It’s not enough to mean well
On the way home from a Kung Fu class I was parched and looking for something refreshing to drink. I noticed that one of the police box coffee stalls had turned into some kind of juice bar.
I sidled up, wanting to check out what was on offer without necessarily feeling obliged to order anything. It looked good though so I ordered pineapple and mint. A friendly guy called Fernando runs the place and is keen to make a difference.
The weather here in Edinburgh has been good recently; often at this time of year it’s already getting chilly but Fernando’s lucky as he’s just catching the tail end of the warm weather. The juice is good, but very cold. He explains that most of it is made from frozen pulp imported from his home country Brazil. While a bit too cold for my liking, it was pretty much perfect to have after training.
Perhaps it’s because I’m starting out on a business venture of my own, but I couldn’t help noticing some potential problems with this business. It’s in a prime location for selling coffee, and that’s what police boxes are traditionally used for. As such, Fernando gets asked for coffee around 50 times a day (his estimate). He has to turn away all those customers because they want hot coffee, not cold fruit juice. I suggest to him that he have some filter coffee and milk ready and at least convert those people into paying customers. If they like his Brazilian coffee maybe they’ll come back for more and try his traditional fast food offerings or juices.
The cold is another problem: Edinburgh will become bitterly cold in the Winter. Sure it’s colder in many other countries, but the air in Edinburgh is damp because of the sea which makes 0C here feel worse than -10C in Finland for example. I suggest to Fernando that he should serve hot juice when it gets cold. He put some guarana in my juice; he could do the same for the hot juice and advertise it as a pick-me-up alternative to coffee. Again my concern here is that he’s started a business with good intentions, but good intentions don’t necessarily result in sales or profit…
The final problem was in another good intention. Fernando tells me before I’ve paid or tasted it that if I don’t like it, I don’t need to pay. The juice is good quality, so I can’t imagine anyone complaining about it. Personally I think this kind of thing makes customers uncomfortable. You’re standing in front of the smiling proprietor, and maybe you don’t like the juice. Do you tell him, or do you instead just feel uncomfortable and pay up? Or, do you tell him you don’t like it, he gives it to you for free, and then you feel uncomfortable because you’re walking away with something while giving nothing? Human beings like to reciprocate, and we have no problem with paying for something we’ve ordered unless it’s clearly low quality. If I order a super-hot curry and can’t eat it, it’s my fault if I don’t like it. As such I suggested that rather than create a possibly uncomfortable atmosphere, why not give out vouchers for a free drink next time? I think that’s much more likely to bring people back and keep everyone comfortable.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this business as the weather gets colder; will meaning well win over customers and make enough money to at least break even? I’m expecting that several changes will need to be made but I’d be happy to be proven wrong!
