Once upon a time, Precious Coffee

Context

2.3 million cups of coffee are drunk every minute in the world. After oil, coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world. Coffee has enjoyed a lightning success that has never stopped growing. More than a simple drink, its consumption has become a real way of life.

Before the 2000s, coffee was not as popular and was only served and drunk in coffee mugs. The arrival of coffee shops has democratized the consumption of coffee but also diversified with new flavors and types of coffee (cappuccino, latté). Faced with an evolving demand, the offers on the coffee market must adapt and invent new concepts. Thus, was born the idea of Precious Coffee.

History

Like all coffee shops, Precious Coffee is a company offering a wide range of coffees and other similar drinks (tea, hot chocolate, cold drinks) all within a very cozy and relaxed atmosphere.

Founded in 2010, the company first developed in European countries, heavy consumers of coffee: Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Norway, France, England, Iceland. Then, progressively, Precious Coffee has expanded all over the world.

The brand is mainly established in the capitals and major cities of Europe and North America, for whom coffee is part of everyday life.

 These places are strategic choices that allow the brand to capture its primary target more easily: young active city dwellers aged between 20 and 35, who like drinking coffee on a daily basis.

Products

Precious Coffee offers a wide variety of quality coffee from different regions of the world. The blends are made with arabica and robusta in varying proportions.

As an active defender of labor conditions in plantations around the world, Precious Coffee gives a high priority to the way its coffee beans are grown. The company’s coffee comes mainly from plantations in South America and Central Africa.

Each Precious Coffee drink is named according to the country in which the coffee beans were harvested. This brand’s decision allows to put forward the biggest coffee-producing countries in the world and to make the consumer travel while drinking his coffee: Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, India, and Ethiopia.

Through those names, Precious Coffee wants to make consumers aware of the long process of coffee production to reach their cup, but also the specificity of each coffee bean depending on where it was harvested.

Concept and competitive advantage

Precious Coffee is a place to share, work, discuss, to relax, in a friendly environment where customers can literally make their mark. More than a simple place to relax, Precious Coffee is a real human adventure.

In each Precious Coffee, customers will find a very large brick wall. Each brick of this wall can be sold symbolically to a customer. The customer becomes the owner of the brick where he can have his name and surname engraved. The money collected in a symbolic way is then donated to associations and NGOs defending labor rights and child labor chosen by Precious Coffee:

• • UNICEF: a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.
  • GLOBAL MARCH: a worldwide network of trade unions, teachers, and civil society organizations that works together towards the shared development goals of eliminating and preventing all forms of child labor, slavery, and trafficking and ensuring access by all children to free, meaningful, and good quality public education.

 This particularity makes the customer experience at Precious Coffee unique and unforgettable. Thanks to this, the customers will have the feeling to be « relaxing at home » when they come to Precious Coffee. It is also a way to create loyalty and a long-lasting relationship with them.

Missions and values

 More than a simple cozy and warm atmosphere, Precious Coffee makes a point of honor to humans and conviviality through its concept of « symbolic bricks sales ». But that’s not all, Precious Coffee also upholds other values, such as:

• • Greediness: love of good taste and generosity is found in all the recipes of Precious Coffee.
  • Human: human relations are at the core of Precious Coffee’s values. In this coffee shop, each person who enters and leaves is above all a personality and not a simple consumer.
  • Authenticity: Precious Coffee is a place accessible to all, cultivating the mindset of beautiful meetings and simple moments.

Competitive environment

 The coffee shop market is highly competitive. The leader of this market is obviously Starbucks with more than 25 million dollars in sales. However, other companies are becoming more and more competitive, such as McCafé, which belongs to the famous McDonald’s restaurant group, or the British chain Costa Coffee.

On a smaller scale, brands similar to Precious Coffee also manage to enter the market by implanting their business in big cities: Columbus in France or Second Cup in Canada.

Even though Precious Coffee doesn’t have a worldwide, the brand has the advantage of being able to guarantee and privilege this aspect of conviviality and authenticity that big brands such as Starbucks are struggling to keep.