I can't stand this kind of thing.
Why? Because artisanal at scale is no longer artisanal.<p>Not in food and beverages, anyway.
Sure fancy electronics are made at scale and we consider some of them to be best of breed.<p>But in food and beverages, best of breed is never, can never, should never be at scale.<p>Thus this just means another chain of coffee. Great.
Even if it's an improvement on existing chains: it's bad for independent artisanals (just like Blue Bottle was) everywhere it goes. Which is bad for all of us.<p>I guess I just don't like "selling" the uniquely artisanal concept when it's no longer uniquely artisanal. It feels hollow and deceptive.
Blue Bottle's secret to success is great PR and a lighter roast than most of their competitors which results in a milder, sweeter cup of coffee. Otherwise they buy their green coffee from the same sources and use the same equipment and techniques (however they were an early cold brew adopter). And I think their service is subpar - slow and not particularly friendly - but people put up with it.<p>$26 million seems like a lot but perhaps this is enough to build a brand/business around. Both Starbucks and Peets had similar origins and are now worth $55 billion and $1 billion, respectively. And it always helps when your product is addictive.
I'm trying to figure out why a VC, who has a very high cost of equity, invests in this type of business rather than the more "traditional" PE growth fund... or if revenue/cash flow growth is so high... why not go the debt financing route.<p>Anybody has any insight?
Blue Bottle does seem to be a great company. I have (and have had) may friends who have worked there over the years. It isn't quite clear to me how they're going to bring in VC-needed returns on this kind of investment.<p>Anyone else care to comment? It just doesn't intuitively make sense to me.
I remember reading something a while ago that there aren't actually enough coffee beans produced of a high enough quality to produce Starbucks-level quantity at current Blue Bottle-level quality. I'm curious whether this is the problem Blue Bottle intends to solve, or if they plan to be "Yet Another Starbucks".
"... part of a handful of people who are founding a movement around coffee … We believe Blue Bottle Coffee is at the forefront of a ‘consumer movement’ or mega-trend in which consumers are moving to higher quality, artisanal micro-roasters of coffee"<p>Mega-Trend?
I'm assuming their exit is via Starbucks
I'm very interested in seeing how they can scale their training when opening new cafes. It's some of the best coffee I've had in SF/NYC.
It'll never play in the UK. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliphoridae" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliphoridae</a>