Observation Report: Coffee Shops in the Philippines

Topic and Research Background

The focus of this observation research is general coffee shop behavior. Two main reasons caused the group to arrive at this topic: first, the members' shared passion for coffee and the coffee experience; second, the practicality that can be afforded since some members are working on a coffee-oriented business for their BA 129 feasibility study. Coffee shop behavior is something that can be readily observed and it occurs within a short time interval so that research by observation is viable.

Since Starbucks is the unquestionable leader in the industry, it was decided that the behavior in its stores be the focus of observations. However, the group also recognizes that other industry players are also quite significant, thus the choice to expand observations into three other popular coffee chains - Seattle's Best Coffee, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and the Filipino-owned Figaro Coffee, while Starbucks remained the point of reference for many observations and descriptions.

Description of selected venues

Starbucks. Common to the Starbucks stores are the warm lighting, the jazz or chill out music, the ochre tables and big couches, and the familiar baristas in green aprons. The Katipunan branch draws a lot of students, flanked by Chiggy's and National Book Store, very close to an overpass and right at the side of the road. All three mall branches are located at the ground floor at spots that generate a lot of traffic.

Seattle's Best. The store's corner location at Megastrip is to be envied - it is the most accessible coffee shop to people coming from the San Miguel Avenue area (say, San Miguel's employees and students of the UA&P). It has a seating capacity of about 120. The Katipunan branch is perfectly located as well, and the bright lighting contrasts with Starbucks' toned down atmosphere. It is a two-floor store right beside Kenny Rogers and is highly accessible to students and employees at the area.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Both branches are more spacious and more illuminated than Starbucks, and stocked with rattan chairs and Indonesian-style couches. The Cineplex branch is obviously quite open and relatively small, while the store at Gateway's ground floor is larger and highly visible (and accessible) to consumers passing by the mall's entrance. The Eastwood branch faces Starbucks right at the center of the mall's ground floor and has more al fresco tables than the other two branches.

Figaro Coffee. Figaro's stores have an "old-world" feel to them, drenched in polished wood, warm lighting, a lot of browns and muted colors. The Brick Road branch is nestled among popular hangouts such as Padi's Point and restaurants like TGIF, Don Henrico's, and Cabalen, while the Megamall branch is located at a much quieter place, at a second floor corner of the mall facing Esprit's boutique. All tables at this branch seats three to four people, save for two corner couch areas that can seat as much as six.

Methodology

The group used direct and unstructured observation, meaning it observed consumer behavior as it occurred, placing no restriction on what is noted. Observations were spread over two weeks and in ten coffee shops, the details of which follow:

Store Branch Hours of observation Day/Date

Starbucks Katipunan 3 Mon, Thurs, Fri - July 17, 20, 21, 24, 27

SM North 2 Fri - July 21

SM Megastrip 2 Tues - July 25

Eastwood Mall 3 Sat - July 22

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Gateway Cineplex 1 Wed - July 19

Gateway Ground Flr 1 Tue - July 18

Eastwood Mall 1 Thurs - July 20

Seattle's Best Coffee Katipunan 6 Mon, Wed - July 17, 19

SM Megastrip 1 Wed - July 26

Figaro Coffee Brick Road, Sta. Lucia 1 Fri - July 21

2/F Megamall 2 Wed - July 26

Total hours: 23 hours

All behaviors in the episode were monitored and everything deemed interesting and relevant by the observer were noted. The group then consolidated the observations to look for 1) common themes or behavior common in all observed coffee shops, and 2) behavior unique to a particular store. These information were then thoroughly analyzed to arrive at the conclusions.

Limitations

As with any form of observation, one limitation to our methodology was the inability to pry beneath the behavior observed so that we couldn't get a complete picture of the consumer's motivations - for instance, why they prefer a certain coffee shop over others, or how they arrive at a choice of beverage. That said, certain evident behavior and our own familiarity with the circumstances (being frequent customers ourselves) helped us come up with legitimate conclusions.

Our observations also focused on the largest coffee chains in the country, all of which are high-end stores. Hence, the "coffee shop behavior" referred to here does not take into account the differences that may exist between the attitudes of high-end gourmet cafй consumers (who might be greatly affected by "the brand thing" and what their choice of cafй says about them) and smaller, less popular coffee shops.

Finally, although the group logged in 23 hours of observation, this is still insufficient to render the conclusions final. Given our schedules and resources, it was not possible for the group to observe the venues regularly and more frequently or to expand to more locations, so that the data might be slightly biased, and it is quite possible that we missed something significant about consumers' behavior in coffee shops.

Findings

AGE & GENDER. The coffee shop crowd actually differs depending on the store's location. The Katipunan branches are flocked with students and young teachers from the nearby colleges and universities, say, age 17 to early 30's, while the Eastwood branches are frequented more by people within the 20 to 35 bracket, a bunch of them on gimmicks as well as call center agents taking a break (cigarette