Barista Magazine

JUN-JUL 2016

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

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though to consider the effects of his personality on Vagabond's brand identity. Will was the Vagabond Barista. While that close association proved favorable in Vagabond's case, Jared Truby of Cat & Cloud in Santa Cruz, Calif., cautions that pop-ups can sometimes harm a brand rather than help them. "The challenge, and I think it's a big one, is that it is far easier to misrepresent your brand's intentions in pop-up mode," says Jared, who, along with business partners Chris Baca and Charles Jack, has operated Cat & Cloud as an on again/off again pop-up while building out a physical shop they'll open this summer. Between offering an abbreviated menu and navigating the slow and at times complicated fl ow of a pop-up, Jared says that "intention and the execution thereof are the most important things to a brand. Doing your best to convey your company values with honesty and execution is hard. The pop- up can feel very limiting when it comes to showing that you have something special, something that is a differentiator in your market." Tanner of Hex agrees. "With a pop-up, your product is the environment you're creating," he says. "The culture of the event is what people are excited about." While the cultivation of environment is an integral element to all shops, Tanner contends that pop-ups heighten the significance of that vibe because of their impermanence. "There are so many moving parts to a pop-up," John Michael of Hex adds. "For us, we're thinking about everything from waffl e preparation, batteries, tip jars, energy sources, water, induction burners, nitrogen supplies, cold brew, and all the other elements needed to make our event run smoothly. Working toward executing an excellent event requires immense preparation on the coffee and food side, while also trying to craft customer experience, and make all that effort economically viable." This confl uence of variables, of moving parts, is perhaps one of the biggest challenges to coordinating a pop-up. The stakes are high when all a customer sees of your business is a single experience over a short period of time. Benefi ts With so many challenges though, why are pop-ups so popular? Interspersed with informed opinions about the viability, sustainability, and infl uence of pop-up culture on specialty coffee, the answers are a mass of speculation mingled with market research and professional experience. The benefi ts of operating a pop-up broadly fall into three categories: fi nances, engagement, and creativity. Of these, the attraction of low start-up and operating costs outweighed all other benefi ts among the retailers we spoke to. As the owners of Hex say, "It was really important to us to be able to open a shop without going into debt. Pop-ups weren't our original plan, but they made it possible for us to build a business without owing money to anyone. We think it gives our business a better chance to succeed." Neil Oney of Royal Drummer in Seattle seconds the notion of the financial accessibility of pop-ups. "As long as it costs several hundred thousand dollars to open a brick-and-mortar shop, pop- ups will be popular," says Neil. "With the right connections, a person can open a pop-up, be it temporary or semipermanent, for the cost of the permit." 74 barista magazine

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