Gregorys Coffee in New York are very cheeky. When they saw my Starbucks mug they pointed it out to me, and then after I left, I noticed the cheeky buggers had put a Gregory's sticker on my mug. Outrageous. Love it! Good for them. How can your company breed that kind of brand-pride amongst its employees?
They're the yin to Starbucks yang. They've effectively looked at the flaws in Starbucks business and out-Starbucked them. Here's the main things I've noticed.
Walk-in Experience
Starbucks: Long line. Wait, kick heels, feel slightly neglected.
Gregory's: Long line, but crazy fast service. Within 5 seconds of walking in the door someone has taken my order. Definitely not feeling at all neglected here, and the people are a little more perky and happy, and enjoying the busy-ness.
Coffee
Starbucks: Consistently good.
Gregorys: Consistently great!
Look n Feel
Starbucks: Green and brown. Armchairs, wood chairs.
Gregorys: Gray, dark purple, black, bright lights. Benches and steel chairs. Not necessarily better, just a contrast to Starbucks.
Baristas
Starbucks: Sometimes a little tired.
Gregorys: They seem a bit more involved, fun and irreverant.
Food
Starbucks: Caged, refrigerated and packaged.
Gregorys: Fresh baked, not packaged or refrigerated. The one on 46th Avenue and 5th even has a bakery in the back...
Here's an example of how Gregory's one-ups employee morale. Over Valentines they ran a promotion. Bring in a Valentines card or gift for the baristas, and get a free coffee. Showing the love. Nice!
Gregorys tagline is we 'see coffee differently.' I think they do.
