Imagine walking into a small, local coffee shop; what is the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe it’s the pungent aroma of coffee beans, or perhaps it is the sound of quiet jazz music playing softly overhead. Perhaps people even appear in this vision. Who are these fellow coffee dwellers, and what is it that they have to say? The answer to this question happens to be quite inspiring.
The Brew is a small coffee shop in downtown Dickinson, North Dakota. What was once a modest church established in 1887 has been transformed into a modern coffee shop unique to the region. Boosting “good drinks, good food, good music, and good people,” The Brew prides itself on providing exceptional service to its customers.
One of those customers happens to be Gene Metzger, an 87 year old retired bookkeeper. Her beverage of choice: black coffee. When asked why she was visiting The Brew, Metzger explained that she was meeting her kids; they had chosen the place. After asked a series of questions, Gene revealed that she would like to visit Japan and China if she could go anywhere in the world. Her reasoning behind this: she has been everywhere else. Metzger also shared some wisdom regarding her life philosophy. Her piece of advice was one her father had always given her, “life is what you make it.”
Another customer at The Brew that morning was Sage Roshau. Visiting from college in Minneapolis, Roshau was waiting for his friend to arrive, drinking loose leaf green tea and browsing his phone to kill some time before she arrived. When asked why he chose green tea, Sage very eagerly replied that he recently lost 25 pounds. He talked about his dream of traveling to Australia, giving a detailed description of his plans to visit the country...
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...connection if one is presented. Simply by speaking to these people for 5 to 10 minutes each, I feel like I’ve gained some trust with them. They all smile at me knowingly as they leave. Most of these people I may never see again, but it’s almost like we have this secret connection; they are now a part of an exclusive club.
We pass these people every day with usually no thought. Sometimes we speculate on the lives of the people around us, but most often we look at the ground as they walk by, robotic in our mannerisms. If openly talking to a stranger for 5 to 10 minutes can create the powerful sensation of trust and understanding I experienced, it makes me wonder what kind of world this would be if we bothered to listen to one another for a moment of our lives. There is truly something about a human connection that is unbelievably powerful. It’s oddly inspiring.
Fish’s depiction of the process of buying a coffee now is an unfair stereotype, as not everyone has experienced what he describes. For example Fish states, “if you are patient and stay in line (no bathroom breaks), you get to put in your order,” (Fish). The bathroom comment was quite unnecessary because nobody gets bathroom breaks for long lines. This quote by Fish was illogical for his argument. Fish continues, stating that when one receives a coffee, the “real problem” is how the coffee accessories are placed. There are too many of them, Fish believes, and the order is random. This is not true for most coffee shops. Typically in coffee shops, the dairy is together, the sugars are neatly piled, the straws and napkins are stacked tidily. Of course, there are coffee shops now that are how Fish described. However, he only describes a percentage of coffee shops, not all of them. Fish should have made that clear in his argument. To continue, Fish writes about people fighting over the accessories and balancing coffee in one hand. This comment is almost theatrical in its description. The scene Fish depicts is rarely seen at coffee shops. Fish’s argument does not represent a realistic representation of all coffee shops. Fish does not state this, therefore being unreliable in his
For my report, I observed the customers at a Starbucks in downtown St. Petersburg. Each time I visited this establishment, there were consistent factors as well as unique ones during each observation. The morning crowd of people was vastly different than the evening crowd. I did however see many parallels with the morning and lunch time crowd. Each time I visited, There seemed to be an upbeat and fast paced environment.
A characteristic of humanity is social contact, each individual needs significant social interaction. Not only must humans have interaction, but must share things in common to care and love. This h...
I had always heard people talk about people they knew with disabilities as “the sweetest people you will ever meet,” but that phrase meant nothing to me until I met this group. I honestly could never have imagined the impact that they would have on my life. The next time that I went back after my first session, I had participants say things like, “You came back! Hi!” or “Look, it’s Megan! Megan everybody!” As an introvert, it is sometimes difficult for me to approach new people and immediately build relationships with them. This group of people has absolutely no issues waving at strangers to making friends effortlessly. They made me feel appreciated and loved having only been with them for one session, and this feeling grows each time I
Experts say that our brains are wired to connect. Author Daniel Coleman in the book entitled Social Intelligence The New Science of Human Relationships writes, "Neuroscience has discovered that our brains very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person"(Col...
