revisiting the cafe
Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 10:14AM I was overjoyed to hear this week of an Australian idea (although it may be being done elsewhere as well) that follows on from a previous blog post around disposable containers in our largely disposable lives.
Keepcup, a Melbourne based outfit, has created a re-usable coffee cup for the morning jolt and has started reselling them via cafes.
True to design principles they have focussed on the function of removing the disposable cups from the cycle but also have considered form by enabling the consumer to highly customise their own cup... but I wonder if this is enough?
I understand there is going to be two potential issues affecting the success of the initiative.. after all most of the major chains for coffee (and equivalents) offer their own in-house branded coffee cup for re-use at a similiar price point but the take up is borderline dismal. Perhaps by de-branding the cup is afforded the opportunity to be used across many cafes and the owner doesn't feel like their a walking billboard for one of the cafes they drink it.. but the bigger issue is one of convenience.
I couldn't tell you the stats, but a takeaway coffee is a predominantly morning based discretionary item. Meaning you get it on the way to where you end up all day (work) and you get it when you feel like it or able to (this might be every morning for some of you but as our schedules dictate we don't fall into line every morning)
So we are left with one over-riding issue affecting the success of keepcup... just how con or inconvenient is it? .. and can we (the royal we) be bothered with that convenience
Are girls going to waste precious bag space carrying their keep cup around? will guys duck up the office, get their cup that they cleaned the night before, then come down again.
Normally I would like to present some sort of solution to the problem .. but my head is not in solution mode as yet here. At first glance I think the problem isn't in the takeway container.. but in takeaway generally... exactly what are we in such a rush to do that prohibits us from taking the 15 minutes to sit and have the coffee (or the salad from my earlier post).. it's interesting that our intent to be efficient often drives a reality much different
Vincent Turner
Well - I got in contact with KeepCup... to try and share my ideas and your feedback with them; interested in the response? read down!
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Thanks very much for your feedback Vincent.
KeepCup is not an idea, it’s a product we’ve spent two years developing. We’re extremely busy and so far things are going very well.
Part of our success is that we have considered the KeepCup from the baristas point of view and that even if made with recycled paper, disposable cups are coated with plastic or resin and therefore not recyclable.
Kind Regards
From: Vincent Turner [mailto:vinaevinae@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Vincent Turner
Sent: Thursday, 27 August 2009 11:55 AM
To: Jo Ferrari
Subject: keepcontainer?
Hi there
I read with great interest on your initiative.. I even blogged about it on my site (http://www.vinae.com.au/blog/2009/8/15/revisiting-the-cafe.html ) and got some interesting feedback from those in the industry.
I think its a great idea but might struggle against the inertia of convenience.. the reason I blogged about it was I had written about a similar concept earlier this year. .but applied to take-away containers.. not coffee cups.
http://www.vinae.com.au/blog/2009/4/7/what-are-we-all-taking-away.html
The challenges I saw facing the re-usable container for coffee was that people get their coffee on their way to work; then finish it at work.. so are they carrying the container around with them the whole time.. from work to home and the cafe in between,.. washing it somewhere in there.. the other challenge (which I didn’t pick up on but was brought to me by friends who read the article) was the challenges it created on the barista side of the fence..
This challenge isn’t present in replacing the takeaway containers used by countless salad bars, thai takeaways, Indians, etc etc... as the person comes from work and goes back to work and highly likely has cleaning facilities at work... plus the containers you’d be replacing are plastic... where as it could be argued that an easier solution for coffee cups would be simply to promote a takeaway coffee cup from a recycled board and encourage the further recycling of this (e.g. branding to say ‘throw me in your paper recycling at work etc)
Anyway, I’m very passionate about this problem.. and would love to be involved in the solution so hopefully my email is some food for thought..
Let me know if you would like to talk further..
Vincent Turner
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Reader Comments (3)
nice thoughts and concerns are valid.
working as a barista in a high volume CBD cafe i have always had a concern for the waste of disposable cups/lids.
will people be bothered with the inconvenience of carrying their Keepcup home of an evening so as to refill in the morning? i doubt it very much.
we live in a time poor, self centered city where caring for the environment is secondary to convenience.
point in fact: the number of coffee trays which are used every week (for orders of multiple coffees by one person). How many do you think are recycled?
at a guess i would say less than 10%
what does that say about the inclination of people to bother keeping a cardboard coffee tray when they can just get a new one the next time they order.
I note that the sizes in which they sell these cups is in a "small" or a "medium"
For starters, if they are trying to tap into the take away coffee market, they should be selling these cups in a strict 8oz and 12oz (and perhaps 16oz) cup size to tie in with the standard sizing utilised by cafes across Australia.
Might I also say that having worked as a Barista in High Volume CBD environments in Sydney, the LAST thing a Barista wants to have to worry about is someone's "cup from home". These customers, whilst their enthusiasm for environmental concerns is appreciated.. this tends to be overridden by the interruption to a Barista's vital time management in a peak CBD rush. Put simply, these cups are a NUISANCE!
I have in the past when I was a Barista worked with a "lid" system wherein the lids get lined up and they are indictaive of the coffees ordered for take away. Can these lids be marked on a daily basis by different types of pens? Will an Artline pen rub off? This would need to be taken into account.
I think the concept is brilliant from a consumer's point of view and in somewhere like Perth where I currently reside, I could see these being popular with the Land Rover Mum crowd slipping these into their cupholders. I would perhaps buy one if I could firstly figure out the cup sizes (8oz or 12oz)
I think people would carry these around.... I know I would, cause hey... they look great and are actually pretty cheap huh?
In summary:
a) Barista's will hate you for using them
b) The sizing needs to be confirmed and clearly marked so as to tie in with pricing and standardised sizing nationwide in cafes and espresso bars
That is all.....
Really they've done a half arsed job of working out their product, they can probably show how just using their cup N times will save the planet when compared to N disposable cups, but did they anaylis N recyclable paper cups being re-cycled or N recyclable paper cups that ended up in land fill?
Have a gander in the rubish bins near your local starbucks or other mega coffee chain, chances are you'll find heaps of their cups, have a look in the recycling bins nearby chances are you'll find their cups saddly lacking. Would'nt the money of the keepcup be better spent promoting recycling?
People want to be seen to be doing the right thing, but if it;s hard they don't do it, think of the plastic shopping bag, people cry about seals dying cause they swallow plastic bags, go to the supermarket and those same people are still using plastic bags, 'Oh, i left my canavs shopping bag in the car, at home......