3. How relevant are the coffee taste studies cited above? Explain. A New \"Joe\"
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3. How relevant are the coffee taste studies cited above? Explain.
A New "Joe" on the Block Case Joe Brown is ready to start a new career. After spendingS another study compared the 30 years as a market researcher and inspired by the succoffee-drinking experience. A sample cess of Starbucks, he is ready to enter the coffee shop of 50 consumers in St. Louis, Mis business. However, before opening his first shop, he realizes that a great, were interviewed and asked to Est the coffee shop they fre- quented most Starbucks was listed by more consumers than any other place. A small percentage listed Dunkin' Donuts but none listed McDonald's, despite their efforts a creating a premium coffee experi- ence. The study did not ask consumers to compare the tastes of the coffee across the different places Still another study about Dunkin Donuts claims that more hard-working" Americans prefer Dunkin Donuts coffee to Starbucks deal of research is needed. He has some key questions in mind. for a nwq What markets in the United States hold the most promise coffee shop? What type of location is best for a coffee shop? What is it that makes a coffee shop popular? What coffee do Americans prefer? How would consumers respond to coffee delivery? A Google search reveals more previous reseanch on coffee, markets, and related materials than he ever expected. Many studies address taste. For example, he finds several studies that in one way or another compare the taste of different coffee shop coffees. Most commonly, they compare the taste of coffee from Starbucks against coffee from McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King, and some- Joe also wants to find data showing coffee consumption pat- terns and the number of coffee shops around the United States, so he spends time looking for data on the Internet. His searches dont reveal anything satisfying times a local competitor. However, it becomes difficult to draw a conclusion as the resuks seem to be inconsistent One study had a headline that poked fun at Starbucks high-priced As Joe ponders how to go about starting"A Cup of Joe."he coffee. The author of this study personally purchased coffee at four wonders about the relevance of this previous research. Is it useful at places, took them to his office, tasted them, made notes, and then all? He even questions whether he is capable of doing any primary drew conclusions. All the coffee was tasted black with no sugar research himsel and considers hiring someone to do a feasibility Just cups of Joe. He reached the conclusion that McDonald's Pre- study for him Maybe doing research is easier than using nesearch. mium Cotfee (at about $150 a cup) did not taste quite as good as Starbucks House Blend (at about $1.90 a cup), both of which were Questions much better than either Dunkin'Donuts (at about $1.20) or Burger King less than $1). This study argued that McDonalds was best, all things considered. What are the top three key decisions faced by Joe What are the key deliverables that an outside researcher should produce to help Joe with the key decisions? 2 Another study was written up by a good critic who was simply 3. How relevant are the coffiee taste studies cited above? Explain. nterested in identifying the best-tasting coffee. Again, he tasted What flaws in dhe coffee taste studies should Joe consider in try them all black with nothing added. Each cup of coffee was con sumed in the urban location near the inner city center where he 5. Try to do a quick search to explore the question:"Are American lived. He reached the conclusion that Starbacks' coffee had the best flavor although it showed room for improvement McDonalds 6. Ifa consultant comes in to do the job, what are three key deliv- premium coffee was not as good, but better than the other two. erables that would likely be important to Joe in making a deci- Dunkin' Donuts coffee had reasonably unobjectionable taste bution to launch the Cup of Joe coffee shop? was very weak and watery The Burger King coffee was simply not7. Do you believe there is a way GPS technology such as the iBea- very good. ing to weigh the merits of their results? consumer preferences the same all across the United States? con described in a previous chapter could be an opportunity to Yet another study talked about Starbucks becoming a huge com-sell more Joe? How might that be explored? pany and how it has lost touch with the common coffee shop coffee customier. The researchers stood outside a small organic specialty Sources: Shiver,"Taste Test: The Uttle Joes Take on Starbucks," USA shop and interviewed 100 consumers as they exited the shop. They Today, (March 26, 2008), httpwwww.usatoday.com/moneyindustries asked,"Which coffee do you prefer? The results showed a prefer- ence for a local coffee, tea, and incense shop, and otherwise put Seattle Starbucks last behind McDonalds, Burger King, Panera Bread, and Dunkin Donuts Debate: The Coffee Wars httpojaguarjulie squidoo.com Dunkin' Donuts food/2006-03-26-coffee xhtm, accessed July 20, 2008; Associated Press McDonald's Coffee Beats Starbucks, Says Consumer Reports, The Times, (February 2, 2007), Squidoo (2014), "Starbucks versus starbuckssdunkindonuts, accessed April 6, 2014Explanation / Answer
There are a total of 5 coffe taste studies in this case study.Let us try to understand these one by one.
In the first study done by the author,the study focuses primarily on the taste dimension of the coffe.The author in the study tasted coffe from four different brands namely Starbucks,McDonalds,Dunkin Donuts and Burger king and finally concluded McDonald's as the best although the taste of Starbucks cofee was perceived to be the best among the four.
However,this study was limited to only 4 coffe brands and did not include the other branded and local coffee outlets.Also,taste can be perceived differently by different customers and since the sample size is just one(the author himself),the validity of this study is questionable.
The second study was conducted similar to the first one.This study concludes Startbucks as the best tasting coffe followed by Mcdonalds.Both the first and second study have similar conclusion and limitations.The limitation being a very very small sample size and hence these studies are not reliable and not relevant.
The third study entirely misses out on the taste dimension of the coffe experience.Although the sample size of 100 customers is reliable,the sample itself is not the right one.Since the researchers interviewed consumers outside a small organic speciality shop,the results would definitely show the preference for the local shops.The sampling is skewed in this study and it only takes preference into consideration and not the taste of the coffee.Thus it is not relevant for Joe.
The fourth study focuses on the coffe drinking experience and not solely on the taste.Hence,it becomes difficult to extract the taste attribute from the experience attribute of the responses of the 50 customers of the study.However,the sample size is good enough to draw some conclusions from this study.
The last study talks about "hard working "americans' higher preference for Dunkin Donuts coffe as against Starbucks coffee.Thus it is difficult to extract taste characteristic from the hard working attribute and hence the validity of this study is not justified .
In conclusion,the first two studies focus on taste,but with a very low sample size of one.The other studies although have a very good sample size,but do not factor in taste into their research.Thus all the coffee taste studies are not relevant and hence do not provide any meaningfull conclusions and recommendations for Joe.
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