Philz Coffee Case Study

Philz Coffee is an American coffee company and coffee shop chain founded in San Francisco, California by Phil Jaber, a Palestinian immigrant from Rammallah, West Bank, in 2003. Jaber owned and operated a corner grocery store in the Mission District of San Francisco for 25 years. Having established strong ties with the community and engaging them in the coffee blend development and selection process, Jaber turned this very same store on the corner of 24th Street and Folsom Street into the first Philz Coffee location. Today, Philz has thirty-six locations across three U.S. cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. Philz Coffee prides itself on brewing every cup of coffee one at a time upon ordering. Unlike other American coffee

It does not employ a “grab-n-go” concept of drinking coffee like some of its competitors, namely Starbucks, who recently has begun utilizing drive through service, choose to. This mission statement does not only apply to coffee and its preparation. Philz understands that operating a business affects many people and they consider everyone in the community to be a stakeholder. For this reason, Philz is committed to responsible sourcing, encouraging conscientious care for everyone in the coffee supply chain, promotion of safe environmental practices, and promotion of social responsibility. Philz accomplishes this by having three measurable criteria with which they choose which suppliers to work with: traceability, worker and environmental safety, and social

27). By creating a personal experience for every customer, this is what Philz aims to do. The employee and customer develop a connection with one another, thus resulting in the customer coming back for this interaction. Also, the people Philz hires tend to be socially similar to their clientele and are not required to wear uniforms. This lack of conformity is something “hipsters” like and appreciate. Assuming the quality and service provided is always consistently good, one would be hard-pressed to find a better way to bring customers back to your store than by reaffirming and validating their