(This is a two part blog. This week we visit Coffee Shop #2)
COFFEE SHOP #2
This week, as I am in a city doing some consultant work, I started out at a local coffee shop. In the last blog we visited one shop and I asked you to tell me whether you would have visited a second time.
This week I went to a coffee shop that had been closed for several years and was re-opened by some of the employees who bought it to keep it open.
Let me describe my experience and I will again ask you if you would visit it for a second time.
I was greeted with genuine hospitality. The owners and baristas smiled and welcomed me. They asked me if I lived in the city or if I was visiting.
I told them I was doing some work for a company and when I told them the name of company they told me how much they loved that company and did business with them.
They then told me about the coffees they offered and asked me what I preferred. I ordered my coffee and she asked me to take a sip to make sure I liked it. Who does that at most businesses today? I took a sip and discovered it was wonderful!
It was a hot, rich cup of Colombian coffee that had a beautifully distinctive taste.
I wasn’t sure what pastry I wanted so one of the owners told me to enjoy my coffee and newspaper and come up to pay later, when I made my pastry choice.
The people visiting the shop loved their genuine hospitality. Vacationers told them where they were from and the baristas greeted the regulars by name— talking to them as they came in and when they left.
It was almost like an experience of being in first class (back when first class was special). One of the other owners noticed the sun coming in the window and came over to draw the shade for me. He also offered me a glass of ice water. After I chose my pastry, he offered to warm it up for me.
They told me that they knew I only visited the city twice a year, but they wanted me to have a loyalty card.
Here comes the question I asked last week:
Would you visit this coffee shop a second time?
