Purely Random

Let me step away from the traditional breakfast post for just a moment: today, I’m going to talk about a coffee shop. Realize that I’m a novice coffee drinker at best, but I find that there’s a lot of opportunity for variety in that world, and I’d love to become more aware of it’s intricacies. Variety, as we should all embrace, is the the spice of life.

Cafe Intermezzo is a coffee shop in the strip district that has the friendliest staff I’ve ever encountered in a customer-facing storefront (eerily friendly, at first to the point of sounding quite desperate for customers, but that feeling has normalized). When the little shop first caught my attention, I stopped in for a coffee and a chocolate chip cookie after one of my post-lunch strolls through the strip. I’m not one to be unhealthy like that, but it was a weak moment. They gave me a delicious cookie, offered to heat it up (because that’s just how some people like it, and I accepted the offer), then proceded to give me some background on their current feature coffee (which changes daily). Every subsequent time I stopped in, they remembered me and kicked off a conversation. They asked where I worked, and whether it was nearby (thus explaining my semi-periodic visits). Even now, they frequently ask how my day is going and chat for a few minutes after serving up my coffee. Basically, they made me feel welcome as something more than just another dollar sign.

Most recently, I took advantage of a free coffee I earned on my frequent customer card. Each time I stopped in after my requisite 10 drinks, they asked if I wanted to use my freebee or wait until I wanted to try something exciting. Who even does that? Prior to their offering, I felt obliged to use my freebee on the same 16 oz. coffee I usually order. With their urging, I tried a cappuccino instead after hearing the low down on the distinctions between latte, cappuccino, and all those potentially confusing choices. I’ve had a cappuccino at Starbucks, but this was completely different: it was amazing. Go Intermezzo!

The next time I felt like going for something different from coffee, I got a machiato, which they recommended I pair with a flavor: particularly a coconut syrup to give a sort of light flavor over the espresso. I’m all about receiving recommendations, so I tried it. Also fantastic perhaps better than the cappuccino.

Now, I’ve rambled quite a bit about this place. Most of you have stopped reading or are wondering why I’ve gone on for three paragraphs about my interaction with the friendly staff at Caffe Intermezzo. Part of it is my own inability to organize these thoughts, but I also think there’s a lesson in all this: I will reward the storefronts that reach out with kindness and interact with me as both a person and a customer. I know full well that they’re probably gaming me to some extent: pushing as necessary to entice me to spend more money on higher margin drinks. The reality is that I’m very much willing to be gamed and spend more money than I absolutely need to in return for such am amazingly friendly experience. I go there in the mornings now because the pick-me-up of chatting with someone before work does far more to benefit my morning than the coffee. This kind of market is a niche in which all those little independent shops in the strip can thrive if there are enough people like me that recognize and reward it.

My point: reward them. Seek them out, give them a try, and reward excellence with your patronage.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 7:48 am and is filed under Ongoings, Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.