Howard Schultz, can I call you Howard?
Talks about the "future of Starbucks
with the change in logo's this year.
but it's time I clear up the confusion of one key thing....
Not the taste, the presentation or price. I call Starbucks "my second office" because it's the environment to conduct business.
In Canada, Tim Horton's is not so much coffee as it is a religion ( "double double? Amen" )
I used to drive 100,000km a year for work in the 90's
It's what kept me alive ( Extra large, 2 cream, 7 sugars )
And Second Cup, Timothy's and other brands are good at coffee meets comfort.But Starbucks is to coffee what Lexus is to Toyota, Range Rover to Ford.
Even in the advent of the real "second office" and the laptop gollum's who buy two cups and stay 48 hours doling out stinkeyes at anyone who dares have a conversation in their little Lord of the Coffee Rings library/home ... but I digress...
Look at this layout, the better locations (and on LinkedIn I use a group to source the best locations for meetings )have a quiet comfortable place to meet.
So, get your coffee from wherever it tastes best to you. Snobbery aside, McCafe and the big M is quickly catching up to my beloved Tim's as the cup of choice on the runbut when it comes to networking.....
Ps. Want to know the best way to meet in a coffee shop?
Want to know the BEST place to sit for networking purposes?
Read one or both of these books - they have done wonders for me!
PPs. My last tip is that I give my Starbucks card to the Barista in charge when I'm meeting someone I don't want to fight over who pays. One nod when I approach the counter - and I win. Every time.
So true!
ReplyDeleteCase and point: Regina only has one Starbucks restaurant, it's in Chapters, kind of in a run-down suburban mall. I stepped off the airplane and was there about two hours later the very first day of living in this city. I instantly ran into two business contacts. It was a Saturday.
The real networking hub here is Atlantis Coffee, but still agree with your point, it's the atmosphere, not the specific coffee. Atlantis has a great version of the traditional SB layout too and it's always worth having a business card in your pocket there.
The only issue I have with Starbucks for networking is I hate having to walk over to another (often crowded) counter to pick up the drink and then on to another counter to get milk/sugar/etc. - it's awkward in that initial moment of meeting a new person.
Christina