Specialty coffee shop offerings and costumer expectations in College, Laguna

Date

2011

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Agnes T. Banzon

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Abstract

Specialty coffee is defined as a premium coffee which is better than the standard variety. The preparation of specialty coffee may involve a specialized or a more elaborate technique. Seven specialty coffee shops located in College, Laguna were chosen to be the subjects of this study. These are Black and Brew, Boston Café Robinsons Branch, Boston Café Grove Branch, Boston Café One Caldi Branch, Café Antonio, Coffee Blends and Ristretto. This study presented the profiles of each specialty coffee shop, their owners and selected customers. Interviews were conducted with the owners/managers of the seven specialty coffee shops. All specialty coffee shops were registered under sole proprietorship. The basis for venturing in the kind of business was the owners’ desire to provide something new in Los Baños, backed up with their passion for coffee. The market of these specialty coffee shops focused on students and professionals in the area. In this study, the researcher did not probe into the financial and production aspects due to reasons of confidentiality. The service marketing mix of each specialty coffee shop was also presented. Among all the specialty coffee shops, Boston Café is the biggest in scale. Product was found to be the most important marketing mix element in this study. The respondents considered the food offerings as the shops’ main products instead of specialty coffee. The common products which are available in the menu of all selected coffee shops are hot and cold coffee drinks, pasta, sandwiches, and dessert or pastry. Black and Brew and Café Antonio introduce a new product every month. On the other hand, Coffee Blends and Ristretto introduce a new offering whenever the owners want to. Boston Café Grove and Boston Café One Caldi release new products based on the University's activities. Lastly, Boston Café Robinsons offers new products anytime. Landline phones are only available at Boston Café branches. All specialty coffee shops employ a combination of counter and table services. Minimum time of waiting by the customer for an order is a minute while the maximum time is 30 minutes. The quickest service delivery of food or drink can be experienced at Black and Brew and Boston Café wherein the minimum waiting time is one minute and the maximum time is five minutes. In addition, Black and Brew opens the earliest among these specialty

coffee shops. On the other hand, Boston Café Grove operates the longest, which is 24 hours. The number of employees for these coffee shops ranges from three to seven. In each coffee shop, personnel staff is divided according to tasks. All specialty coffee shops accept part- time employees except for Boston Café.

After identifying the shops’ offerings, customer expectations were determined. The most important and least important attribute for hot and cold coffee are flavour and color respectively. Customers’ importance ratings for hot coffee attributes like acidity, consistency, and presentation are significantly different at 5%. Among the specialty coffee shops, Boston Café Grove, Café Antonio, and Ristretto were the top three choices. In a scale of 1-5 with 1 as the highest, Ristretto ranked first (1.66), followed by Boston Café Grove (2.00) and Café Antonio (2.25). Importance ratings with respect to all coffee shop attributes except value for money, good ambiance and excellent coffee quality are significantly different at 1% alpha. The attributes were also ranked by the respondents according to the level of importance to them. The top five important attributes are value for money, good food quality, excellent coffee quality, convenient location, and good ambiance. In relation with this, the main reasons why respondents go to coffee shop are to eat, relax and hang out with friends. At alpha of 1%, the mean rating for good food quality, excellent coffee quality, and availability of parking space are significantly different among age groups. Unpleasant factors which affect the coffee shop experience among respondents were ranked as well. The top five unpleasant factors are poor food quality, poor customer service, slow delivery service, place is too noisy, and no ample seating or tables. The gaps were identified for each specialty coffee shop. Black and Brew did not meet the respondents’ expectations for the top five most important coffee shop attributes. The said shop was rated poorly for the remaining attributes except for availability of parking space. Boston Cafe Robinsons was also rated poorly for the top five most important attributes and other attributes except for Wi-Fi accessibility and availability of enough electric outlets in the shop. Boston Café One Caldi was not able to meet the respondents’ expectations for the top five most important attributes. On the other hand, Café Antonio was rated poorly for the attributes of convenient location, coffee shop’s popularity and space of the shop. Boston Café Grove did not meet the customer expectations on good customer service and cleanliness of the shop. Lastly, Ristretto was rated poorly for the attributes of Wi-Fi accessibility, availability of enough electric outlets, space of the shop, access to bathrooms and availability of smoking area. In order to address these gaps, recommendations for each specialty was provided. Focus on promotional strategies, product differentiation, product quality and customer relationships are recommended for Black and Brew and Boston Café Robinsons. Boston Café Grove is recommended to implement sanitary measures for maintenance of their bathroom and to improve customer service as well. Improvements on product quality and customer service are recommended for Boston Café One Caldi. Furthermore, ensuring the quiet ambiance in the shop is also advised. Stronger promotional strategies and wider range of food choices are recommended for Café Antonio and Coffee Blends. Provision of refresher course trainings about building better customer relationships are recommended for the staff of Ristretto. In addition, monitoring the condition of the sets of furniture in the said shop is also recommended.

Language

English

Call Number

LG 993 2011 M17 Q59

Document Type

Thesis

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