Delighting Your Guests: Dancing With Cultural Trends
No syrups. No espresso to go. No blenders. No food aside from the obligatory pastry offerings. Some people took it even further: No batch brewer. No condiment bars and no cream or sugar. The early Third-Wave coffee movement was as much defined by what it wasn’t as what it was.
This reductionist approach became one of the quintessential traits of the specialty coffee movement in the early aughts. Anything that wasn’t coffee was simply taking away from the coffee.
Today, there are more places to get a cappuccino with properly textured milk and coffee traceable to the producer than we ever thought possible, and surprisingly, most of them look more like Second-Wave cafes than Golden Era Third-Wave espresso bars. Full food menus, sweet fizzy signature beverages, one popular roaster where I live has a dedicated matcha menu complete with a matcha One & One. As I’m writing this, we’ve got a brand new slushy machine sitting in the lab waiting for testing—it’s one of the fancy ones you’d see at a cocktail bar serving a frozen Paloma, but it’s a slushy machine nonetheless. Hardly a purist's paradise.
Our guests appreciate the quality that came from the Third-Wave movement, but for most of us, the current market demands more options than the traditional espresso bar menu. So, to delight our guests and maintain relevance, we learn to dance with the culture. Sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow. Following sounds negative, but as long as it’s properly balanced with leading, and in a way that doesn’t compromise our mission and values, it serves a function.
Almost paradoxically, if we never lead, we’re generic and will probably never see success. If we never follow, we risk getting left behind.
I’m a purist at heart, with all my heart. Nine times out of ten, a well-made Manhattan will be better than the seasonal house cocktail. Straight espresso offers a more dynamic, intricate, and intense flavor journey than a citrus-infused espresso tonic specialty beverage. Many of the things on our menu are not for me, and that’s ok. Matcha lemonade being on our menu doesn't automatically make our espresso taste worse.
I'm not advocating for an anything-goes approach to building your business—the most compelling organizations start with a strong point of view, and some things are non-negotiable. But at this stage of my life, I’m more excited about the opportunity to delight guests than I am obsessed with everything being done my way.