Chains versus Independents
I seem to have prompted a bit of debate from commentators on one of my recent entries. The gist of the comments boiled down to this. Are Starbucks and the like just the MacDonald of the coffee world? Are independents any better?
Today I was in a Starbucks in Cambridge and I won't describe the state of the toilets. The room was noisy. There was barely distinguishable piped music playing over the top of a hugely noisy air conditioning system. I had to kill an hour in that place prior to going to my bassoon lesson and I wondered if my hearing would suffer permanent damage from the cacophony around me. The coffee was fine. Didn't eat anything. Wasn't tempted.
The finest cafe I have been to has to be Franco's. Needless to say it is independent. There's only room to perch on stools but people do so for hours. This cafe is in Soho in central London. Behind the counter there are photos of Italian sportsmen and film stars. The place is just steeped in authentic Italian style.
We don't have anywhere like that in King's Lynn. Crofters is ok but I don't like the cakes and it feels a bit musty and it is not a place where I can sit and write for hours. I haven't tried Norberry's but for my purposes I'm happy with Caffe Nero. The place is clean - including the toilets - and the coffee is fine and they leave me undisturbed as I write. What more could I want?
I used to like the cafe at 3 Saturday Marketplace but that shut down because it wasn't making enough money. The same fate obviously met Downeys, another deceased cafe. These independents didn't have prime locations unlike the newcomers to town and they also lacked the seating capacity. The new chains clearly have the capital to buy prime locations and, to judge by the custom, they are providing a service that the King's Lynn customer wants.
If the independents are to survive they are going to have to up their game. I say that but at the same time I think the chains are going to have to avoid complacency. The filthy toilets of the Cambridge Starbucks are a testimony to corporate laziness.
Today I was in a Starbucks in Cambridge and I won't describe the state of the toilets. The room was noisy. There was barely distinguishable piped music playing over the top of a hugely noisy air conditioning system. I had to kill an hour in that place prior to going to my bassoon lesson and I wondered if my hearing would suffer permanent damage from the cacophony around me. The coffee was fine. Didn't eat anything. Wasn't tempted.
The finest cafe I have been to has to be Franco's. Needless to say it is independent. There's only room to perch on stools but people do so for hours. This cafe is in Soho in central London. Behind the counter there are photos of Italian sportsmen and film stars. The place is just steeped in authentic Italian style.
We don't have anywhere like that in King's Lynn. Crofters is ok but I don't like the cakes and it feels a bit musty and it is not a place where I can sit and write for hours. I haven't tried Norberry's but for my purposes I'm happy with Caffe Nero. The place is clean - including the toilets - and the coffee is fine and they leave me undisturbed as I write. What more could I want?
I used to like the cafe at 3 Saturday Marketplace but that shut down because it wasn't making enough money. The same fate obviously met Downeys, another deceased cafe. These independents didn't have prime locations unlike the newcomers to town and they also lacked the seating capacity. The new chains clearly have the capital to buy prime locations and, to judge by the custom, they are providing a service that the King's Lynn customer wants.
If the independents are to survive they are going to have to up their game. I say that but at the same time I think the chains are going to have to avoid complacency. The filthy toilets of the Cambridge Starbucks are a testimony to corporate laziness.
posted by Axos at Monday, June 26, 2006
2 Comments:
What more could you want? Being able to speak straight to the owner - he's stood behind the counter most of the time - if there's any problem, rather than deal with a random corporate drone. They are willing to stand behind their products *literally* while they sell them to you. I mean, who did you complain to at that terrible Starbucks? Nobody, as nobody there is authorised to give a toss as long as they're profitable enough. Oh, and all those profits leave the town, instead of staying in the local economies of the afflicted area.
By the way, it's clearly far from "obvious" why Downey's closed, as your guess isn't the whole reason. Don't make wild assumptions. Also, if it was such a bad place, why did Norberry's buy it so quickly?
If you don't find Crofters works for you, fairy snuff. I'm amazed that you find a mock-italian theme chain cafe inspiring.
you are correct that there are many reasons Downey's closed - the main one being that the lease came to an end and after having made the mistake of changing to a café bar I felt that the time had come to do something else after 11 years of working hard for not a lot of money. Kings Lynn is no different from any other small rural market towns, it is always difficult to make money from coffee shops as there simply isn't enough custom - try getting a coffee in islington to see what I mean.
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