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BA 663 – Assignment 5.2: Brand Assessment – Caribou Coffee Jamie AngoveBellevue UniversityDr. Okash Caribou Coffee is a premier coffee chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and founded by two adventurers on a trip through the Alaskan wilderness (Caribou Coffee, 2015). The founders believed that excellence is a product of hard work, and life is too short to sweat the small stuff (Caribou Coffee, 2015). Constantly striving to live these goals as a brand, customers can experience a taste of the Alaskan wilderness paired with Midwestern friendliness when visiting any of the chain’s stores (Caribou Coffee, 2015). Brand AccessCaribou Coffee has 273 owned and 127 licensed stores within 18 of the United States, and 2013 internationally franchised stores in ten different countries (Caribou Coffee, 2015). In 1990 when the brand was founded, Starbucks was at one of its sales peaks, quickly gaining consumer attention and saturating cities with new cafés. Founders of Caribou recognized, as Starbucks did, that coffee is more than a drink (“Caribou Coffee encourages fans to sip up life’s meaningful moments with launch of two new handcrafted beverages,” 2013). The brand promises to find the ideal beverage for a consumer’s mood, occasion, and life, helping make the most out of meaningful moments (“Caribou Coffee encourages fans to sip up life’s meaningful moments with launch of two new handcrafted beverages,” 2013). At its core, Caribou is committed to its customers (referred to as guests), community, team members (employees), and delivering a unique experience through a fun, passionate and authentic personality (Caribou Coffee, 2015). By sharing an extraordinary experience with guests, the brand strives to provide the community setting that they love (Caribou Coffee, 2015). The products that make the brand are first and foremost its coffee: quality beans sourced from around the world, roasted with care, and balanced when served as a hearty cup of coffee. Espresso drinks are also prominent. Caribou offers a flavor profile for every customer, from full-bodied and bitter shots of espresso, to slightly sweetened Northern Lite lattes, and even rich and decadent Campfire or Mint Condition Mochas. Non-coffee beverages, pastries, wraps, and candies are also included in Caribou’s full café offerings, making the brand accessible whether guests enjoy coffee or not.Store AtmosphereWalking into a Caribou Coffee instantly gives guests the feeling of being welcomed into an Alaskan lodge. The high ceilings are marked by faux exposed wood beams, the walls are decorated with photos of the great outdoors, and the café tables and chairs are wood, stained in somewhat neutral colors. In the center of each store is a fireplace with a flagstone hearth, circled by leather furniture and wood ottomans. The setting provides a cozy location for guests to sip their beverages, read a newspaper, or play a game with friends.Continuing with the lodge theme, the walls are painted a dull mustard yellow, the flooring is orange-brown rustic tile, and carpet is an industrial grade with black and tan pinstripes. Restrooms have wood wainscoting, stained a walnut-cherry color. One wall is painted entirely with chalkboard paint, encouraging guests to live in the moment and make their mark on the store. A map of the United States is hung over the condiment bar, with pins sticking out of all the locations from which guests have traveled. The music playing in the store is reminiscent of the rustic countryside: hip, unheard of artists playing a mixture of rock and light country. The atmosphere of the lodge greets guests before they are even able to look to the very end of the store to browse the menu. It is very welcoming, without immediately marketing the products that the brand has to offer to customers. The intent appears to be first to welcome and comfort guests prior to engaging them in purchasing a beverage or food item.Price and Promotion ActivitiesWhile the lodge-feel has the most presence, Caribou does effectively use its logo within several locations immediately apparent to guests: on the glass entry door, on a wooden half-wall designed to separate the fireplace seating area from the entryway, and above the fireplace where people would typically hang a television. The logo is clever and recognizable: a teal trapezoid with a black, contemporary caribou jumping through it, the caribou’s body appearing like a coffee bean. Caribou’s primary sources of advertisement within the store include its menu boards, various items for sale on shelving units and rounders throughout the store, and signage for the coffee being promoted for the spring: Perennial. The menu boards list the most common Caribou Coffee beverages, sandwiched between two colorful boards on either end with advertisements for natural caramel flavoring used in drinks and a tasty wrap that the company recommends for customers. Caribou, like other prominent coffee shops, has