Each week I will point out some real marketers of genius. Through this series, I hope to show some ways not to market yourself or your brand.
This week we salute you, Ristreto Coffee of Fargo, ND. Only you would decide to put yourself in between a Starbucks and a Caribou Coffee. In a town with an average temperature of -8, you said to hell with it and opted out of the drive-thru. Your coffee might be worth getting out of my car for. Unfortunately for you, they both have a drive-thru.
Upon closer inspection, we can see that Ristreto Coffee is closed while they move to a different location. The reason for the move, I am assuming, is due to the extremely poor location they are currently in. No further than 200 yards to the east of Ristreto Coffee is a well-established Starbucks Coffee with a nice, covered drive-thru. With North Dakota winters pushing the envelope of -20, a covered drive-thru goes a long way.
About 200 yards to the west of Ristreto Coffee is a Caribou Coffee. For those of you unfamiliar with Caribou Coffee, it is the upper Midwest’s competition to Starbucks Coffee. This Caribou Coffee also has a drive-thru and has been serving in the same location for a couple of years.
Why on earth would someone pick a spot in the middle of these two? More importantly, their business is located in a strip mall with no street access. Considering the street in front of their business in one of the busiest in town, this is a problem. Not to mention it has no drive-thru option for the people traveling on the busiest street in town. Further more, Ristreto Coffee sits right in the middle of two brewing giants. Unless the baristas are serving your coffee topless, I see no reason for people to walk through the door. I hope the second location goes much better for the people over at Ristreto Coffee.
Receive Josh’s Unconventional Marketing Blog by Email
No related posts.
Tags: Bad Marketing, Caribou, Coffee, Marketing, Ristreto, Starbucks
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Viddler
YouTube
Great observation, Josh!
Unfortunately, it doesn’t say much for the entrepreneur here in North Dakota.
Great blog!
This is funny. With many Starbucks closing due to aggressive openings in 2007-08 they seemed to have placed many locations within blocks of each other. Options and competition is good for any business but also maybe more choices will improve their service so no need to shut down to train people… ha, ha.
Um. Hate to tell you, but Ristreto opened first… seems like they had an awesome location and their landlord then leased in the building on the next block to Starbucks. Caribou came after Ristreto too.
@FargoCoffee, I stand corrected. It is unfortunate that that the bigger stores came and played monkey in the middle with Ristreto’s customers. I only remember it being opened for a short time after moving to that area of town before shutting down.
Joshs last blog post..Where does the future of marketing lay?
Although I applaud your motives to educate, your methods could be improved. Rather than post ill-informed assumptions and opinions, just ask the business owners for insight on their marketing decisions.
Ristreto opened in 2004 on 13th Ave before the corporate chains. Our decision to locate where we did was based on solid marketing research. Obviously the corporate chains concurred with our analysis, when they opened their stores on either side of us. Based on the strength of our business execution, Ristreto has earned professional recognition from the ND Marketplace for Entrepreneurs and local Chambers of Commerce.
Although I could post a 10-page dissertation on the challenges of creating a brand-new business on 13th Ave in Fargo, I will be brief. The primary reason for our move was not the lack of a drive-thru (note that having drive-thrus didn’t save the three Starbucks and Mountain Mudd operations that recently closed). It was to co-locate in an area where we could leverage a captive rather than transient clientele.
I’d like to invite you and your readers to visit our new location to experience the value an in-store experience has to offer (map at http://www.ristreto.com). You don’t know what you’ve been missing!
@Jerry, Thank you for sharing. I will make sure to stop by and scope out the new location. Looks great.
Joshs last blog post..Marketing: Do you see a common theme here?