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Two corporate coffee slingers face off on a street corner out west.
by Robb Fulcher
It used to be all peaceful-like down on Hermosa Avenue. In the morning folks strolled on The Strand and worked at various ways of rustling up a living, and when they wanted a pick-me-up they sauntered over to America’s number-one franchise, the local Starbucks.
But that was before Nov. 13, when a smaller coffeehouse chain, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, opened a store in the corner of the restored Bijou theaters building–right across 13th Place from Starbucks.
Now, to hear the coffee slingers tell it, some folks are bringing their reusable Starbucks mugs into the Coffee Bean, while others tried out the Bean and went dashing back across the street to ‘Bucks.
On a chill November afternoon, Coffee Bean general manager Jessica Smith looked out her northern windows straight across to the Starbucks, and shook her head.
"It seems like all the time we have people, and they don’t. Or we’ll have six people and they’ll have one. I feel kind of bad about it, but…" she said with a shrug. "I see people coming in with their mugs that say ‘Starbucks.’"
Whoa up there, little lady, let’s hear from Mike White, who’s working the day shift over to the Starbucks. When the Bean opened, he said, some folks ditched his digs to check out the new coffeehouse, but then they came back.
"The first week it dropped off a little bit, and after that it started picking up again," White said.
His coworker, Arlene Tarango Fernandez, agreed.
"Once people decided where to go, all our customers came back, and more," she said.
Trouble a-brewin’
On the subject of the coffee itself, White said his Starbucks brew is stronger, and that’s what keeps the people coming back for more. He backed up his strong words with a free sample of a special holiday blend.
"I don’t know if it’s because I work here, but I think theirs is not quite as strong, it’s not as dark. I’ve had people say, ‘Your mochas taste stronger. Theirs taste just, sort of chocolatey."
Whoa, whoa! Over to the Bean they say the Starbucks blend isn’t stronger, it’s just, well, burned. Customers are always praising the Bean and panning the ‘Buck, said Leann Osborne, who works the morning shift.
"I hear that all the time. It’s because we don’t burn our coffee," she said.
Smith agreed, and backed it up with a sample of the Bean’s dark roast.
"Does it have a less burned taste?" she asked.
Stand by your brand
The placement of a Coffee Bean close by a Starbucks is not particularly unusual, as both chains have about the same idea of what constitutes a good location, a Coffee Bean spokeswoman said. But to the brand-loyal customer, the two stores might as well be worlds apart.
"Coffee Bean is a hell of a lot better than Starbucks, taste-wise," said "Fabulous Phyllis" of Hermosa Beach, who declined to giver her last name.
"You have to print it just like that," she said.
"I like everybody there, at my local Bean or whether I hit one on the road somewhere. Everybody is friendly, courteous, etc. It’s about time we got one in Hermosa. This is a daily fix for me, okay?"
Cristina Whitely of Hermosa saw it a different way.
"I like Starbucks because it’s always consistently good. I always get a vente cappuccino and it tastes the same everywhere I go," she said. "And I like the atmosphere, I can sit there and relax, and read the paper."
Peace, grasshopper
Standing in line at the Starbucks was Beth Shaw, president of the nearby YogaFit studios, who showed us the middle way in the battle of the bean.
"The coffee’s better here and the ice blended’s are better there, so I have my mornings here and my afternoons over there," she said, with a tilt of her head to the southern windows, where a view of the Coffee Bean looms large.
"Today is an exception because I’m shooting two videos next week, Power YogaFit and Yogabutt, and I can’t have any fattening coffee drinks," Shaw said, before continuing her critique.
"The service over there is a little slow," she said, again nodding to the south. "Actually it’s more than a little slow."
Still, Shaw said, she welcomes both coffeehouses.
"The more brand-name places you have in beautiful downtown Hermosa, the better it is for our business."
She also explained the nexus of yang coffee and yin yoga.
"The more coffeehouses you have, the more need there will be for yoga, because you get all amped up here, and then you have to do yoga to chill out," she said.
Friendly foes
Osborne of the Coffee Bean and Tarango Fernandez of Starbucks may be slugging it out on the cover of the Easy Reader, but it was all in fun, and when the shoot was over they promised each other a drink of choice upon parting.
But Osborne said the rivalry is a real one, even if it is a friendly one.
"It’s so much competition. The first day they all walked in and checked us out, checked out our place, and one person ordered something," she said. "And then we go in and check them out."
Tarango Fernandez initially offered a reporter only half her last name, until an Easy Reader business card was produced.
"I thought you might be a spy," she explained.
Slave 4 it
Coffee Bean numbers among its enthusiasts actors Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and Leonardo DiCaprio, and singing sensation Britney Spears, spokeswoman Susie Dobson said.
"Britney Spears is a huge fan," Dobson said. "She comes in all the time, and she’s asked for ‘CARE packages’ while she’s on the road, so she can still have our products," Dobson said.
A request for an interview with a Starbucks corporate spokesperson went unanswered.
Globally, the Bean plays David to Starbucks’ Goliath. The 28-year-old Coffee Bean chain, based in Los Angeles, maintains 180 stores worldwide including far-flung locations in Singapore, Brunei, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The Seattle-based Starbucks chain has grown from four stores in 1980 to more than 4,800 worldwide, slinging coffee drinks to some 15 million customers a week.
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Up the hill, Java Man holds his grounds above the fray. |
Bird’s eye view
A stroll over to Pier Avenue and a couple of blocks up the hill leads to the independent Java Man coffeehouse, where owner Rick Hankus sits inside the converted 1929 beach bungalow and talks about losing some business to the corporate competition.
"They have a lot more name recognition, they have a lot more advertising dollars. You see them more, like a McDonald’s, you’re familiar with them. Whether McDonald’s is good or not, they’re familiar," Hankus said.
"It has affected my business. If you’re on your way to work you’ll pass seven coffeehouses before you get to the freeway, and five of them will be Starbucks," he said.
"I’d say about 85 percent of our customers are regulars, and we know them by name if not by drink. We know those customers and those customers know us, and they know our style. It’s the other 15 percent of potential customers I’ve lost to the big-name stores," Hankus said.
"We’ll be here 10 years in March. I’ve seen
them come and go, but we’ve never really had the chains come in,"
he said. "…You see Coke, and then you see Joe’s Cola, even if
Joe’s Cola is better, most people will probably go with Coke."
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Hankus sees his joint as the old-fashioned Coffeehouse hangout where people are encouraged to linger and talk, read a paper, or plug their laptops into the walls and study. The works of local artists line the walls, and the sounds of local musicians and comedians fill the air on Wednesday and Tuesday nights.
"They serve their coffee in to-go cups and we use ceramic mugs," he said. "We try to be more of a community center kind of place, not just a place where you drop off your money and leave."
And, of course, he comes down in favor of Java Man when it comes to product.
"Our coffee comes in twice a week from a small roaster in Santa Barbara, so we think it’s very fresh," he said.
Requiem
Down the hill on Hermosa Avenue, the two tall corporate coffee slingers continued to trade mocha for latte as the struggle for the local market continues. And if the seemingly steady stream of coffee drinkers keeps on coming, the combatants may never be forced to say, "This intersection ain’t big enough for the both of us." ER