Café Dispatch #22 : cafés are leaving Instagram
3 principles to stay on brand for any café wanting to scale, coffee news you shouldn't miss and two cafés I liked this past week
This weekend was one for the books. I hosted two separate girlfriend dinners at home and both times, without really planning it, coffee ended up at the center of the table. Both of my girlfriends are experts in their own right and are finally taking the leap to be more public with their work. So naturally we ended up talking about what it means to show up, to have a point of view, to build something with your name on it. And apparently, even after a few glasses of wine, I still yap about coffee.
This week’s Café Dispatch includes: a branding deep dive I’ve been sitting with, two cafés I visited, and the US consumers love their specialty coffee
Spending time looking for new cafés on social media or across platforms gives you a pretty decent idea of where café branding currently stands. A lot of beautiful design encompassing new concepts but also places that to me are feeling more like the kind of warm environments we’re seeking.
I’ve been noticing three small things in particular, both in the cafés I’ve actually walked in and in what’s circulating in the industry right now.
The brand lives in the details
It sounds really like an evidence, an obvious statement most interior designers would make when creating a space. But ultimately it is very true. The cafés that you remember and recommend rarely stay with you because of their names.
They stick because of a feeling: the way a drink was brought to your table on a cute tray with a glass of water and a small attention, the way the seating was organised so that you get a nice view but also privacy, and so on. We’re sensitive to details and we can tell when something has been intentionally designed. Right?
Tenfold Coffee in Houston said to Fresh Cup recently: “The fundamentals have to be right, but hospitality is the X-factor.” They deliver drinks to tables rather than calling out names and know that this matters more than we think.
Essentially, the lesson here is to learn how to encode your values into the daily texture of the experience across every touch point.
Values matter more than ever
We keep repeating and hearing the same speech about values and there’s a reason for that - not enough cafés know how to do it!
It’s not about translating them to your tone of voice or your colour palette… It’s about knowing what you won’t compromise on - you won’t let happen and transgress on.
And logically, scaling, growing and hiring more people often leads to compromising and cutting corners or worse, implementing shortcuts with the hope no one will realise. Not only does it demote staff but it will absolutely despair your customers. I mean, look at Starbucks 🫣
Your operating philosophy is the foundation of everything that follows. Story and Soil Coffee in Hartford made specialty coffee feel accessible and non-intimidating from day one by thinking about how they trained their team, how they talked about what they serve, how they shaped the space to feel like it was for everyone. Details but paired with their values and it made magic happen.
Ditching socials to focus on in real life experience
I had to laugh when I returned to Instagram after a six-month hiatus, having wiped my account entirely. Quite a few cafés that used to post regularly have since stopped posting altogether.
We’re all noticing it, people are tired of social media, AI and living an online parallel life. And I really do get it, but also I’ve been convinced most of my adult life that businesses could not do without.
Two cafés have been vocal about it,
Anthology Coffee in Detroit has 16,000 Instagram followers and barely posts anymore. Since stepping back from the platform, the business has actually grown faster than when they were actively investing in it. More time to give people a great experience, less time for posting - the math does add up.
Seasons Coffee in Sacramento made a deliberate choice to leave space for customers to find them and share that discovery themselves. “If we’re just promoting it ourselves, it’s not cool anymore,” says owner Greg Cotta.
And I must say, we do love walking into an amazing café randomly when visiting a city.
What else have you noticed that you think should make it onto the list?
Last week was a quiet coffee week because I kept myself busy with hands-on hobbies. Painting for one, walking a lot! and shopping at bookstores, and then calling my grandma repeatedly while also hosting two dinners and meeting a dear friend for a ballet session on Monday night. I’ve been in my season of saying YES to nearly everything coming my way, and it’s been fun (but also a tiny bit tiring).
Terrah Coffee Roasters - A stylish café where the coffee is just really good although more expensive than most cafés around. But they roast it themselves in Paris, and they’re one of the few spaces I found to be very thoughtfully designed. Also you can bring your laptop which is a big plus in a city where most cafés ban you from doing so.
Cuvée Noire - I’ve been watching this brand for a while, one I love their brand colours - Blue Klein has always been a favourite and two, their specialty-grade coffee starts at €2. Every location is designed differently by an interior design firm and they’re clearly listening to their customers.
Researchers just brewed espresso with sound waves. A team at UNSW Sydney pulled a shot using ultrasonic vibrations and cold water. Blind tasters couldn’t tell the difference from a real espresso. It uses 75% less energy than a traditional machine. I don’t know if it’ll ever make it behind a bar, but I love that someone tried.
Specialty coffee just got a seat at the grown-ups’ table. The James Beard Awards has two coffee bars as finalists this year: Onyx Coffee Lab (Outstanding Bar) and endorffeine (Outstanding Professional) and voted ...
Portland banned foie gras last week and now, Kopi Luwak might be too. The city’s new force-feeding ban is reigniting debate about civet coffee, the one made from beans passed through captive civets that are force-fed... Sprudge picked up the thread.
Want to chat about coffee, or a coffee project you’re excited about?
My inbox is open hello@juliehanell.com
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Specialty coffee for 2 EUR at a coffee shop ?!? That's impressive !