Yes, it is a gamble and one that I really don't need to take at all. When I wrote my original business plan, it was designed to compete directly against the coffee giants, but only the proportion of customers that actually want a better product and experience. My initial plan was to stay away from the trendy big spend interior, general mass marketing and high rents and allow the coffee giants to claim 45% of the customers. Instead, target the 30% that want a better cup of coffee. In doing so, picking up a property slightly off the main track and let the customers find me. I am only considering going head to head against Starbucks is because it is an old foe of mine. I have been out of the coffee industry for more than 10 years now, however I owned and managed restaurants and cafes back in San Francisco. I actually worked with a master roaster for a number of years. What I find funny is the recommendation to go see the Aussies on what they are doing it right. I am hearing this all the time. The roasters that I have been to, so far, have all been good. However, the whole micro-roaster concept was well established in San Francisco in the early 1900s. So, it is not the Aussie Model, but a Bay Area thing that the Aussies pinched. One has to understand that regardless of the model, each coffee culture is different. I know that I simply can not take the Bay Area Model and blob it in the middle of England and for it to be a success. For one, we like our coffee rather dark and complex, but Brits will not be very keen on it. I guess one thing that I can look at is the difference between the Aussie Model in the Australia vs the UK, to see how they tweaked it.
