What Baresso can learn from Joe & The Juice

Service in coffee shops meant more than the coffee itself to me in June 2012. After several years in the US, I missed the atmosphere and welcome I’d experienced at Starbucks and compared it with my visits to Baresso.

Service in coffee shops changed the whole experience

I thought Baresso had good coffee and pleasant premises. What I was less happy with were some encounters with staff.

I describe hearing employees discuss how many hours they still had left at work, and a customer being sent on to someone else when he asked about his coffee.

Those are my experiences from back then. I hadn’t visited every branch and couldn’t know how all employees felt about their jobs.

Joe & The Juice gave me a different impression

At Joe & The Juice, I experienced more energy and playfulness among employees. So I didn’t think the difference could be explained solely by American and Danish culture.

My criticism therefore focused particularly on management: Who set the standard, made work enjoyable and showed how customers should be greeted?

A restaurateur turned talking to guests into a game

I also discuss Jan, a Danish restaurateur I’d visited in Tasmania. He used quizzes and small challenges to get employees interested in guests.

One task was to find out what a guest had eaten for breakfast. In his account, it made employees more comfortable talking to customers.

I thought a better atmosphere could make the product more valuable. My expectations of prices and more customers were assessments, not measured results. The comparison dates from 2012 and doesn’t describe the chains’ current service.

Service in coffee shops is part of what I buy

After some years in the US, I’d become used to Starbucks. I thought the coffee was good and it was a pleasant place to be. But the staff were a big part of the experience. When I discussed service in coffee shops in 2012, that was the welcome I wanted to find again back home.

At the American Starbucks branches I visited, employees said hello and goodbye. They seemed like people enjoying their work and could joke around with each other behind the counter. After four or five visits, they’d start recognising you and remembering your usual order. I thought that was really nice.

So Baresso was the obvious place to go when I came home. I called it a Starbucks copy, but actually meant that positively. I thought the coffee was just as good, the premises pleasant and the music good. When a concept works so well, I could understand taking inspiration from it and changing the colours a little.

The bad atmosphere made the coffee seem more expensive

What I missed at Baresso was the encounter with staff. Several times I’d experienced employees who seemed grumpy and let their dissatisfaction with work show. The day before, I’d overheard two employees talking loudly about how many hours they had left. A customer asked about his coffee and was curtly sent to the other one.

My criticism wasn’t based on just one visit. But I hadn’t been to every branch either and said directly that I didn’t know whether it was like that everywhere. The experiences I’d had simply made a big difference to me.

I didn’t think the coffee was much more expensive than at Starbucks in the US. I actually found that impressive given Danish wages and VAT. Even so, the coffee felt too expensive because I felt I was getting a worse overall product. The coffee itself could be fine while the visit lacked something.

Joe & The Juice showed me a Danish counterpart

American tipping was one possible explanation. But I didn’t think it explained my Starbucks experiences. There was a tip jar, and some customers put money in it, but I didn’t experience a general expectation of tipping as with table service.

You could also say Americans were just different. Then I pointed to Joe & The Juice, a Danish concept. There I experienced people who clearly liked being at work. There was energy; they were lively and funny and enjoyed each other’s company. They could throw fruit and vegetables to each other and make the place something they were proud of.

So I didn’t buy that it was simply about Denmark versus the US. My conclusion was blunt: I thought Baresso had a management problem. If that atmosphere could be created at Joe & The Juice, I thought it could be at Baresso too.

Jan in Tasmania made it a game

On our family trip around the world, I’d interviewed a number of Danish entrepreneurs. In Tasmania, I visited a Danish restaurateur, Jan. After six weeks travelling in Australia, I hadn’t got the impression service was generally better than in Denmark. That was my experience of the places I’d visited.

Jan said finding good staff on the island was difficult and he had to do something special to motivate employees. He thought they lacked knowledge and were hesitant with guests. So he held quizzes when there wasn’t much to do. A correct answer might earn a little red wine or another reward. Much of it was just for fun.

He also used small tasks that sent employees over to guests. Who could find out what the customer at a particular table had eaten for breakfast? Whoever found the answer could get a bottle of red wine. Then they had a reason to start a conversation.

He also described a visit from the mayor when hardly anyone dared approach him. So Jan made finding out what the mayor had eaten for breakfast a task. It worked, and in his account it became a way to get employees past their hesitation.

Management needs to set a standard people want to live up to

According to Jan, the games made an enormous difference. Employees discovered that talking to customers was enjoyable and there were interesting questions to ask. He experienced a better atmosphere, happy guests and more customers. Employees also got more tips, even though he described Australia as somewhere without the same tipping system as the US.

That was the spirit I wanted at Baresso. I didn’t think responsibility should simply be placed on staff. Someone needed to set the agenda, motivate them and make working there fun and pleasant. Someone needed to show it was fine to chat to customers, say good morning and be bloody proud of your work while maintaining quality. Also read Min vej som leder about my experiences of motivating employees and setting direction.

I thought that if Baresso got that last part right, perhaps it could raise coffee prices by 10–15 per cent and still get more customers. That was my assessment of the potential back then. I wanted it to make that final push, because then I thought the experience could be as good as Starbucks, perhaps even better.

Also read about hospitality and customer service.

Best wishes, Martin