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Poll results discussion - 2008/07/17 09:55Our first annual "City's best cafe" poll - however flawed and missing guidelines and rules - has concluded.
I mentioned in my blog that it was a "pointless" exercise - and by this I meant that it proved nothing. Each cafe in the list (if it was aware of the Poll) took its own approach - most of them did nothing and rightly so.
A couple of cafe's totally poured their latte art into the poll - that was their right. The others let their readers randomly decide (without any pressure or encouraging...) who were the favorites.
I think everyone won. The turnout was good but largely artificial in the bigger numbers. A slightly frustrated local cafe owner insisted that he "pumped" tons of activity into the website - unfortunately, the stats reveal that activity on the website was actually down over last month - prePoll as it were.
So far, other than one angry e-mail, I have received no other correspondence. Life goes on.
Comments anyone?Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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Bert
User Junior Barista
Posts: 8
Karma: 3
Re:Poll results discussion - 2008/07/17 19:43Hi Colin; Maybe it isn't a 19 out of 20 times poll BUT those numbers give the two top cafes a great recommendation.
At the very least if you want to try a cafe, try one of the top two and you probably won't be disappointed.
Cheers, Bert
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colin
Admin Admin
Posts: 772
Karma: 19
Re:Poll results discussion - 2008/07/17 20:02I have to stop you there: There is no top cafe and the poll did not establish that. It was a "vote" contest and it was also an opportunity for other cafes to exercise their "who gives a rats ass attitude..." or a "who the f*ck does Colin think he is exercise..."
I have to repeat something I said to someone else today: When I walk into Cafe-X in Victoria and they roll their eyes and sniff "Here comes Colin and his irrelevant and invalid coffee website..." - I think to myself, YES, this gives me an opportunity to really appraise this joint because THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT ME OR MY STUPID website - What they DO care about is making the best damn coffee that they possibly can. So it works.
I love places like this. Funny thing is, the people behind the counter have no idea how relevant I am or how relevant every other customer that has wandered in by mistake is. The problem arises when a cafe starts taking itself too seriously and takes away the ability for the customer to decide his or her fate during that cafe experience.
One such place comes to mind that I will not order a drink from ever again - because they took choice away.
And I won't explain further nor will I out this cafe - because they know who they are. Anyway - More discussion please!Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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dave_c
User Coffee Lover
Posts: 2
Karma: 3
Re:Poll results discussion - 2008/07/18 19:53I think the poll has some value at least in the sense of which cafes have a strong report with their regulars as well as an awareness of the poll going on. Obviously, the cafes near the top of the poll were aware of it and had the type of relationship with their customers to let them know. Considering coffeeshops are not only intended to be places for great coffee but places to be comfortable in and talk to people, I think there is some validity to the poll in that they illustrate this relationship. Wow, that was a little convoluted.
Removing choice, Colin? haha, that means it can be only one.
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derek
User Coffee Lover
Posts: 1
Karma: 1
Re:Poll results discussion - 2008/07/18 22:32So many on-lookers & people lurking and never making a comment... I guess I've been one of them. Well I tought it was about time to make a comment... As I've stated to Colin, I felt the poll did a few different things... - It showed which cafes feel coffeecrew.com has great value to it & the ones who don't. - It showed which cafes who have a bit of a fun competitive nature in them & the ones who don't. - It gave me a kick in the ass showing me that I need to market my business more through simple on-line polls like this one. - It showed me that many of my cutomers really do care & simple changes or fun competitions like this poll can really add some excitement to someones day. - Why would a cafe not want to participate in something like this poll? It's great for business! We all are in fact in a fight for survival. As statistics show 86% of ALL food retail businesses fail within the first 3 years of being open! - It gives coffee enthusiast's an opportunity to try different specialty coffee houses when they were in different areas of town. More importantly it keeps more people away from our actual competitors, Starbucks-Timmy's-Etc. We are not in competition with each other, we are in competition with corporate America. - We should all thank websites like coffeecrew, because in reality they can only help the small likes ours succeed. You don't see Colin talking up or about how great Tim Horton's or Starbucks is!! Thanks Colin & keep up the great work! Derek - Buon Amici's
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colin
Admin Admin
Posts: 772
Karma: 19
Re:Poll results discussion - 2008/07/18 22:50Our winner: Derek Lucas! Take a bow brother. Runner up by a length - Dave Crothall of The Black Stilt...
Two dudes whose energy, if harnessed, could power a small town for a year.
These are very interesting times for specialty coffee.Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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