Northeast Ohioans are undoubtedly familiar with retail chain Phoenix Coffee, an earthy-feeling coffee company with six locations in the Greater Cleveland area. I love Phoenix Coffee. More importantly, I think the company makes for a great business case study and that in the right hands it could become a major national player.
Why is Phoenix Coffee so good?
Product is only the first step, a necessary condition on greater success instead of the primary driver. I know when I go to Phoenix I will get top quality products, whether I'm ordering a fresh, artisanal pastry, a latte which comes topped with beautiful milk/coffee artwork, or a bag of coffee beans to take home for my espresso machine. Even this is not enough to make a highly successful chain.
I have a strong opinion that Phoenix is on the cutting edge of retail brand strategy. They have embraced the extreme localization trend like very few other businesses have. By "extreme localization," I'm referring to the growing desire of consumers to buy goods and services from local businesses and local people. This is becoming big in the food industry, as I have had the pleasure of experiencing first hand with Fresh Fork Market, and the retail foodservice industry is a natural continuation of this. Phoenix's "extreme localization" strategy utilizes branding in a different way than Starbucks or any other foodservice establishment. Rather than having every one of their stores look and operate nearly the same as the others, as is common with top-down chains like Starbucks, Panera, etc., each location has its own unique look. You'll sometimes hear coffee enthusiasts talking about their preferences between each Phoenix, discussing how the Lakewood shop feels a bit more "indie," or the Lee Road shop has good angles for spurring productivity. Furthermore, the stores have other quirks which promote the localization feel, such as open mic nights, concerts, or even the paper and crayons at the Coventry Phoenix, used by patrons to draw goofy pictures which the Phoenix team hangs on the walls.
This branding strategy focuses on just "feel" rather than "look and feel." If retail businesses can harness the ability to generate the same general feeling amongst all their stores while allowing for the addition of extremely local culture, it could be a recipe for the next big national (or international) retail chain. I'd love to peek at the company's financials and talk with the owners. Who knows, maybe they'll see this!
