If you are a coffee lover, even if you consider yourself a connoisseur, it is far too easy to fall into a routine. You visit the same neighborhood café, order the exact same roast, and rarely venture beyond your comfort zone. Coffee Crawls offer a remedy to this routine engaging you in an adventure exploring both coffee options and the culture of nearby neighborhoods.
A Low-Pressure Approach to Exploration
Spread across an entire month, the experience allows participants to wander at their own pace without the pressure of a ticking clock. It’s natural to see how many shops on the list you can check off in a given month, but that is not what the organizing company says the goal is. The idea is to explore and experience, and perhaps find a new shop to visit frequently. Of course, the shops’ goal is to attract new customers who might not visit under other circumstances.
Customers pay $25 for the monthly pass and receive a $5 credit at each shop they visit. This credit applies one time only.
Curated Diversity and the Digital Pass
Coffee Crawl, the company responsible for the service, makes an effort to put together an interesting and diverse collection. I guess I don’t know exactly how it works – do they contact shops, or do the shops volunteer and are then selected? Coffee Crawl then builds the digital backend, describing the shops and providing an app that delivers this information and supports the sign-in you use when arriving at the shop. The embedded maps also link to mapping services on your phone.
Once the month concludes, the company says it shares anonymous data and behavioral insights with participating venues, helping the owners better understand patron habits and optimize their future community engagement.
Did I find a new favorite shop I will now visit frequently? Probably not. The Twin Cities and suburbs cover a large area and we often drive 15 or so mile through city traffic to get to one of the shops on the list. The crawl was interesting, but convenience will likely keep my frequent visits focused on more local shops.
A Couple of Examples
This was probably my favorite as the barrista/owner was very knowledgeable and we shared stories of the coffee plantations we had visited (mine in Hawaii) and our common interest in peaberry coffees.
This is perhaps the largest venue with the capacity for many of us who like to spend most of a morning reading and writing in coffee shops.
One Complaint
While the digital ecosystem brings substantial value to both shops and explorers, one issue for me was the mandatory post-visit feedback requirements. After visiting a given selection from the list, the app requires the customer to submit feedback on that visit before the app will in essence allow the next shop to be selected. Streamlining this process—perhaps by allowing optional, delayed reviews or quick rating prompts—would preserve the relaxed, unhurried atmosphere that makes self-paced exploration so appealing.