I am drinking a cup of latte from Peet’s coffee on campus as I write this follow-up. Recall that I lamented about the vanishing cup of $.99 coffee at Peet’s before switching over to Starbucks, then I talked about how someone in management here on campus read my blog post and provided some impressive service recovery.
Today I went back to Peet’s for the first time to give them another chance. Much to my great surprise, the manager, Michelle, recognized me and introduced herself. We had a nice conversation about some of my assumptions about the $.99 cup of Joe.
Turns out I was probably wrong.
I assumed that Joe was Joe, since the customer sees no differential pricing on coffee based on the bean. My assumption was that Peet’s charged their stores the same price for a case of coffee regardless of the bean. Michelle told me that the case of coffee they sell for $.99 costs much less than other beans they carry. So it makes sense that when they run out of that bean they would discontinue the more affordable Joe.
I still don’t completely get it, but Michelle’s personal touch and the good coffee has me in a state of mind where for the time being, I really don’t care. I’m back as customer of Peet’s Coffee.
Give your customers a reason to find fault and they will. Impress them with great product and service and they won’t be as quick to notice your imperfections in their peripheral field of view.
In case you are wondering, the .$99 cup of coffee was on the menu today.
Related Posts:
Service System Recovery: Red Lion Inn
ATT Service Recovery: A Follow-up
Service System Failure: A Tale Of Two Hotels
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Tis interesting, indeed, to see the new corporate version of Peet’s go toe-to-toe with Starbuck’s. I remember the original Peet’s on Walnut Square in Berkeley and how it was always a friendly place where people would take the time to talk to you. It was the real Mr. Peet who taught the Starbuck’s founders about roasting and all that coffee stuff. Years later when Starbucks was pushing for hypergrowth, I always preferred Peet’s because that’s where real people were. Now, not so much.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I need to visit a “real” Peet’s sometime. the one here on campus is run by campus concessions so it’s not the full experience. the employees are UNR employees, not Peet’s per se. Thanks! Bret
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Hi Bret, nice post, personally I prefer Starbucks’s coffee by far than Peet’s, even though I am not a heavy coffee drinker, well I wasn’t until I got to try starbucks coffee. I say so because there is a little story to tell. When I first got here to the states 5 years ago my exgirlfriend couldn’t believe I had never drunk a cup of coffee from Starbucks’s before, so as soon as she found out she took me to this great Starbucks store to try it. As we walked into the store I still remember her saying: Javier, once you try it you are going to be addicted to it, and she was right. She also told the employees in turn of that store that I was a new customer, and so they couldn’t believe it either, anyway they all made me feel great, so that was a great experience so ever since I am a loyal customer to Starbucks yet they always give me a good customer service!
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 1:09 am
There is a reason why Starbucks is number one. They have a distinct product which some love and others hate. Fortunately for them, more love it than hate it. The service is hit and miss, but when it is on it is excellent. Thanks! Bret
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In a commoditized economy, service is king and price is queen. It doesn’t matter whether you sell coffee, bicycles or conferences, if you don’t deliver service, people will go out of their way and spend extra money to avoid you. I don’t fault Peet’s for having a low cost brand, but you have to train employees how to respond appropriately or businesses lose the customer forever.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Great point, Jim. The employee was well trained about the reason why the cheap Joe went away, but not well trained on how to respond to a customer that might take exception to that. That’s a management issue – I don’t think they anticipated the problem. thanks! bret
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Coffee beans are about as uniform cost-wise as grapes, so it makes utter sense that the price of the end product differs—kind of the difference between Thunderbird and a Rothchild Cabernet:)
Peet’s, Starbucks and most other coffeehouses used to do a good job educating their customers. These days they probably assume that most people know that not all beans are created equal, once again proving that assumptions ruin many customer (and other) experiences.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Hi Miki! Well, now I know a lot more about coffee beans. But it makes sense that the customer would we unaware because the price of a cup of coffee is not bean dependent, unlike wine. Thanks! Bret
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I’m glad to hear that you gave it another chance. I’m also glad to hear that it was because someone read your blog and took the initiative to make things right. I still think you should hit up Bibo’s and no, I haven’t been to the Hub yet. I will, though. It’s on my list of to-do’s.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 7:05 am
I love happy endings. I do need to check out the other Bibos. Thanks! Bret
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