Going Dutch
April 9, 2009
Dutch Brothers sells coffee in uniquely designed drive-thru kiosks. On the surface, there is nothing extraordinarily unique about them. In fact, if not for having a location on the way to my office, I’m not sure I would have ever tried them. Just as much as coffee is a habit, so is where you buy it. But I did stop in at that location, then another one, then another one. After awhile, I had been to all of the Boise-area locations – to the point of going out of my way to swing by a location. The question is “why?”. What would cause me to change my buying habits, tell others … and feature Dutch Brothers in a case study?
Let’s break it down …
- The coffee doesn’t suck. I’m not much of a coffee snob. For me, coffee is either good or bad. And Dutch Bros has good coffee. In short, they met initial minimum expectations. The lesson for brands is to not over-think the commodity part of your business. Dutch Bros doesn’t talk about “green” farming, grinding their own beans, the science of coffee, etc. While these things are potentially interesting, they are only enhancements to the commodity. The end result for Starbucks, Tully’s, Thomas Hammer, and dozens of local shops is that they all have pretty good coffee, so coffee can’t be the differentiater.
- They have social employees. For retail businesses, your true brand is established by the interaction between your employees and your customers. Dutch Bros nails this perfectly. Every location has friendly employees, but that’s almost a commodity as well. Dutch Bros goes a step further by hiring personalities. These are not corporate drones just going through the motions. Dutch Bros employees are all unique individuals with their own styles. It should also be noted that they are attractive, hip, and funny. It’s like buying coffee from the “Cool Kids”. They also very accessible; treating each customer like they are one of the Cool Kids as well.
- It is easy to buy from them. This starts with Simple Math – each item is a round number – i.e. $2.50. The kicker is that tax is included. Not only does this feel like they are doing you a favor, it makes it easy to do the math in your head (or to give exact change). The menu is simple. They have some interesting names, but not a lot of complexity. I can’t verify this until I swing by there later today, but I think they also just call it “small”, “medium”, or “large”. What a unique concept – talking in the customer’s language! They have simple promotions – easy punch-cards, easy specials, etc. Finally, they have the dual drive through. More kiosks are doing this, but Dutch Bros was the first I’ve seen.
There was a final element for me – let’s call it “confirmation”. When I first visited a Dutch Bros, I asked the coolest person I know (my business partner John Hardesty) if he had tried them. He said that he had; stating that the coffee was good and the service was awesome (essentially #1 and #2 above). He also mentioned that he knew the local franchisee and that he was a cool guy as well. This locked it in for me.
Another test of a great retail brand is the “tattoo”. I haven’t seen anyone one with an actual Dutch Bros tattoo (if you have seen one, send me a pic!), but I have seen lots of t-shirts, bumper stickers, and laptop stickers.
The Dutch Brothers case study is an essence a branding report card. Take a look at your brand and see how you score. Bonus points if your customers tattoo your logo on their bodies!
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4 Responses to “Going Dutch”
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Hey…you’re giving all our secrets away. LOL I love it! Great article and right on…we call it Dutch luv! By the way we have a number of employees and customers have DB tattoos. It really is a way of life not a business…if you love what you do you never work another day of your life! Rock on!
There are many Dutch Bros. tatoos out there! One of your very own Boise employees sports our Dutch Creed, she works at the stand on Chinden ask around I’m sure you will find her. As for the other tats there are Dutch Bros. windmills, Dutch Bros. hang loose, the Dutch Mafia, Dutch Love. By the way I love your blog about Dutch Bros.! I will look around and see if I can’t find any pictures of the tats. In the mean time I would love it if you would email me, thanks for speadin the Dutch Love!
Justin,
Dutch Bros in Walla Walla has a myspace and there is a pic posted of one of their customers with the windmill on their leg and, I believe it says something to the effect of “Dig Life” on top and Dutch Bros. on the bottom, but I could be wrong on that. I do know that the Dutch Bros name is on the tatt.
I got hooked on Dutch Bros in Boise as well. I was very happy upon arrival in Walla Walla to see that there was a Dutch Bros right on the main drag. Thank you GOD! They are the friendliest people here, too! I have a sticker on my car, a t-shirt, and mugs. Didn’t buy any of them….gifts from people who know how much i love my Mocha Freeze!
Thank you so much for writing this. It feels so great to hear that we have suceeded in our goal to make each customer feel that there is something in them! Check out our Dutch Creed at dutchbros.com. We live it everyday!