How Long Would You (Happily) Wait for a Coffee?

            Coffee shops are testing out the new trend of brewing coffee per order. When people are asked about the duration of time they are willing to wait for a cup coffee, most people say four minutes or more is desirable. As majority coffee shops rely heavily on technologies to speed up the brewing process for mass demand, experts say that quicker coffee signals poor quality of the taste and could hurt the business in the long term. Nowadays, many coffee shops are bringing the old school way of brewing coffee back into their shops. This means for every order, the barista will grind the coffee beans and then brew it using a drip coffee maker. The order can take up to ten minutes to be ready and cost more expensive than getting quick coffee that are done by machines. The benefits of slower-brewed coffee are that the coffee vendor has better control over the process, provides time for smell and sounds of coffee, and richer taste.

Although slow-brewed trend is greatly adored by many coffee lovers, it is also a big challenge for many businesses. Some shops worry that adopting this trend will result in fewer customers because not many people are willing to wait longer or pay more than they normally do. Moreover, the slower-brewed coffee requires more and better-trained people to carry out the job. Thus, all of these could bring in fewer revenues to the business. For coffee chains, such as Starbucks and Caribou Coffee, they also want to attract slow customers.  It is said they are currently in the process of planning to adopt this trend.

I find this article interesting and relevance to marketing because it is about using an old style and create it a new trend for the market. Before new technologies, people would use manual coffee makers to make their coffee. Now, people can even order coffee from a vending machine. In my opinion, implementing slow-brewed coffee in shops more can also enhance its atmosphere. For example, people can exchange conversations while waiting for their coffee, read, or doing other things while waiting. However, slow brewed coffee might not be efficient, for instances, when the waiting line is long or customers in a hurry.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-long-would-you-happily-wait-for-a-coffee-1456951808?cb=logged0.6080400324426591