Beach Girl Coffee — Restaurant in Gulf Shores

Beach girl coffee, it's a lovely little drive thru. With coffee and swag gifts available too.

I came down to Gulf shores for the food festival in November, the food truck festival. Sadly, some shill put a hit piece out in some paper about festivals in Alabama and it was not the turn out one could hope for. I was bemoaning the fact to my husband as we got ready to leave and he said "have you reviewed your favorite coffee drive thru?" "NO! Why?" Quoth I (think Jane Austen pouting) Husband lifts an eyebrow (I'm about to get told and it's gonna hurt, like rubbing salt in a paper cut) "So you don't want to review a sweet little place you love so much because you don't want it so busy that you don't get your coffee when you want it? Focus on local was one of your complaints just now."

Sweet peaches, he's right. I've got the magnets on my home fridge in the mountains, I love a beach girl coffee (even more then pretty 💖✨ sparkly jewelry or almost as much as shells from the beach at sundown, or new sunglasses n swimsuit which are iconic of beach holidays.)

How do I do this justice? If this is one of my hardcore often favorites?

Beach girl coffee reminds me I'll come back at the end of a trip, it is an exciting reminder I have a day of shopping or swimming ahead (spa or shells and toes covered in paint n rings wearing cute flip flops...the sound of family saying "you can cook!" They might bless me, the good Lord or take his name in vain while eating.)

Beach girl coffee has options for the kids, many solid reliable well brewed flavors n blends. I don't need to win you over. This should be a franchise, then again, I'd cry so much if that happens...because sometimes knowing where to go...

If you’re scanning the reviews and just want to know whether the place offers high quality coffee — go here. Beach Girl Coffee has great coffee and a fun selection of mods!!

That said, the customer journey to get the coffee is horrible. I waited 45 minutes in line. Why? Because each car takes about 4 minutes at the window to order, pay, process, and receive their items. When I was two cars from the window, I called them and asked if I could place my order over the phone so that I could shorten the amount of time at the window. They said, “We prefer taking our customer orders at the window!” While I respect that, it’s costing them money. Behind me, 7 cars left the line because of the projected wait time.

Speeding up will improve your profitability and your customer’s experience! So, what can you do? For one, optimize your order taking. Put a sign 2-3 cars’ length before the window telling them that if they know their order, they can call ahead. Knowing orders reduces your employees’ wait-for-the-window time and shortens the customer’s wait time.

Look, you have a good product and a good model. You just need some optimizing for higher volumes....

I have always liked this place. Since the ownership changed it’s been sooo inconsistent though. Wait times are longer than they used to be, and the quality isn’t the same. I think they’re trying to do too much with food and new flavors… but speaking of the flavors. It’s one of the only coffee shops that stocks Irish cream, which is my fave. But today, at the window, I heard the cashier tell a coworker “Irish cream is chocolate and hazelnut.” 🤔 ummm no, it’s not. So I got her attention and told her Irish cream doesn’t have any hazelnut in it. I told her please don’t put hazelnut in my drink; I hate it. And she replied “yes it is, it’s chocolate and hazelnut.” When I tried to correct her again, she handed me my drink and said “sorry to ruin it for you!” And sure enough, my coffee has hazelnut in it after I explicitly told her no hazelnut. 😑 Glad I’m not allergic, since the workers have such blatant disregard for customer requests. Soooooo that about sums it up. The new owners of this place have pretty much...