Gloria Jeans vs Starbucks

askthecoffeeguy · January 2007

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 · January 2007

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

askthecoffeeguy · January 2007

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

markk · March 2007

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 · March 2007

Coffee Club? Better than most chains in my experience.

askthecoffeeguy · March 2007

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 · March 2007

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 · March 2007

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 · March 2007

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 · March 2007

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 · March 2007

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 · August 2007

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 · August 2007

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 · August 2007

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

nzroaster · August 2007

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 · August 2007

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 · August 2007

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

Unknown · September 2007

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 :D Sullo's

espressopronto · September 2007

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!!

queen_of_coffee · September 2007

I worked for GJs for over 2 years, though i do not like their blend of coffee. I cannot order a latte or capp at GJs, it has to have flavour like a white mocha or mocha truffle. Starbucks on the other hand I can order a latte or capp but is extreamly watery, they do not heat, froth, or swirl their milk correctly. i would rather a flavoured coffee than a watery one. Oh and on the subject of mc cafe.... there coffee is disgusting!! after all its a fast food place for crying out loud!

admin · August 2008

Had an interview with ABC radio on the Starbucks thing the other day, and they asked about the other Australian chains. Just wondering what people thought of them [all] - obviously it depends on the manager/franchisee, and who's working on the day, but wondered if you had any comments on the quality of any of the general quality of the Australian chains: Gloria Jeans, Costa, Coffee Club and Hudsons [& any others I've omitted]? -A

admin · August 2008

Just got a sample pack sent through by Gloria Jeans' PR people - beans in a pack with a 'use-by' date of 31st Jan 2010 [yes, 2010]! Scary :o

DoubleRistretto · August 2008

Just picked up a comment by the CEO of McDonald's Australia in this weekend's Australian, who says that Starbucks' failure in the Australian market was: 'due to the coffee chain's relatively late entry into a very sophisticated cafe market and a style of coffee that "just misses the mark" with Australian palates.' -dR

askthecoffeeguy · August 2008

WOW! And I suppose he would know considering how spot on Micky D's are with their superfluous coffee !

omotesando · October 2008

Starbucks coffee surprisingly really fluctuates between the stores. They use difference machines depending on the stores, even in Australia. The Espressos are automatically pulled, they're watery, sugary and are pretty disgusting to be honest. Gloria Jeans is definitely better than Starbucks, at least it doesn't taste like Sugar water. Hudson's coffee are made the best way but for some reason they are always burnt. I'd rather visit Gosh coffee and drink their Robert Timms coffee if I had no other options. As for McCafe - they changed their default coffee blend recently. Their older blend was so crap it was undrinkable. Tried their latest, rainforest allianced blend recently. Verdict? Still unbelievably crap. Unbelievable. Obviously their coffee makers are usually not up to standard as well but the coffees were just a disaster to begin with. At least the new Mothers drink tastes better than the old one. What were McCafe thinking, skimping on their coffee quality if they wanted to attract back the Gloria Jeans/Starbucks crowd? I got 1 admission to make that might be embarrassing. Not sure if you guys have tried Krispy Kreme's coffee. Its actually very American style, gritty, sweet, bold, caramel, etc. However out of all the fast food / coffee chains, I think this is the only one which is remotely drinkable. I could actually finish the regular cup size when I'm desperate for a coffee with a doughnut

They use LM's to make the coffees as well, not some automatic machines like Starbucks and McCafes.

beanflying · August 2012

Trawling the archives and came across this one

So consider it a bump of sorts. Not that I generally darken either of their doors but in 5 years one is nearly out the door of Australia having being rejected and the other is still serving over roasted coffees. :-| Are either of them better worse or just more of the same?

WotB · August 2012

Most consumers really don't care about what's in their cup.

askthecoffeeguy · August 2012

apparently they both sell coffee... who knew? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Brett H · August 2012

on 1345450939:

apparently they both sell coffee... who knew? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

It's hard o forget that Maccas has purchased Canstar awards and GJs was trading insolvent (allegedly) for a while. No doubt both have had ups and downs but going forward my money is on me not darkening either doorstep irrespective of purchased survey results or brand name machines!

adelaidecoffee · August 2012

I'm not a regular visitor to coffee chains, for the most part i avoid them. If for whatever reason i had to visit a coffee chain and could choose any, i do have one I prefer over all others and it probably comes down to the branding of the franchise i reckon. For any franchise (and this also applies to most independent cafes) i would be risking it ordering a ristretto and so rather just stick to a cappuccino. The coffee club is one place i have no interest in visiting. The look, feel of this franchise says nothing to me, it has no appeal. Cibo espresso which i think are only in SA and Qld is the one franchise appeals to me more so than all the others and its all about the branding.

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