Review | Personally tested 5 major coffee brands: They all boast about the space experience, so who is lying?

Almost every well-known coffee brand boasts about its dedication to space experience and service.

The stylish and exquisite Starbucks, the business-like Pacific, the spacious and grand Man Coffee, the fresh and artistic Carving Time, and the Kopi Luwak... What little thoughts are hidden in their spaces and services? Who is the real king of consumer experience?

Kamen selected the above 5 coffee brands in Zhengzhou and will tell you the answer through personal testing.

Evaluation store:

Starbucks Mixc Store | Pacific Mixc Store

Man Coffee Nongke Road Store | Sculpture Time Yousheng North Road Store

Cat Shit Coffee Manhattan Store

【 1 】

Production speed & price

Thoughtful thoughts easily capture the hearts of customers

Everyone chooses a large iced American coffee. If there are no customers waiting in front, the timer starts after the check is paid and stops when the drink is served.

Starbucks: Large iced Americano, 25 yuan, 7 minutes 37 seconds.

This production speed is definitely slow for Starbucks.

In fact, it’s not that the food is slow, but the waiter forgot to call me after it was ready. In normal circumstances, Starbucks’ American food is usually ready within 5 minutes.

Perhaps seeing that I looked unhappy (actually I just had a bit of facial paralysis), a waiter came to apologize to me and gave me a "sorry coupon" (which can be exchanged for any free drink).

Well, you see, just a simple apology and a small gift turned a customer who was about to leave into a potential fan.

That’s what good service is, it can turn a crisis into an opportunity.

Pacific: Large iced Americano, 28 yuan, 8 minutes 16 seconds.

This Pacific is just above the Starbucks we just visited, and the customer flow is about the same. The speed is nearly a minute slower than the Starbucks that forgot to order me. (Two cups were served at the same time)

Man Coffee: Iced Americano (both large and small cups), 24 yuan, takes 2 minutes and 14 seconds.

Yes, Man Coffee is the fastest among these, and I was sitting on the third floor. Of course, the large number of waiters may also have an advantage.

Cat poop coffee: iced Americano (both large and small), 28 yuan, takes 6 minutes and 23 seconds.

Pretty standard.

Carving time: iced American coffee (both large and small), 25 yuan, takes 4 minutes and 18 seconds.

Diaoguang is the only restaurant where you can sit down and order, and it is also the only one that proactively pours white water for you.

Comments:

Starbucks and Carving Time won.

Most customers don’t have high requirements for the speed of delivery, and are not very sensitive to 25 or 28 yuan. However, Starbucks’ “little thoughts” of turning crises into opportunities, and its thoughtfulness of carving time to pay attention to you without disturbing you, still put a lot of thought into the consumer ordering experience.

【 2 】

Seat Configuration

Which cafe would like you to spend the whole day in it?

After all, a cafe is a business, and table turnover rate and sales are factors that must be considered.

Starbucks: Single sofas with armrests, 3 pairs in total, two of each, absolutely hot-selling items. Although there are not many people in the store, the seats in these pairs of sofas are always full.

This Starbucks has two long tables, but almost no one is sitting there. Not many people choose to work in Starbucks.

The height of the small table is uncomfortable.

Pacific: There are three pairs of single sofas with armrests. There are only two or three high stool seats. Compared with Starbucks, the seats here are much better in terms of space and comfort of leather seats.

This Pacific restaurant does not have long table seating.

The height of the small table is relatively comfortable.

Man Cafe: Man Cafe is the largest one in this review, with 3 floors. However, after searching around, there are only 6 pairs of single armrest sofas. Most of them are single wooden armrest seats.

Man Coffee, which focuses on the third space, has a total of 4 long tables. Compared with other places where no one is interested, the 3 long tables here are basically full. Obviously, the large-scale Man Coffee is more popular among office workers.

The height of the single table is very ergonomic, and you can lie down relatively comfortably.

Kopi Luwak: Kopi Luwak is not very big, but it has 8 pairs of single sofas with armrests. There are no long table seats.

Carving Time: Carving Time Coffee, which focuses on literary style, has 3 pairs of single sofas with armrests and 2 long table seats.

Comments:

Pacific Coffee and Man Coffee won slightly.

All brands encourage you to fully enjoy their space, but in fact they also have table turnover rates to consider.

Man Coffee and Pacific seem to be more sincere, and the large size of Man Coffee really requires you to stay there all day to call friends.

But in general, these commercial brand coffee shops are not immune to the common practice. Comfortable seating is only a guarantee of popularity, and getting more business is the goal.

