Top 10 coffee shop trends that need to go?
I came across this great blog post tonight, Eater.com : Top Ten Restaurant Design Trends That Need To Go, and I couldn’t help but think about the corresponding list for coffee shops and espresso bars. I’ll start with just five, and you can leave your additions in the comments.
Let’s start with the one from the Eater.com list that should be on this one:
Chalkboard menus: Same goes for handwritten signs of any kind. Sure, it helps things look homey and friendly, but it doesn’t take long or very far down the slippery-slope to end up a messy illegible mess. There are relatively inexpensive ways of making menus and signs, and your shop will look much more professional for it.
Pseudo-flea-market decor: There was an era when the archetype coffee shop was “Central Perk” with their shabby-chic thing everywhere. Well, that was 1994, my friends. Mismatched chairs, mismatched silverware, mismatched socks… you don’t have to hire the world-class architects that Intelly does for their west-coast shops to have a shop with some nice design character. Remember, the design is the fashion-sense of the shop.
Piles of coffee grinds: It was once a badge of honor, now not so much; wasting espresso grinds is indicative of a lack of skill. Work hard enough on your skills and it should take no more than two adjustments to dial-in your espresso grinder, and dosing so much coffee that you’re overflowing 10+ grams each basket isn’t cool. For the little waste that you do create, sweep that shit up and throw it out!
Fort-like bar designs: Being a great barista isn’t just about making great drinks, it’s about engaging your customers and being available. In the interest of increasing revenue, some shops have so much stuff for sale and on display that you can barely see the barista behind the towering pastry case, 24-option tea display unit, chocolate candy dispensers, dusty jade plant, piles of paper cups and lids, and often the espresso or coffee brewing equipment. Streamline stuff down and get rid of all that crap!
Giant brewers: Continuing the sentiment above, why the heck are coffee brewers so damn tall? Coffee brewer manufacturers need to start designing for a lower sight-line. Sure, some shops are ditching their batch-brewers for single-cup service, but for many of us, we love our FETCO Extractor 1.5 gallon brewers, except for the fact giant monolithic huskiness of those things. Same could be said of hot water towers, and maybe coffee grinders.
There’s a little kick-start. What do you think? What are the coffee shop design trends that have got to go?
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Comments (9)
jason dominy
March 17th, 2010 at 11:50 am
I like well done chalkboard signs. Clean, legible ones. But I will agree with you on the other stuff. However, when I read about the “Pseudo-flea-market decor”, I can’t help but think about murky-arlington, and how much I liked that look. Maybe I’m just wrong, but I know what I like.
smoovebcoffee
March 17th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
This idea is from an occasional coffee-drinking friend’s misguided rant, but it did get me thinking.
the Tip Jar
I don’t see how coffee shops and baristas could survive without it, but it’s interesting to consider the idea and all the changes that would have to happen to get rid of it. The exercise reminded me of a recent nyt nugget with Ken Nye talking about how coffee should cost $10 by now. Baristas are a key part of that value chain and their workmanship shouldn’t be SO subject to the whims of customers, but then again aren’t we all.
David Seng
March 17th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
In Australia everyone is designing their cafes with distressed timber that looks grunge-y. There’s a point where grunge-y looks dirty and I’m over it. Clean up your shit and get new furniture!
Alex
March 17th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Love the bit on how big brewers are. Couldn’t we just get some water towers to be under the countertop with a simple spicket coming out and spewing hot water? Even coming out of the wall if the situation presents itself, much like the pot fillers that are seen over expensive cooking ranges?
As for the fort, there is a time and a place. As much as I love to engage customers, especially when its slow and someone orders a double spro or a hand pour or the like, in the mad Murky-esque Saturday rush that place was a war zone of 20 oz vanilla lattes and dirty big train chai. Felt great to be back there pulling shots or steaming milk, trying to stay ahead of the curve.
Trish
March 17th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I hate places that are designed like pinkberry…even when they are pinkberry
Phil Proteau
March 19th, 2010 at 8:48 am
The Cyber Cafe
I worked in a cyber cafe once, in 1996. Few people had laptops, and it was so awesome to go to a coffee shop and surf the web on AltaVista on a 56k modem. Most people can do better than that on their phone now-a-days.
I hear tell that there is a cyber cafe opening soon in a small Pennsylvania town near me. I am flabbergasted that someone would go with that business model now.
Shawn
March 19th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
64 oz milk-steaming pitchers.
There isn’t a quality-based reason to have them. And I’m not sure if the speed-of-service reason is valid either.
Ned
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:33 am
Portable table numbers
Some otherwise decent cafes I frequent, spoil the entire effect by having a forest of tall table number stands at the counter which you take to your table after placing your order. They look ugly and at total odds with the the rest of the appealing decor.
Good service involves the staff knowing where you’re sitting, and great service is trusting the customer enough to be able to completely do away with the bill and just ask what they had.
(If none of that makes any sense, then that’s because the cafes I frequent are in Melbourne, Australia)
tommy
March 25th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
there’s almost a “high quality coffee shop equipment” checklist, and that kind of bums me out. granted, it’s all good equipment, but everyones got alot of the same stuff taking up space on their counter, and it a little bit makes things seem a little less special. I suppose that’s really more of a comment on the quality of equipment available to cafes, though.
double true with pinkberry. their aesthetic grosses me out.
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