Gloria Jeans vs Starbucks

nzroaster

Taz, not discrediting your cause, I agree with what you say about the taste of their coffee. But critisize wisely else others have grounds to discredit your means. ATCG, How do you think I feel when there is a coffee club on every corner here.

askthecoffeeguy

Yeah, but at least you guys know how to make a great coffee - I would travel out of my way to get a coffee from your joint, (in fact I have!) but I have never had a coffee I enjoyed from TCC. If anything I would of thought that the Queensland market would be open to an incursion from the deep South! Rock on in paradise, brother!

nzroaster

What? If, the CoffeeClub buy one get one free policy doesn't scream quality, what does???

askthecoffeeguy

like I always say, if they can afford to give it away, then it must be s*** to begin with! P

markk

Gloria Jeans is highly inconsistent. Some places will make half-decent coffee, others make horrible coffee. But I hate the paper cups, the high prices (75c for an extra shot?? Forgetaboutit.) and the lousy service. Starbucks? Lousy coffee. "Tall" being the smallest size. Lousy service. High prices. So many reasons to hate. Thank goodness they aren't catching on in this country.

markk

Coffee Club? Better than most chains in my experience.

askthecoffeeguy

Maybe but what is a qld franchise going to teach us about coffee in Melbourne? Besides, I'm loathe to eat food which has been prepared in Brisbane, frozen, then trucked to Melbourne and defrosted. If that's what coffee culture's about I'd rather drink tea! ACG

flatwhite

Perhaps you know more about Coffee Club specifically than the average joe ACG, but I find it hard to believe they would be shipping their food frozen from Bris to Melbourne. And actually from having worked at some of their sites they actually have a respectable sort of kitchen setup, not just heat and eat.

markk

I'll second flatwhite's comments there. I've never had a problem with the Coffee Club food. Coffee Club are who I go for if I'm in a shopping centre and all there is is chains.

psaigh

Having personally worked for a particular coffee club in SA I can guarantee that one of their food suppliers is PFD which DOES freeze and transport (from QLD) the major supply of cakes/slices etc. provided from this particular coffee club. I can't say for certain re/ the actual kitchen (foccacia's etc.) but as far as the cake fridge is concerned, it's definitely not fresh. Hygienic, yes, but not fresh. Also having worked with other coffee franchises i can also confidently say that this is definitely not an uncommon practice. My main gripes with "CC" and in fact the reason i left are 1: up to 25% rubusta used in their blend when i was working their and 2: I was continually being told off for pouring rosetta's and not producing old-school sea foam on the cappuccino's. I argued my point extensively only to be told by the states top training manager that although i was capable of doing latte art, no one else was. After explaining that i had trained EVERY barista in the store to at least be able to pour a love heart (most were on rosettas), he explained that even though our store could, other stores could not. So instead of showing all the employees of the franchise a better way to do things, one more in line with how some of the best coffee in the world is being produced. It made more sense to them, to instead hold everyone back, so as to maintain a consistently out of date product. Such is the philosophy of the franchise...

flatwhite

So instead of showing all the employees of the franchise a better way to do things, one more in line with how some of the best coffee in the world is being produced. It made more sense to them, to instead hold everyone back, so as to maintain a consistently out of date product. Such is the philosophy of the franchise...

HA HA HA, you've just cracked the McDonalds philosophy, it doesn't matter that it takes like shit and is a pathetic serving, as long as every store presents it the same people will still eat it.

askthecoffeeguy

That's the problem with franchises in a nutshell! They often start off with a pretty good concept, something worth replicating, and branch out from there. And this I guess is to be applauded, if you can reproduce the same quality product over and over, time and time again, with great consistency. Trouble is that the world is an evolving place, and new trends / tastes in coffee are evolving all the time. So if you aren't at the cutting edge of innovation, chances are that your neighbour (or next serious competitor) will be. Have to keep innovating, changing, and adapting, to move with the times! And this is where many coffee franchise concepts, I believe, fall down. I mean, just how many variations are there on a caramel flavoured white mocha swirl? ACG

lars

Hi guys - was in my local newsagent the other day, and noticed a promotion with Who magazine - looks like they're offering a voucher for a free McCafe coffee with every copy of the mag. Had a look at the brochure - apparently McCafe's doing a big push for its coffee - had stuff like: 'perfect arabica beans', 'our baristas then master the fine art of producing a coffee that achieves the fine balance between flavour, temperature and texture' and McCafe prides itself on making superior coffee every time, giving you the ultimate coffee experience! - sounds impressive! -Lars

fattylateplease

They have a machine where you push the right buttons, the grind is distrbuted, brewd and the operator just does the milk. The word baista is a little rich.

DoubleRistretto

actually, it would be interesting to know what coffee they use - used to be Mocopan

nzroaster

If the Australian McCafe is anything like the New Zealand ones I wouldnt hold much hope. At my previous job we did a bid for the supply and their buy price pretty much writes quality out of the equation. Off topic slightly, I recently employed 2 baristas from the local coffee club. Their training is second to none, both walked in and confidently adjusted the grind and poured great coffees. Give them that, great training but crap coffee.

psaigh

Wow, that's interesting becuase when I worked for CC I wasn't allowed to adjust the grind - we had to wait for the espresso tech the come give the whole machine a service (hehe). But then I guess that was a couple of years ago now. It's good to see there's at least some forward progression within the franchised coffee market.

fattylateplease

Probably like me, adjust it anyway, quick and furtively while the manager isn't looking. 😃 I have been sprung now.

[deleted]

theres one GJ I goto cause they know me by name and know how I like my coffee, for the most part its like any franchise, theres a few Michelles places that do it good, SB only time it kinda was good was when I lived in LA and Ohio, havent found a good one here yet, but like many have said depends on the staff at the place, many cafes can make a great one many cant, depends on the staff, bean grind machine, planetary alignments wether the dog got its walk in the morning. Hence I now have a 2grp Bravo at home, best coffee anywhere! Only cause I know how to make what I like 😃 Sullo's

espressopronto

GJ's Do use arabica beans so that's something. they have their little "how to" tamp & beverage guide behind the machine there but i'm not sure how up to date it is, or how many of the staff actually read it. However, if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, I would still go there rather than a truck stop diner or mcdonalds or something worse like that!! lol Comparing the two, GJ's wins for staff smiles more often than not, and sometimes creamy milk (no points for espresso quality aahhhh!) starbucks froths milk like an old canteen lady i can't even look at it without cringing yuck!! when will the world learn?? HELLO they even have a drink called a caramel macchiato that is NOT a macchiato!!! it's some milk and caramel tall beverage. so when people come to my cafe and order a a caramel macchiato, first i laugh in my head (because obviously they heard it on tv or something when it became 'cool' and have no idea about coffee) then enjoy their puzzled looks when they receive it mua ha ha it's the funniest thing Seriously, there is a niche market for everything i guess and while the clueless have their 'half caf non fat grande latte mocha choca caramel extra foam cappucino macchiato" things, the rest of us are free to enjoy a real coffee in peace!!

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