Playing devil's advocate. If your local coffee scene is actually as bad as the numerous reports and articles I have read over the many years, then looking to introduce such elaborate innovation as described is largely a risky prospect as noted by Fresh Coffee. Even in a mature, developed market like Aus with some of the world's most demanding expectations of quality coffee, doing the dog-and-pony show would struggle to commercially sustain any operation without other portfolio income streams that help cross-subsidize - e.g. moving kilos of bean or cups of coffee. I've been there and tried that - lot of elbow grease for not much return - except of course the limited-attention-span mob who quickly move onto the next 15 seconds of "entertain me" - they are always up for a show and a chance to improve their own levels of hipster snobbery. Are they really the bread-and-butter that will support your business ? Getting the basic product right is beyond many players here in Australia where the standard is exceptionally high and of course when I've drank coffee in the dozen or so countries visited over the last decade. Adding more layers of variability and complexity will tie you in knots for not much else than a few self-indulgent headlines claiming you are a revolutionary and coffee visionary. We offer a vast array of coffees. Like all humans, half my customers stay with the same coffee order after order and the other half like to search for their mythical holy grail - trying something new all the time. For those that are perpetual samplers I consider their loyalty ranking about a 50/50 as they could be easily distracted by just about anything. This situation of course is not isolated to the coffee market - it affects beer, wine, food, fashion, etc. and just about any other discretionary spend. When I go into a liquor store (all too often it seems) I have no beer or wine loyalty at all - I grab what I think is value. Obviously when it comes to liquor, we have a subliminal trust that it is fine because there is no last-step human element involved called a barista that could turn a nice beer into toilet cleaner. I would give my left arm and left leg to be exposed to the UK coffee market. The very first thing in my plan would involve preparing a quality coffee that suits the local palate and styles of brewing. Then I would focus on marketing and distribution of that "local" product. This may require 3+ years of hard work and little returns. It's only after the market matures would I look at innovation and customisation. Considering the state of coffee in the UK, it would be innovative to just have a fresh, quality product that is consistent and attractively priced produced with a reasonable margin so you could survive and grow. Whether this is in bean or cup sales is largely irrelevant.
