recession was a time period when they struggled and their rebound was a hard one, but did anyone really notice? Did their loyal customers really see the struggle? Probably not, since a loyal customer has two or three favorite Starbucks locations to frequent if one or two of them closed during a financial rebound. Over the years Starbucks has focus mostly on branding and have done a great job in making their brand not only well known but synonymous with “good coffee”.

Caribou Coffee, on the other hand, has only been around since 1992. They have not yet become a worldwide “phenomenon” but are on their way. They are the second most successful chain coffee shop and pay special attention to their coffee quality and their relationship with their customers. The feedback I read online emphasized the company’s interaction with their customers. The forums, chats, studies and media coverage all make mention of the cozy and comfortable atmosphere both in their stores and online that Caribou has created. They have created a community that enjoys hanging out with Caribou. I even read one post from a Starbucks coffee enthusiast that said she would prefer to hang out at a Caribou store and drink Starbucks coffee.

While researching Caribou and Starbucks online, I noticed there were two things that were ups for discussion, debate and FYI.  First is the quality of their coffee. Caribou has been in a lot of taste tests with Starbucks, Dunn Bros., Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds (yep, Mickey D’s). The taste tests revolve around specific types of coffee drinks and flavors, i.e. a proper cappuccino or the Caramel Macchiato Battle, to the Pumpkin or Peppermint Stick Holiday specials. With the exception of the Pumpkin flavored holiday drink that Starbucks makes, Caribou was the preferred coffee. Their coffee is considered to have a better balance in coffee flavor and have a smoother taste. Starbucks was considered bitter and had that consistent over-roasted taste that tended to be acidic and acrid. Even avid Starbucks loyalists conceded that some of the flavored or specialty coffees like the caramel macchiato, were better at Caribou. The only one that Starbucks came out ahead on was the seasonal Pumpkin flavored latte. The second area that had the most chatter was the social responsibility each company was known to incorporate into their business plan. One person posted that their main reason for choosing Caribous over Starbucks was that they were a Rainforest Alliance Certified business. After searching for press releases, articles or blogs about Starbucks social responsibility actions, I had to finally go to their website to see what they were actually doing in the CSR area. They had a website page dedicated to their social responsibility initiatives but they didn’t give specific areas of focus. They are involved with community but did not give examples of what they do within the communities they do business in other than to encourage their employees to become more involved with local organizations. They do work with agronomists in Costa Rica and other farmers for sustainable farming of coffee beans but they are not aligned with a particular organization in this manner. As a matter of fact, they were not aligned with any organization to give credibility and power to their social responsibility claims.

So what is the draw? Why are so many people Starbucks fans even though coffee preference is well noted to be Caribou or, some instances, McDonalds? The reason is two-fold, they have been around for over 30 years and have spent that time building and re-enforcing their brand. They were able to take a time in history, the Grunge Movement, and make themselves a key factor in that lifestyle. It was cool to be grunge therefore it was cool to drink coffee in coffeehouses and the ultimate coffeehouse was Starbucks. Once they had solidified their position with the Gen X’ers living off Teen Spirit, they knew it was all about sustaining their hold on the market by building their brand. It wasn’t until they had a serious competitor that they incorporated social responsibility into their marketing/branding plan. Caribou came into the picture in the early 90’s when social responsibility was a new thing to include into your business plan but they did it and, with their Minnesota nice culture, took working within their community seriously, they heard their customer’s opinions and understood the power their customers had on preference. They knew if they wanted to compete with Starbucks they had to have better coffee, better relationships with their customers and community and be able to put their money where there mouth was in the social responsibility initiatives. They did all of that from the beginning and have made themselves number two in the coffee chain industry. But Starbucks did a very good job in solidifying their brand. I would even put them in the same category as Kleenex, Jacuzzi and Coke. These brands have made their name synonymous with the product. Starbucks has done that as well, I mean how many coffee companies have locations that are now tourist attractions (See Fun Post by Erin)?

I prefer to have a smooth full-bodied coffee with a nice flavor that is enhanced by cream and sugar. I also like to shop and buy local products so I think I know my preference in this battle of the java. But while I have my preferences, on a professional communications level, you have to give credit where credit is due. Starbucks has taken the Marketing, PR and Communication tools and used them to their best advantage. They defend the taste of their coffee as a trade and don’t show any definite alliance with an environmental or community organization and, as one forum participant noted, it has become somewhat fashionable to be a Starbucks hater, yet they still have a loyal following. Some of their loyal customers like their coffee because of the bitter, over-roasted taste. They have taken branding to something close to an art and used their longevity as not just a badge of honor but a marketing tool.

So if your vice is coffee or any other popular product on the market, be sure your choice is about personal preference and not just marketing hype. Because sometimes it really is about the product and not about being a part of a trend. Sometimes it really is about you and what you believe in and not what's been around for a lifetime.Sometimes its not about marketing... its about taste.

Pro Caribou: http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Caribou_Coffee

http://brentonbalvin.wordpress.com/2005/07/29/starbucks-vs-caribou/

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=192910&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1258957&highlight=

Pro Starbucks: http://coffeeandteareviews.com/

http://lovelo.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/starbucks-vs-caribou-and-naturopathica/

Pro Other: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/03/01/compare-and-contrast-best-mocha-for-the-money/