Besides my apartment, lab, and the gym, Espresso Royale has become my second home. A lot of construction is occurring in my building, so instead of working from the lab, I plop myself down and study at the nearby coffee shop. Espresso Royale is a chain-type coffee shop located mainly near college campuses.
As a former Starbucks employee (I loved working there. There are so many perks for employees, and tips were great at the Kahala Mall location), I thought that the Starbucks philosophy was great, and at least at the one I worked, the employees were friendly to customers.
I commend Starbucks on trying to revitalize their company with Starbucks Card Rewards program and all the new healthier products they are trying to introduce. Heck, I wouldn't mind working at Starbucks R&D and sensory labs.
But with people now reducing their frivilous spending habits and watching what they purchase, purchasing a $4 latte each day from Starbucks is a "luxury item." So Starbucsks, this is how you can improve...study small local coffee shops.
What I love about Espresso Royale:
1. Free unlimited Wi-fi
2. The one I go to is open from 7am-12midnight, 7 days a week.
3. Rewards Punch Card-Purchase 10 drinks and get the 11th free
4. Special days-Saturdays are double punch days , Sundays-buy a large drink for the medium price, Wednesdays-$2 latte days
5. The new "Autumn Favorites" menu . Each day there is a special drink of the day that is 1/2 off.
So given the choice between Espresso Royale and Starbucks, I'd probably choose Espresso Royale. I do like my Frappucinos and my iced soy chais, but all the other benefits outweigh walking over to Starbucks.
Drinks I order at Espresso Royale:
Iced black tea with sugar free peach syrup
Iced green tea
Ginger Dragon (lemon, honey, and ginger. it's for when you want to wake up your senses)
Lemonade
skim milk steamer with sugarfree vanilla
Okay, and for you observant few, I am not a coffee drinker, so why listen to me? But really, over half of the my Starbucks co-workers did not drink coffee either.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
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6 comments:
I think the suggestions you have for starbucks are great but I thought I would share the following with you. I just finished reading a book about starbucks and one of the major ideals at the company is to be 'elite' or to imply indulgence. They would not consider those punch cards etc because it would conflict with this ideal. On the other head, some starbucks have begun offering a $2 drink after 2pm if you have a recipt from that morning.
oh I wish we had Espresso Royale here....
Good point Kendell. Now that I think about it, lots of things do better when they are marketed as "good" rather than as "cheap." Still, I am a sucker for those deals....
I'm a big fan of espresso's fabulous scones. Yum.
BTW, kendell, what's the title of the book?
hey kendell! i didn't know starbucks had that offer. neat. but point taken about the "elite-ness" of it all.
kat-yeah, espresso royale is a nice change from starbucks. but starbucks in japan might be different b/c on your blog, i saw that they sell macarons there. so that's a better perk!
c.- the cranberry almond scone here is pretty good. most of the pastries here are pretty good.
oh i think the book is called the "the starbucks experience" it's a pretty good book.
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