CREATIVITY & INNOVATION

BEHIND THE COFFEE BUSINESS

An article by Ganesh Natarajan S

Coffee, a refreshing term isn’t it? Taste buds rejoice their little meeting with a cup of coffee.
Mind gets renovated over a cup of coffee. Those delightful drops drip off the cup to drop some
thoughts into our mind either an idea or some sort of solution, a cup of coffee triggers the
process in a magical manner. Each sip gives us a luxurious ride into its luscious delight. It has
been people’s choice since ages and those choice requires supply this became the reason for
establishment of the coffee business. Today’s coffee business has spread to each and every
street ranging from vendors to branded coffee shops. Some earn millions in this business
whereas some don’t! What brings this change? What is the secret behind the success of those
business giants? The answer for these questions are awaiting for your attention. Just grab a
cup of coffee, feel each of its drop rolling along your taste buds, let the taste slide down your
throat and fill your body with energy and refreshment. With a fresh feel let’s take an
informative ride into the secrets of coffee business.

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The coffee business
Statistics says that 83 percent of adults drink coffee, some even believe that “a coffee a day
keeps the burden at bay”, many of us are even addicted to it this serves as the platform for the
coffee business. Establishment of the first coffee house dates back to 17th century since then
cafés have been spreading all over the world, in today’s date almost every street has a coffee
shop either a small one or big one. Let’s take a look at the types of coffee sellers and the
techniques used by them

There are two types of coffee sellers

Vendors

Vendors reach out for customers and they do their business in a small scale, a little investment
returns a little profit.

We see vendors selling coffee in streets, railway stations, bus stands almost every place where
people gather, they carry a little container of coffee or may be rolling a little cart along the
streets serving their customers individually, this involves lot of hard work and patience, and
in return they make very little profit.

Coffeehouses

Coffeehouse is a smarter technique which gives a lot of profit, this is a reverse process where
the customers reach out for seller. This requires some investment which is used to set up a
shop which is known as café or coffeehouse. Coffeehouse requires some space, usually shops
are rented or taken on lease.

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Starbucks, McCafé, Café coffee day are some of the famous Coffeehouse chains around the
world there are many more of this kind. People go in search of these coffeehouses, even stand
in queues to get their coffee. These coffeehouses sell million cups of coffee on daily basis across
their branches located in various towns, cities, and countries. They do business in large scale,
profits made by these coffeehouses are in billions, and some of these coffeehouses even hold
large shares in share market.

What makes the difference between a normal vendor and a coffeehouse, a cup of coffee may
cost you ten or fifteen rupees from a coffee vendor but it may cost hundreds in a coffee house,
what brings this drastic change? What is the secret which makes their business special? What
decides the difference? How do they attract customers? Both sell the same drink don’t they?
Let’s explore the secret

The Secret
Creativity and innovation is the secret hidden within their business, this leads them in a
success path. They give numerous choice to their customer while the vendors don’t. You may
think “what kind of choice a seller can give within a cup of coffee?” that’s where innovation
steps in. Coffee was first found in 1671, from then it was used for medicinal and refreshment
purpose. So where is innovation involved? Coffee, it’s just a cup of hot milk, water and coffee
powder isn’t it? If this is what you think, let me say I was also thinking the same before I visited
a branded coffee shop, you are unaware of the types because a normal coffee vendor won’t
give you many options. How many types of coffee have you ever tasted in your life? May be
two to three! Do you know there are about 100 different methods of making coffee this brings
all those methods into the menu, on an average a coffeehouse will have about ten to twenty of

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these names on their menu this means ten to twenty different choice over a coffee. Each
method is an innovation which resulted after several experimentations on different recipes.
Every person has his own taste and these many varieties give numerous options where the
customer is free to make his own choice matching his taste. Are you eager to know about all
those names? Here is a list of types of coffee available around the world

