Your Identity
Standing out in a crowd
by Chris Ryan

When customers walk into Java Ranch in downtown Fredericksburg, Texas, it’s akin to walking into a shop in the Old West. A three-dimensional mural of the downtown area—featuring residents dressed in period costumes—adorns one wall of the coffeehouse. Western themes permeate the rest of the interior as well, from the Christmas lights made from shotgun shells to the taxidermied chickens and giant snake, to the stage area resembling an Old West porch. Rick Roy, co-owner of Java Ranch, describes the shop as “Texas cool.” And while stuffed animals and shotgun shells may not be everyone’s favorite accompaniment for their morning coffee, these are items everyone associates with Texas.

With its clear theme, Java Ranch has forged an identity, an important element to any coffeehouse. Clearly identifying your business gives customers a picture of what they can expect from your shop. In fact, identity is an important concept not just in the café but in any business; the clearer your business identity is, the more likely it is to survive amidst the glut of competition. “There are five coffee shops that are within a mile of me that I would say don’t have identities,” says Kevin Fuller, owner of The Albina Press in Portland, Ore. “They just don’t do well, and it’s because of that. Identity is huge.”

Any number of items can be offered in a coffeehouse in addition to coffee and tea. Whether it be smoothies, sandwiches or something else entirely, there are plenty of things to add to the menu. However, some shops prefer to keep it simple and to emphasize quality over variety; The Albina Press is one such place.

Albina Press serves Stumptown coffee and has a traditional Italian espresso menu including lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, Americanos and macchiatos. It offers a limited amount of pastries each morning as well as a few extra beverage items such as tea, Chai and a handful of juices, but the selection ends there. “We don’t have a big, complex menu, which has worked really well for us,” Fuller says. “We like keeping things very simple.”

Fuller says he receives customer inquiries every day for items like bigger drinks, whipped cream, paninis, blended drinks and more. Due to his simplicity doctrine, he refuses those requests; though that isn’t always what customers wants to hear, it helps The Albina Press stay true to its identity as a high-quality, no-frills spot. “We have to say no all day long,” he says. “And they’ll leave without buying anything. As difficult as it is to say no to sales, you have to be willing to do that in order to create some sort of an identity.”

The focus on the espresso menu allows the business what Fuller says is the core of the shop’s identity: its baristas. Fuller commits to a strict training regimen with his staff, emphasizing a level of quality that does not come easy. “We spend zero money on marketing and a lot of money on milk and coffee to train them,” he says. “And we spend innumerable hours after we’re closed in here working on the machine and trying to improve the techniques.” Fuller then encourages his staff to test their skills in barista competitions; in fact, he pays for airfare and admittance into the competitions—a rare move among coffeehouse owners.

Fuller says the shop’s clear identity as a coffeehouse that emphasizes the highest quality is something that customers are drawn to. “We have a significant amount of people that come in here who are driving past other coffee shops to get here,” he says. “Whether we do or do not have the best coffee, I think we have done a good job creating the notion that we spend a lot of time with the craft. Does our latte taste better than a latte anywhere else in Portland? I don’t know. I definitely think that people feel like it matters more to us.”

At DoubleShot Coffee in Tulsa, Okla., owner Brian Franklin stresses a similar philosophy of quality coffee above all else—including customer service. “We don’t necessarily even treat our customers very nice,” he says. “But you’re guaranteed to get a good damn cup of coffee.”

Franklin, who used to own a personal training business, says the “tough love” philosophy he developed in that line of work contributed to the no-nonsense identity of his coffeehouse. Where he used to employ motivational tactics to encourage clients to exercise and eat right, he now uses them to steer them toward quality drinks. “I’ve always operated under the same sort of business model,” he says. “It’s not really even a business model, it’s just who I am. I’m passionate about things, and it comes out in the business.”

And though Franklin’s philosophy is not the most universally crowd-pleasing, it is one that has resonated with customers. “Everybody in town knows that it’s about the coffee,” he says. “Our regulars come in a couple times a day at least.” And he says DoubleShot’s militant “quality coffee” identity often charms customers who are at first skeptical. “I have regulars who started out ordering frozen mochas,” he says. “But they could tell that I don’t enjoy making those things. I work really hard on the coffee, and if someone asks me to throw it in a blender with flavors in it, it won’t make me happy. So eventually, they worked their way down to an Americano or a latte.”

