Reference no: EM132841648
Using Somby's Café Case Study as your guide, answer the following questions.
- Develop and illustrate a service blueprint diagram for Somby's Café based on the customer's experience.
- Based on the service blueprint in question 1, what are the variability moments that you can identify?
- From identifying the variability moments, what suggestions would you give to Anna in working towards a 'seamless' service for customers?
Somby's Café Marketing
The week before the café opened Anna had a series of meetings with suppliers, one of which was with Graphics and Printing Ltd that were supplying the café with outside umbrellas with the café logo on them. They were also contracted to print business cards, create transferable sticker's for Anna's car and for the street frontage café window. The logo was also going to be used for a car parking sign at the rear of the building for patrons and a local joinery firm was contracted to create a large blackboard behind the coffee counter, with the logo across the top, that would display the coffee menu and specialised coffee blends on offer.
Although the initial outlay 'hurt' the bank balance, Anna knew the importance of presenting a professional image to the public and that marketing communications need to be consistent (same symbols, fonts, message). The colour scheme for the café was red with black writing as Anna had read somewhere that the colour red not only evoked passion but also hunger and thirst.
The café was situated between a department store and a bookstore. Anna had met the owner of the bookstore and they briefly discussed whether an archway was knocked through the adjoining wall so that bookstore customers could effectively purchase their books or magazines and then enjoy reading them in the café. It was just an idea at this stage but for the moment the bookstore owner agreed to pass over last week's magazines and offered a discount on current issues to the café so that Anna's patrons had a supply of reading material.
Anna's direct competitor had higher foot traffic and also offered customers an inside or outside seating area. As a price comparison, Anna's double shot coffees were 50 cents more expensive but as Anna had said to her financial advisor, "they are a national franchise selling a standardised product range. Somby's café makes its own coffee blends and offers a boutique experience, fitting into the local coffee culture and the funky vibe of the town!"
The starting menu offered specialty coffee blends, including:
- Citrus Breeze - a 3 beans blend, described as 'orange marmalade, cocoa nibs with a hint of warming nutmeg, ending with a refreshing cucumber finish'.
- Velvet Choco - a 3 beans blend, described as
- 'rich dark stewed plums, with sweet milk chocolate with a cherry like acidity finish.
- Three other blends are in the development stage and will only contain a 2 beans blend, matching a cheaper price point and option for the discern customer.
- Across the street is a restaurant/cafe that did sell coffee. Anna had noticed that the typical customers who frequented the place had more time and were also looking for a lunchtime meal to accompany their coffee. So even though they were a competitor, Anna felt that her clientele would be more transient or looking for a nice place to chat; making the restaurant/cafe an indirect competitor or alternative.
Conclusion
Somby's was a thriving operation that although hadn't made a fantastic net profit, Anna and her accountant were comfortable that the business could afford to start paying the full market council lease for the premises.
Operationally, the original team had worked out well with the addition of Vikash who was fantastic at 'upselling', with customers often purchasing a 250gm coffee blend to takeaway. He had immigrated to New Zealand 4 years ago and had previously worked as a sales rep for his uncle's carpet business in a bazaar situated in New Delhi, India.
Part of Vikash's role was to network with local companies, creating trade accounts for companies to either purchasing 1kg bags of coffee for the staffroom and/or to have a trade account where staff members could use Somby's as an informal venue for staff and client meetings. This initiative was gaining market traction and Anna was aware that if the key performance indicator (KPI) reports on sales from trade customers (currently 25% of total sales) increased further then it could be a viable option to look for a larger premise that had a couple of rooms that could be set up as meeting rooms; businesses could hire the room/s and Somby's would cater.
Two promotional ideas had proved successful over the last 12 months. For retail customers, they were given a ticketed discount card that after the 9th coffee the 10th coffee was free and for trade customers, if they bought two or more 1kg bags of coffee they would receive a bulk discount. Somby's also had several key trade accounts set up that offered businesses a prompt discount on the monthly invoice if the amount owing was paid in full before the 20th of the following month. As Anna explained to her parents, the mark up on coffee bags was substantially lower for trade custom (hence lower profit margins), however the quantity sold from the larger bags outweighed the initial loss.
Last year a 2nd year marketing student (Clint) had approached Somby's to offer his services to develop a social media presence for the cafe. This was partly because Clint had to develop a social media program for a local business as a requirement for the course he was completing but he was also bored with just learning marketing theory and he wanted to 'get out there' to start applying his new found knowledge and skills. Anna thought this was great and the traction from the social media side of the business was picking up. As an example, if Anna sent a tweet offering a coffee discount for the next hour through the Somby's twitter account, there was a noticeable increase in sales from patrons that would just 'pop' down to claim their discounted coffee.
At the back of the premises there were 8 designated carparks for café customers to use. Anna had contracted the local council service to paint parking spaces so that it was angle parking, which she felt was the best use of the space available.
In talking to customers, she did receive feedback that the carparks were quite tight to maneuver in and out of. Anna had observed that customer vehicles were classically SVU's which are slightly longer than the average car and that perhaps this was the issue. She did remind staff that if they were using the staff vehicle or were using the forklift that they needed to pay special attention to this.
By midyear Anna and her employees had two special occasions to celebrate. Chris had entered the National Barista Competition and won, which resulted in a fantastic article being written in the national hospitality magazine about his skill and he acknowledged the café and especially Anna as being a great mentor for him.
Secondly, Anna received a nomination from the local Chamber of Commerce for best new business. On the night of the awards, Anna took her parents to the function and was surprised that she was publicly given a commendation from the Chamber president on the success of her business, especially with the Council's redevelopment plan of bringing customers back into the CBD. The commendation meant that Anna was given an interview by the local newspaper and free advertising space in the newspaper for the next six months.
On the night the staff were celebrating, Anna thanked her staff for their part to play in the success of the café and was looking forward to what the future would hold.