Our town hasn't had a good coffee shop in years. There's a Corporate Coffee shop in town, sure, but it's over-priced and not very good. That's why we were really excited when a local Businessman said that he was opening a new shop. It was going to serve high quality coffee, procured through fair trade, and sold at a reasonable price. The atmosphere of the shop, he said, would be pleasant - in contrast to the loud, sterile Corporate Coffee shop.
We knew that all businesses experience their ups and downs, especially in their first years. But we were willing to support the new shop in whatever way we could...
When the shop opened, we all crowded to it. It seemed pretty good. Not perfect, mind you, but it was a refreshing change from the option that we'd been stuck with for so long. The business was successful and the Businessman declared, "I am going to hire some people to help me manage and advertise this shop, so that it can serve even more of the good people of this town."
This sounded wise. We all suggested that he hire a few of our local financial and marketing guys. They understood the town and its needs and they really wanted to build a nice, thriving downtown with a unique feel. "Thanks for the suggestion," said the Businessman, "But I am going to hire some consultants from Corporate Coffee. They understand best how I can reach everyone in this town. The local guys are great, of course, but they just don't have the practical ideas that work for a truly successful business."
This seemed a little worrying, but still, perhaps he'd be able to combine his local smarts with the Corporate Coffee advice. Right? But pretty soon, we started noticing a change. Instead of using local or fair trade products, the coffee shop began to buy Corporate Coffee products.
"We liked the local and fair trade ones," we told the Businessman as we continued to patronize his shop.
"Yes, me too. But it's just not cost-effective," said the Businessman. "If you want to be serious about the coffee business, sometimes you have to make hard choices. But we still buy some local products. That's better than what Corporate Coffee does, isn't it?"
That was true. It was. But it was still a little disappointing.
Then customers from Corporate Coffee began to come into the new, Local Coffee shop. "I wish this place played the same three songs over and over instead of a variety of indie artists," they said. They complained loudly every time they came to the shop. One day, when I went in for my coffee, I noticed that the radio station had changed. It was now playing just the same ten songs over and over.
"What happened to the nice radio station that we used to have?" we asked.
"Oh. Well, we need to appeal to all our customers," said the Businessman. "So I picked this station because they like it."
"But we don't like it," we said.
"You need to grow up," sighed the Businessman. "You can't always have the music you like. And besides, they only play 3 songs over at Corporate Coffee. You get 10 here. You should be grateful. It's a good compromise."
"But the customers who like Corporate Coffee are never going to be happy here, unless you turn your shop into a Corporate Coffee shop," we protested.
"But they're shouting the loudest and we want to win their support. You already come here all the time. So, we have to ask you to give up a little of what you like so that we can reach everyone."
This went on and on. First the decorations changed. At the start, local artists had been allowed to display their work. Now, it had all been changed to bland, soft-focus photos that looked like clip-art. This was better than Corporate Coffee, of course, because Corporate Coffee only had pictures up of its own logo. Strangely, while this was all done to be financially responsible, the coffee prices simply went up at the local place while the Businessman paid his advisors from Corporate Coffee higher and higher salaries.
Then the flavor of the coffee changed.
"It's a flavor that appeals to everyone," the Businessman said.
"But it doesn't appeal to us," we said.
"You aren't everyone. You're good people, but you're foolish and have local ideas. You just need to trust me and the advisors I hired from Corporate Coffee."
Finally, one day, I said to the Businessman, "You know, I like you, Mr. Businessman. But this coffee really isn't good, the atmosphere here is terrible, and the music doesn't make me want to sit here and buy your products. Do you think you could change things to be a bit more like what you promised?"
"Don't be ungrateful," snapped the Businessman. "You're lucky to have a choice at all. I can't believe that I've done all this hard work and all you do is blame me and attack me."
"I'd like to support your business," I said. "But I don't feel as if you really care about your base of customers or about our community. You seem to want to just be another Corporate Coffee shop."
"Don't be ridiculous!" said the Businessman, rolling his eyes. "Listen, do you hear that music? That's better than the alternative. And our coffee is better than the alternative, too. And the atmosphere of this shop is better than anything else in town. What did you expect? That you would get to design the coffee shop yourself and have it cater only to you?
"No," I said sadly. "I just hoped that you'd provide a real alternative to Corporate Coffee. You know, like you said you would."
"If this isn't enough for you," said the Businessman, giving up on me, "Then you'll just have to make your coffee at home."
Sadly, I left the shop. On my way out, one of the other customers said to me, "You probably like Corporate Coffee, don't you? That's why you come in here and complain all the time in order to drive this local place out of business."
I still go there for my cup of coffee, of course. I don't have any other choice. But it's disappointing. And it's strange that neither the owner or his customers who enjoy his Corporate-lite products don't understand why.