Luv Coffee — Restaurant in Texas

Today, was my first stop into LUV Coffee. I went in versus the drive through which may change your experience.

The Pro's I had an Iced Latte and I will say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the coffee was fantastic, much better than their green competitor. The attention to the interior design, was fantastic, I would see working or stopping in a staying a while. The people were polite. Place was clean (did not check the bathroom)

The Con's Service was confused and appeared overwhelmed. I showed up at the beginning of a Sunday morning rush and the inexperienced kids seemed overwhelmed. it really should about 1/2 the time to get a drink. They forgot parts of a drive through order, they got at least 1 order wrong and it took over 10 minutes for a drink (seemed closer to 15).

As a former restaurant owner and consultant I would offer some advice as I want you to not just succeed but blow it out of the water.

Poor Service maybe overlooked initially but over time that can have a negative impact on your business. I understand this is a tight employment market, and you can not be competitive with benefits as others. I would constantly recruit until you can find that purple squirrel (unicorn) of a barista/manager to bring more experience. In the mean time I would look more to have some structure to workflow. Start each day with team meetings and what we have, what we do not have, clear roles and expectations. Have stations too many people were floating between roles and it was confusing.

You are losing revenue. Your menu while beautiful, actually prevents maximum revenue. You mention only one size which may cause people only to buy the smallest size and lose out on the greater revenue of the upsell. No food on the menu, I watched a customer ask for a food menu and the staff was a little confused until they told them to scan a QR code. The food and cold beverage display was 1/2 empty and you are either not ordering enough or are missing the value of the visual display value to the revenue upsell.

New Opportunities. Since staffing is an issue, one way to increase revenue is selling more food that was prepared prior to the rush. So can you add more items. You are close to 4 workout facilities (yoga, cycling, crossfit and the gym next door.) You could add more smoothies or post workout options which sell at a premium.

Retail space of trying to sell shirts or hats is a lost revenue. Selling clothes is not a money maker. You only had a small sampling of coffee on the shelves. You could sell reusable mugs with coffee discounts for their use, more retail coffee, or food.

Lastly since you use Square, use the loyalty program option, capture your customer email and track revenue by customer. The cost of a periodic free drink is less than $1 for information to target people that have reduced visits or are not frequent enough and allows digital campaigns to target growth in customers. Data is worth value.

Good Luck - I...

Been here many times. Had to make a coffee change this morning for the first time ever because my husband ordered with the wrong milk. Should not have been a big deal, right? Never is anywhere else. I asked very very nicely and even apologized. Well .. the 6’5” barista who is always here just looked at my coffee and gave a big huff. No “sure, no problem” or anything else.. not a word: And oh by the way there were maybe 3 people inside and 1 in the DT. Then he just sat the remade coffee on the counter again without a word and walked away. What’s with the attitude????? I was stunned. I have not interacted with this barista before - everyone else has been nice. But - it was not even late enough for him to be stressed or having a bad day. Please check your employees.. and let him know that in customer service it is never ok to have a bad day. No excuse to just outright be rude to customers. Too many other places for us to go - and we will.

Wow - so because I wasn't charged for a replacement (pretty standard at most coffee shops), I should just carry-on my merry way because we are all "human"? Where are the expectations in this answer for the EMPLOYEE's behavior??? Nowhere in this owner's reply did I even receive an apology! "Sorry to hear this" and" was not the interaction it could have been" is NOT an apology and places NO responsibility on the employee for being inexplicably rude. I owned a restaurant for over 10 years and NEVER gave this kind of flippant, dismissive kind of response to a complaint. BUT... it sure explains alot. So unfortunate that an OWNER's priority was to explain away a customer complaint versus keep them.

A better way to handle: "As a valued customer, we apologize you were not treated in the courteous manner we expect of all our employees. We take every concern seriously and address each issue with the staff to continue improving. We hope this does not happen again and we will continue to work hard to ensure you are fully satisfied on future visits!" Simple, sincere, no excuses. And maybe your CEM will increase instead of sending...

Service - The moment you walk in you are greeted with a smile and welcome. When it was my first time the staff was patient with me and offered many suggestions to help get me exactly what I was in the mood for. After I was sitting for awhile an associate came and asked me if I was doing alright and checked in on me. Love that!

Cleanliness - The only time I didn’t see someone cleaning was when they were making coffee or getting on of those delicious pastries! Coffee can be messy in the lobby and behind the counter, but on both sides it was well kept and sanitary!

Coffee - For my visit I got the Drip coffee and a kolache. In my opinion both were excellent! I always get a black coffee for my first visit anywhere to gauge the quality of the coffee and it past my expectations! That kolache was honestly the best breakfast I have had in a good while

Cause - this isn’t just any other store, 50% (HALF?!?!) of their net profit goes to supporting the mission of CoreLuv, a local missions organization who’s main focus is to end the orphan crisis on our planet!

This is my favorite place to meet people for a catch-up, read my new book, or get some work done. They do an amazing job at making it feel like a third place to be when I am not at...