Not too many years ago adding a flavor to your coffee other than Hazelnut or French Vanilla would be considered sacrilegious, but lately almost anything goes. If Kopi Luwak, the coffee which is processed through the Asian Palm Civet’s (Weasel) digestive tract and deposited out it’s back end and then harvested from the Indonesian jungle floor isn’t your cup of tea, then buckle up for the next ride…
85c, a Taiwanese based coffee company with its flagship store in Irvine, CA hopes to acquaint American’s with the taste of sea salt in their espresso-based drinks and challenge their taste buds to new and unique styles of inexpensive pastries. It use to be a treat finding a fine French buttery croissant or dense cranberry orange scone to munch on but palates be ready for some new taste sensations! Stephanie Peng, manager of the store notes in the article “One surprise crossover hit is a black squid-ink bread, made with Vermont sharp cheddar cheese and garlic paste”.
Drip by drip
The company, which dubs itself the Starbucks of Taiwan opened in late fall of 2008. It mainly attracted Asian customers in the beginning but now counts 50% Non-Asians as loyal customers.
With rapidly changing demographics, business owners stand before a grand opportunity to introduce their businesses and products to new middle class citizens venturing out into the mainstream of America. Being able to adapt, adjust and seize upon these new prospective customers is critical to long term success.
Take a stroll through any grocery store and one can see how the tastes of American’s are changing. According to Julia Huang, CEO of a company that tracks Asian trends in the United States, 85C could gain real traction in the U.S. market.
“For some reason, in the past four to five years, American tastes — and we’re not talking about cuisine, we’re talking about snacks — [and] comfort food has changed so much,” she says.
Changes occurring within your local environment will provide you with a sense of awareness of how to position your business. Go to the mall, grocery store, festivals, the park or sit outside your store and witness who your potential customers are. Are you doing what it takes to meet their needs? What three things can you do to introduce yourself and business to these folks? All it may take is some slight changes to the menu, some new items in the case or maybe some new world beat music streaming through the shop.
We are all a sum of everything we have done in the past, so if positive changes are desired for the future the time to initiate success is now.
Keep a pot on and make it black…
Robert
For viewing the complete article:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127474607
Contact me directly at Robert@KMOCoffee.com or 800/652-5282 and let’s talk about growing your business.
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