Affogato, Americano, Babycino, Breve, Caffe' Freddo, Caffe Latte or “Latte”, Caffe Mocha,
Cappuccino Chiaro, Cappuccino Scuro, Cappuccino, Con panna, Cortado, Corretto, Doppio,
Espresso con Panna, Espresso Lungo, Espresso Romano, Flat White, Hammerhead, Bicerin,
Ethiopian Coffee, Irish coffee, Thai and Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Frappuccino, Turkish coffee,
Indian filter coffee, Lungo, Freddo, Frappe, Melya, Oleng, Latte Macchiato, Llanero coffee [1],
Long Black, Macchiato, Mazagran, Quad, Ristretto, Short Black, Viennese Coffee, Mocha,
Vienna, Macchiato, Cafe' con leche, Cafe' crema, Cafe' con Heilo, Cafe' cubano, Bombón,
Espressino, Borgia, Ca phe sua da, calao, Piccolo latte, cortadito, Cafe' del tiempo, Cafe' au
lait, Dirty chai latte, Red eye, Black eye, Dead eye, Lazy eye [2], Antoccino, Guillermo, Egg coffee,
Eggnog latte, Eiskaffee, Caffè gommosa, Kopi susu, Wiener, white coffee, Caffè Marocchino,
Cafe' miel, Cafe' de olla, Café Rápido y Sucio, Palazzo, ice shot, shakerato, Botz, Caffè Medici,
Café Touba, Double, Coffee with milk, coffee with tea, coffee with alcohol, pocillo [3].

“Coffee is a language in itself” - Jackie Chan

It seems like Jackie Chan’s quote is true, it almost appears like a new language which is
difficult to remember. These names are derived from different origins i.e. various languages.
Most of the people don’t know the meaning of these names, this also helps in boosting the
business, wonder how?

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The psychological game
It is natural tendency of humans to explore the unknown part, to experience the new options,
so a unknown term psychologically induces the customer to select a new variety to try while
this being one reason the other one is that people are attracted towards these coffee shops, it’s
also an psychological trick, yes it is! How do you come to know about these coffee shops either
you might have seen some kind of advertisement or you might have heard from someone, in
both the cases they just don’t just refer the name, they describe their experience and will ask
us to try a dish like “Hey john have you ever been to Mc café? You should try their espresso,
it’s really awesome!” this way they secretly plant an intention of having some particular drink
in that particular shop. The coffee shops create a lovely environment so that the customer feels
comfortable, thus triggering their minds to pay a regular visit.

It’s not just a cup of coffee

Creativity does not end with making arts over coffee, its lot more than that. Coffeehouses also
provide a meeting spot so that people can get together even few social gatherings happen in
coffeehouses. Have you ever noticed the interior of a coffeehouse it would be a pleasant
environment. Just feel yourself in café coffee day or any other coffee house nearby your
location, let’s just picturize the environment. You would be surrounded by well-furnished
items, beautiful paintings hanging over the walls, dim lighting, well designed interior,
controlled room temperature, mild music playing in the background, few magazines over the
table which would surely grab your attention and finally few people to serve you, all these are
the ways to express creativity. All these features are served with a cup of coffee which helps
the shops bring a bit of relief and smile over their customer’s face. I hope now you would have

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realised that it’s not just a cup of steamed milk and powder that makes these shops wonderful,
its lot more than that.

The hidden ingredient

Creativity and innovation are always present in a successful business, innovation involves
creating a product by analysing the requirements of the society. Innovation is possible in each
and every sector, it just requires some attention and a little hard work. Creativity is the ability
to see things in a different manner it involves delivering services the way this world admires.
A painting is worth nothing when it’s just a white paper adding few colours and little thought
increases its value by thousands likewise being creative and innovative brings success in life.
Creativity and innovation are the hidden ingredients which makes the business more
productive and successful.

Reference:-
[1]https://www.quora.com/What-are-all-the-different-types-of-coffee-drinks-What-are-the-main-types-
of-coffee-you-can-order-in-a-cafe-and-how-are-they-made

[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/coffee-order-types-finally_n_5904428

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coffee_drinks

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