In defense of “coffee Nazis”
Posted by TheShot on 15 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Quality Issues
Over the past few days, a small coffee story in suburban D.C. has blown up to rather ridiculous proportions — virtually requiring restraining orders and U.N. troops to intervene. A brief synopsis of the affair can be found on The Consumerist: Murky Coffee: Coffee-Shop Threatens To “Punch” Customer In His “Dick”.
The story involves an iced espresso lover who religiously believes “the customer is always right”, Murky Coffee and their policies towards what they do and do not serve, the often-belligerent-yet-often-entertaining Nick Cho (owner of Murky Coffee, and an occasional comment flamer here), and some really uncivil behavior that followed on all sides.
Now as much as Nick can be such a thorny guy, he’s entirely in the right on this issue. Murky Coffee’s motivations for not selling iced espresso mirror those of Intelligentsia’s Bonfire of the Venti’s, which we wrote about last week.
Fire your bad customers
Sure, there will always be customers who presume they are always right and businesses must cater to their every whim. A U.S. News & World Report poll on this very issue indicates most of their readers believe Murky Coffee should just shut up and serve. Some have even gone so far as to rant, “YOUR JOB IS TO PUT BROWN WATER IN A CUP AND TAKE MONEY FOR IT.” Many consumers believe in their own divine right to consume anything they wish (as long as it’s legal), seeing themselves as untouchable. So they naturally take offense to any suggestion that their desires are somehow not accepted in a given place. It makes them feel judged or looked down upon.
But businesses need to reserve the right to fire some of their customers, existing or potential. Some customers, like the one who buys a $20 product and feels entitled to ridicule customer support staff for countless hours, can wind up being very unprofitable and can put the company out of business. Others, as in this Iced-EspressoGate incident, will draw a business away from its core competencies and focus. A business needs to preserve the kind of market they are after and not just chase down every quarter that might appear in the creases of the sidewalk.
Starbucks dulled itself into near oblivion by setting no limits to the amount of accommodations and concessions they made to grow their customer base, and they have completely lost their way for it. As much as Nick, and Murky Coffee, gets under the skin of some people — and as much as Iced-EspressoGate has turned the conversation into a mockery — if a business cannot stand up for its own quality controls and standards for the brand and culture it is trying to create, it has failed to differentiate itself from the next business down the street that will do anything for a buck.
If your business can’t stand for something and draw some kind of a line, what good is it? It’s certainly the question Starbucks investors are asking today.
7 Comments »
on 15 Jul 2008 at 3:51 pm -05:00T 1.anon said …
No, Murky was wrong and its owner’s subsequent behavior was borderline illegal under Virginia law.
on 15 Jul 2008 at 4:57 pm -05:00T 2.Mike Miller said …
A store is no more obligated to serve you espresso the way you want it than your wife/girlfriend/SO/whatever is to oblige your request for a particular intimate act. Isn’t our society all about not doing anything you’re not comfortable with?
on 16 Jul 2008 at 7:49 am -05:00T 3.Jeff said …
I can understand Murky’s position, but a better sense of customer service on the part of the barista would have made things much better. Simply saying, “I’ll do this for you, but I would suggest that icing the espresso dulls its flavor” (or whatever) could get the point across just as easily. It’s fine if they want to do all they can to provide the best coffee experience, but being snotty about it also ruins the experience.
on 16 Jul 2008 at 10:40 am -05:00T 4.Dan said …
Abusive customers are bad and should be discouraged. So should staff who turn otherwise normal customers into abusive customers by being arrogant and condescending.
However, I would be hard-pressed to expect someone like Nick Cho to understand a basic business concept; the man can’t event get his mind around rent or tax payments.
on 16 Jul 2008 at 6:26 pm -05:00T 5.TheShot said …
Touché…
on 21 Jul 2008 at 4:41 am -05:00T 6.Wilson Hines said …
After listening to every portafilter.net podcast and then meeting about 15% of Nick’s staff and finally as well as meeting a few of his friends I must say this: I don’t agree with Nick Cho on anything except COFFEE.
Here, in this instance, Nick mixed coffee with business. I don’t agree with some of Nick’s business practices, however here I am with Nick 100%. I own my own trucking business and there are probably 15 or 20 things that I just flat out won’t do and if the customer wants to ask me, that is fine, but I will kindly decline. About five of those 15 things will cause a customer to get a little angry or frustrated. And while I have never told anyone that I would “punch them in the dick,” I have told a few that I would “kick there ass…” and a few other good ol’ southern metaphors.
Nobody, and I do mean nobody, should tell a man that has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested (not to mention their whole LIFE) should be forced, coerced or made to feel guilty enough to “give in” to the demands of a megalomaniac.
After all, it is your business, isn’t it?
on 21 Jul 2008 at 5:16 am -05:00T 7.In Defense of Espresso Tuscano: Murky Coffee Owner N. Cho having an easy time saying “No” to customers. « Bean Chaser said …
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