Gig Harbor, Wash., is a quaint fishing village with picturesque views of the Gig Harbor Peninsula and Mt. Rainier. About 7,000 people reside in the sleepy town; one of those residents is Warren Zimmerman, owner of Kimball Espresso Café and Gallery, an independent coffeehouse that captures the small-town feel of Gig Harbor.

Zimmerman’s café is divided into two halves: on one side is an art gallery and seating area, on the other side an espresso bar. The gallery area features a homey atmosphere including overstuffed chairs and couches, a fireplace and flowers; the space is used for customers who want to socialize, and it is also frequented by businesspeople for meetings. Adorning the walls are works by artists from the Gig Harbor area; each month, a new set of artwork goes up on the walls. On the espresso bar side of the shop, pictures courtesy of the Gig Harbor’s amateur photographer’s club decorate the walls. The activity of making drinks creates a bit of noise, but Zimmerman says customers in the seating area avoid the commotion. “Because of the way it’s divided, you can actually sit on the other side, and you’re not hearing all of the things that you normally associate with the noise of an espresso bar.”

Kimball’s identity as a quiet espresso café is perfectly suited to peaceful Gig Harbor, and it’s one that Zimmerman developed over time and through getting to know his community. “It’s something that evolved through conversation with my customers over the years,” he says. “We’ve tried to build our business around things that our customers felt were important and would bring them back to the store multiple times per day.”

Back in the tourist town of Fredericksburg, Java Ranch customers are immersed in “Texas cool,” which co-owner Roy describes as “not hick, not rustic, but there’s a swagger to it.” That theme is followed from the shop’s décor to its policy of only serving coffee roasted in Texas, and even down to the way the shop names it drinks—one beverage is called the Willow City Loopie, named after a town near Java Ranch’s hill country location.

Roy says the result is a clear identity: a heap of class coupled with a definite Texas feel. “We went for a really authentic feel,” he says, “but there’s also definitely a spit-and-polished feel. We’re not going to have yee-haw cowboy music playing and that type of thing. We know where to trim the fat on going ‘whole hog’ on the Texas thing.”

In another corner of the country, a coffee lover has taken her interest in car-related items and Americana and packaged it in the coffeehouse format. Fuel Coffee in Seattle, owned by Danielle Cone, features vintage memorabilia such as maps and oil cans. The shop’s circular, orange logo is modeled after the Gulf Gas sign, and racing stripes are custom-painted on the shop’s espresso machine.

Cone says she loves to go on road trips; that love of the open road and old-time decorations led her to the motif for the shop. “I thought I could blend the two things that I like so much: the coffee business and traveling,” she says. “We all know once you open a business you won’t be doing much traveling. So at least I can feel like I’m surrounded by things that remind me of that.”

Cone’s strong interest has translated to a clear identity as a road-themed coffeehouse, and that in turn has resonated with customers. “They mostly come in for the coffee, but I think they also identify with the shop and that it mixes nostalgia with something new,” she says. “I think that you need to have some foundation of what your identity is, what you’re going for. If you don’t, people will pick up on that.”

The experts interviewed for this story agree that identity is a key concept to the coffeehouse, but it is a rather ambiguous one that can be hard to pin down. More than anything, your identity needs to be one that appeals to customers. While location is an important aspect of attracting customers, Fuller of The Albina Press stresses that location is only one part of the equation for success. “I think a lot of people get into a coffee shop thinking that location is everything,” Fuller says. “And I don’t necessarily know that that’s true, especially in towns where you have sophisticated coffee drinkers who will drive past coffee shops to go to the one that they want to go to. Good location is a bonus, but it’s not an identity.”

Fuller recommends that new coffeehouse owners avoid choosing an identity right off the bat. He advises instead to stay aware of customers and their wishes, then adapt your identity to one that fits the needs of your patrons. “I think that identity isn’t something that you can pre-plan for,” he says. “Sometimes it happens organically that a certain type of clientele will frequent your coffee shop for whatever reason it is.”

As long as you keep it in mind to offer something different from every other shop, it is likely that customers will notice that and want to come to the shop. “It’s important that you keep it in the front of your mind to find something that’s going to separate you from everybody else,” Fuller says. 

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