Strangers are the richest source of new information, ideas, and thought processes, but it is often those we know best whom we trust the most to teach us these important
"This report . . . is concerned with the structure of social encounters--the structure of those entities in social life that come into being whenever persons enter one another 's immediate physical presence. The key factor in this structure is the maintenance of a single definition of the situation" (1959,
Humans by nature, desire to have connections with other individuals in order to have a sense of self worth. Many factors contribute to these connections. The free verse novel The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick, the song Numb by Linkin Park and the film The Matrix all demonstrate that some people purposely disconnect themselves from having connections with other individuals because for them to connect they would first have to modify their personality, people’s life choices can hinder or assist them in forming associations with other people and a person’s measure of how much they belong is defined by their popularity or social status amongst their peers.
Research into the target audience of Sun King Brewing Company showed that the owners have stated on record that they have no particular target audience. Rather than focus on a singular group of people to advertise to, the owners wanted to market to a broad audience. Most of this line of reasoning is that they would like to introduce their product to people who are fans of local, fresh products (Lynch, n.d.). To reach a deeper understanding of the marketing techniques of Sun King Brewing and to make more informed recommendations, we can examine the demographics of craft brewery audiences.
Every customer that is served is treated with utmost respect, while an equal care is given to the coffee and other merchandise – providing the recipient with superior quality the first time or they will gladly remake it. When customers enter the establishment they are welcomed with comfy chairs and a cozy, “nestled-at-home” feel – keeping the barren walls and cold atmosphere for other businesses. This environment yearns to be a place of unity – bringing people together, a study room for the burned out college student, or even a place to read the paper before work. Whatsoever the necessities may be, Starbucks provides the answer. For instance, for every bottle of Ethos Water that is sold, five cents is donated to the Ethos Water Fund to provide clean water to children who are unable to access it themselves. This fund has helped more than 500,000 people across the globe obtain clean water, hygiene and sanitation (Ethos Water Fund). Clearly, Starbucks believes in the necessity of humanity.
Starbucks is a company in which purchases and roasts high quality whole bean coffees and sells them along with fresh, rich-brewed, Italian style espresso beverages, a variety of pastries and confections, and coffee-related accessories and equipment (starbucks.com). During my environmental scan in which took place at the Starbucks on the corner of Fair and Newport across the street from vanguard, I noticed many things in which where never brought to my attention in prior stays and visits at Starbucks; such as the many social groups in which choose to have their meetings at Starbucks. Thus in this essay we will discuss things in which many people do not really notice when going to Starbucks.
Schultz, Howard, and Joanne Gordon. Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul. New York: Rodale, 2011. N. pag. Print.
This paper will summarize the book “ The Starbucks Experience” written by Joseph Michelli in an effort to explain the company’s runway success. In addition, the paper will provide a personal insight on how this book is related to international business and to the concepts that has been learned in the International Business course.
A person can’t go anywhere today without seeing Starbucks. There are coffee stores all over the world, Starbucks inside Target’s and military installations, to Frappuccino’s and teas sold in grocery stores and gas stations.
The coffee shop I decided to do my observation was the well known Starbucks just a couple blocks away. The reason I chose this coffee shop was because of it 's style inside, it attracted me. For example, one side of the wall has a glass top, and the lower part of the wall, made of wood and painted in a bright red color, which was one thing that attracted me and stood out. Outside of the shop people can actually see through the glass wall and get to see what’s happening inside of the coffeeshop. By the entrance you see these two red ceiling lamps which were shaped in a flower bud and these two tall green plants. Once you were in, on the right of the shop there was a counter with food and things to put in your drinks such as milk, sugar, chocolate, etc and the colors and how the food was displayed and served was appealing to my eyes. Behind that counter there was a long table with different electronic devices plugged into the wall. On the middle of the those there is a fridge just for ice and when I turned to the other side and I noticed a big menu on the wall. Further more into the shop, there was an area filled with tables, chairs, and sofas. The tables were in different shapes, one was round and the others rectangular, also there was four bamboo baskets and I looked around and noticed that the walls in that area were decorated with paintings.