【 3 】

Network & Socket

Fast internet speed has few sockets, while internet speed of more sockets is not very good

When you go to a coffee shop, 90% of people will ask after they sit down: "What is your home wifi password?" The internet speed and sockets of a coffee shop have become the standard of a coffee shop.

Starbucks: There are not many sockets, the ratio of seats to sockets is about 6:1. Most of them are distributed under the high tables and on the walls at the corners of the store. The WIFI signal is full and the Internet speed is fast.

Pacific Coffee: There are more sockets than Starbucks, with the ratio of seats to sockets being about 3:1. The network is not very stable, and you often need to refresh the webpage twice to open it, and you can hardly watch videos.

Man Coffee: There is a socket under each seat, and the internet speed is very fast, so browsing the web and watching videos is stress-free.

Kopi Luwak: There are very few sockets, only near the sofa seats, and the ratio of seats to sockets is about 7:1. You need to follow their WeChat to connect to the network, but watching videos is very fast.

Carving Time: The ratio of seats to sockets is about 4:1. The internet speed is average. It is ok for browsing the web but a bit laggy when watching videos.

Comments:

Man Coffee wins.

The internet speed is good and there are enough sockets. For both ordinary consumers and office workers, it implies a sense of security psychologically.

People like to surf the Internet in coffee shops, either for leisure or work. For those who work with their laptops, there are not many options for a coffee shop with fast Internet speed, many sockets and comfortable seating.

【 4 】

Service & Environment Experience

Standardized yet considerate experience is best

For a coffee shop, a comfortable environment and excellent products are important, but the waiter's attitude and attention to details are also the key to retaining repeat customers.

Starbucks: 4 waiters. In addition to the sorry coupons mentioned above, among these coffee shops, only the waiter at Starbucks asked me if I needed less ice, and also introduced me to the preferential policies of the membership card, and the utensils and ingredients that can be provided by the self-service bar.

This cafe is not crowded and is quite quiet. Everyone is quietly surfing the Internet or reading books, and the voices of their conversations are also very low.

Pacific: 3 waiters. They introduced their new products and membership card activities, and their performance was quite satisfactory. The store was also very quiet.

Man Coffee: 11 waiters. Man Coffee has three floors. Except for the mezzanine on the second floor, there are three to four waiters on each floor. Basically, you can be served by waving your hand.

In comparison, Man Coffee is the most popular among the five coffee shops, and its environment is relatively noisy.

Kopi Luwak: 4 waiters. I don't know if it was a special day, but three or four kids were running and playing in the store, making the already small store even noisier, and there was no waiter to stop them. I had to move to the inner area to sit down, but I didn't expect that there were four or five people playing cards in the sofa area next to me, and the noise was also very loud, so I had to finish my coffee and leave in a hurry.

Carving Time: 4 waiters. Carving Time still follows the traditional way of ordering, with a paper menu that allows you to slowly flip through it after sitting down, avoiding the embarrassment of people like me who have a fear of making choices in front of the bar. There are not many people in the store, and it is very quiet.

In the fiercely competitive coffee industry, many coffee shops are becoming stronger and stronger, with each one being better decorated and grander than the other. For a good coffee shop, in addition to a high-quality environment and good products, active attention and service to customers are also crucial.

【 5 】

Conclusion

Through the comparison of the above dimensions, we can find that:

Starbucks' service and experience are standardized, yet they are not without a human touch. Even though they have put a lot of thought into the design of seats and sockets in the store, their care for customers has not diminished in the slightest.

Even though the chairs here are uncomfortable, there are few charging sockets, and the air-conditioning is a bit too strong, the standardized yet attentive service and the high-quality brand identity still attract customers.

For Pacific Coffee, which has a similar positioning to Starbucks, being mediocre obviously cannot make it stand out, or it can only be the second choice for most people. The key is to develop its own characteristics, localization and differentiation.

Man Coffee performed well in all four dimensions of the evaluation, but it is also the largest and most labor-intensive of these coffee shops, and it deserves further observation and discussion in terms of improving floor efficiency and controlling costs.

Kopi Luwak, a brand that claims to "serve gentlemen like gentlemen", could control the environment inside the store and at least prevent people playing cards or bringing children from affecting other customers.

Carving time, which will not attract excessive attention but is considerate, has various literary and artistic ideas, and is relatively far from the label of "commercial brand". However, the store is not small, but there are too few customers.

Therefore, in a business model that advocates "experience", details are always your "key man".

● END ●

Author: Zhu Wanlong | Coordinator: Ka Sir

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