It’s the first Monday in 2010, and we're back in the game. For the first time in 15 blogs, friend and MMC arrive simultaneously at Destination Coffee. For the first time in 15 blogs, Destination Coffee is clam-shut. We skip back into the CBD, and gasp! All around, hospitality is on holidays. We need somewhere standard, somewhere steady - somewhere like Stax. The Order: one medium flat white for friend of MMC, and MMC accidentally goes medium on skinny latte. The Price: $4.00 ($3.20 for regular).
Stax is a strictly CBD phenomenon. Two on Flinders and one on Waymouth, their byline is 'subs and coffee'.
A cibotastic colour scheme and a suss 'sub' concept, Stax could well be the essence of unoriginality. Is and the operative word, though? Mad scientists can get combination patents for inventions uniting existing components in a novel way. Have Stax bionically fused the six-inch sandwich stop and the red/white coffee call? With a teaspoon of ‘useful’ and a pinch of ‘inventive’, they could have a patentable business concept to their name. Patents are trickysticks, though. The simpler alternative was made famous by none other than Subway sandwiches – it's our old friend, the franchise.
A cibotastic colour scheme and a suss 'sub' concept, Stax could well be the essence of unoriginality. Is and the operative word, though? Mad scientists can get combination patents for inventions uniting existing components in a novel way. Have Stax bionically fused the six-inch sandwich stop and the red/white coffee call? With a teaspoon of ‘useful’ and a pinch of ‘inventive’, they could have a patentable business concept to their name. Patents are trickysticks, though. The simpler alternative was made famous by none other than Subway sandwiches – it's our old friend, the franchise.
Only one cafe from each coffee franchise. Only one coffee franchise per week. These are the MMC rules. The less-discerning Adeladies and gents seem to love the coffee franchises. Are we the penny-pinching state, lured like stingy moths to low-budget lanterns? It’s famously reported that Sydneysiders wear sexy, Melbournites wear style, and Adelaideans wear sale. Unlike at soul-sucking Harbourtown, however, the cup size ain’t actually cheaper in your average coffee chain. Nor will you necessarily see price consistency between branches – MMC paid $4.00 for a cup listed $3.80 at Stax online. Forget those customer loyalty sip 'n' saves - so often lost, and so seldom filled.
Buying coffee is touch and go, hit and miss, and a stab in the dark. A good cup is a needle in a haystack, and a bad cup is money down the drain. Clichés aside, it’s quite possible that franchise branding lends predictability to an otherwise unpredictable experience. What do we get at Stax? The Shopspace: generic, clean. The Patrons: young suits, with familiar faces. The Greeting: with a smile, and a stamped card. The Service: not speedy, not super-slow. The Presentation: lidded for the road. MMC buys a friand. It begins to feel like routine. Easy pleasey.
After a Stax sip, friend of MMC quips, 'it tastes like it would be consistent'. We've struck franchising middle ground - above average in price, and dead average in quality. The Pour: zero effort, not a swirl in sight. The Flavour: unbitter, a little sweet, and happy to wash down a friand. Nothing to write home about.
The Lesson: according to the vox pops, franchise = familiar, and chain = consistent. But why settle for consistently average? Consistently excellent could be just around the corner at no extra cost.
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