a secret weapon in free advertising: the cups that guests carry with them when they leave the store. Hot cups are teal with a white scrolling design and a brown lid, and cold cups are clear with a teal font and teal straw. Both cups are well-branded and very apparently Caribou Coffee cups, making advertising easy to other consumers when a guest walks into a mall store or into their office with the cup.Caribou Coffee products are priced similarly to other premium coffee shops. Black coffee ranges from just under two dollars to about three dollars based on size, flavored lattes and mochas are between four dollars and six, and food items range from 85 cents for a chocolate square to four dollars for a wrap. Customers are welcome to customize their menu items, often adding incremental charges such as 85 cents for an additional shot of espresso.Caribou offers a loyalty program, Caribou Perks, allowing customers to earn rewards for purchases made in-store. Stores also post a daily trivia question on menu boards in the store, offering a fun way for guests to save ten cents on their order when getting the answer correct. Cross-Category AssortmentCaribou Coffee sells primarily coffee beverages, but food items are also prominent on menus. The company has partnered with Einstein Bros Bagels to open some stores co-branded as “Coffee & Bagels,” providing a solution for consumers that cannot decide whether to get good bagels while sacrificing quality coffee, or purchase decadent coffee with an off-brand, stale bagel from a glass cabinet. As the brand has grown, Caribou has increased its line of coffee accessories. Once, primarily ceramic coffee cups and tumblers could be found on the retail shelves, but the assortment has grown to include other brewing merchandise such as Keurig coffeemakers, Chemex brewing systems, French presses, and pour-over pots. Rounders in the store sell small, knitted animals bearing the Caribou logo, hats and mittens, reusable coffee sleeves, and even coffee-flavored lip balm, coming in both regular and decaffeinated varieties.The breadth of various cross-category products is wide, but it is strategic and purposeful. Pairing coffee with bagels is as American as apple pie, just as offering other food items, mints and gum are logical products to pair with coffee. Even hats, gloves and knitted animals are logical when considering the brand evokes the comfort of an Alaskan lodge. Small games sold alongside coffee offer a reward for guests staying in-store to enjoy their beverages and food.Within-Category AssortmentCaribou Coffee’s within-category assortment is quite deep: the variety of coffee and non-coffee beverages offers a product to suit every consumer’s need. The beverage menu has five primary sections: classics, specialty, blended, teas and juices and kids’ drinks. Classics consist of coffee, lattes, mochas, hot chocolates, cappuccinos, and the rest of the family of espresso drinks. Specialty drinks include twists on the classics, such as a Turtle Mocha and Northern Lite Caramel High Rise. Blended beverages include smoothies and Caribou Coolers, blended coffee drinks. Caribou allows guests to customize their beverages, substituting non-fat milk or non-dairy milk for two percent, adding or eliminating espresso shots, making beverages using decaffeinated espresso, adding flavored syrups, and adding or removing whipped cream. Syrups are available in at least six different flavors, allowing guests to create their own unique drink without increasing menu space or requiring additional SKUs to be carried as a traditional retail store pany PerformanceCaribou Coffee closed many stores in 2013 and 2014 and rebranded others to Peet’s Coffee and Tea shops (Kavanaugh, 2013). However, closings seem to have died down and sales stabilized. The co-branding partnership with Einstein Bros Bagels has new restaurants opening weekly (Caribou Coffee, 2015). ConclusionBy branding Caribou as a premium coffee retail store with an element of the great Alaskan outdoors, the company has been successful at selling coffee and building brand loyalty. The within-category assortment offers a wide variety of coffee and non-coffee options for consumers, and the breadth of the line extends to guests looking for something beyond coffee. Like other well-known premium coffee shops, Caribou might have over-saturated its markets at one time and been forced to close some restaurants, but a new partnership with Einstein Bros Bagels seems to promise the ability to reach new consumers and continue to grow the brand.ReferencesAnonymous. (2013, March 6). Caribou Coffee encourages fans to sip up life’s meaningful moments with launch of two new handcrafted beverages. PR Newswire. Caribou Coffee. (2015). Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. Retrieved on April 13, 2016 from , J. (2013, April 8). Caribou Coffee to close 80 stores, rebrand 88 others. CNN. Retrieved on April 13, 2016 from ................
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