一杯咖啡的學問：這家公司何以50年長盛不衰
Polina Marinova
2018-08-28
|
一個行業(yè)的開創(chuàng)者如何能夠在接下來幾十年持續(xù)保持顛覆者的地位？要想知道這個問題的答案，你可以去問問畢特咖啡（Peet’s Coffee）。這家已有50年歷史的咖啡公司如今仍然把握著時尚脈動，努力吸引年輕一代的咖啡達人。 50年前的今天，阿爾弗萊德·畢特在加州伯克利創(chuàng)立了第一家畢特咖啡店。那是罐裝咖啡一統(tǒng)天下的1966年。這位荷蘭裔移民開始在自家小店里手工烘焙小批量咖啡豆，其馥郁而醇厚的味道在當時的美國市場無出其右。 “精品咖啡運動”就是這樣開始的。 今天，畢特咖啡面前的最大問題是，如何在忠于品牌特色的同時，繼續(xù)推動精品咖啡運動的發(fā)展。市場對精品咖啡的需求不斷增加，行業(yè)的競爭也變得愈發(fā)激烈。 在幾十年的發(fā)展歷程中，畢特咖啡公司CEO戴夫·布威克和董事杰瑞·鮑德溫（星巴克的創(chuàng)始人之一）學到了不少關于創(chuàng)業(yè)、顛覆和創(chuàng)新的經(jīng)驗。兩人近日接受《財富》專訪，向創(chuàng)業(yè)者們分享了五條推動企業(yè)發(fā)展壯大的經(jīng)驗教訓。 （1）尋找行業(yè)翹楚，從頭學起 開創(chuàng)一家新公司時，創(chuàng)業(yè)者必須掌握方方面面的知識。要想獲得對行業(yè)產(chǎn)生精辟入里的見解，最好的方法莫過于尋找一個最受尊重的行業(yè)領袖來教給你一些竅門。在創(chuàng)辦星巴克之前，鮑德溫與他的商業(yè)合作伙伴杰夫·西格和戈登·鮑克就是這樣做的。他們意識到，要想追趕上咖啡行業(yè)的領導者，最好先在畢特咖啡店打工，邊干邊學。于是，鮑德溫開始在加州第一家畢特咖啡店學習咖啡制作。當他在1971年創(chuàng)辦星巴克時，這些知識對他幫助很大。鮑德溫也是星巴克這家全球咖啡巨頭的第一名咖啡烘焙師?！拔以缙谒械目Х戎R都來自阿爾弗萊德，來自我們在那里的學習經(jīng)歷?！滨U德溫表示：“我們清楚地意識到他的咖啡造詣深不可測，他非常了不起。我們很幸運地擁有這樣一位愿意分享知識的導師?！? （2）不要害怕，迅速做出正確選擇，然后繼續(xù)前進 有些決策需要深思熟慮才能做出，不過如果你相信自己知道問題的答案，就不要害怕，要迅速采取行動。1984年，就在鮑德溫已經(jīng)在忙著運營星巴克的時候，他突然聽說畢特咖啡正在謀求出售。他表示：“我當時喜不自禁，只好躲到洗手間手舞足蹈一陣子。”他很容易地做出了這個決定——買下畢特咖啡（當時畢特咖啡已經(jīng)是一家擁有4間門店的連鎖企業(yè)）。于是，他同時擁有了兩家自己喜歡的咖啡公司。 幾年后，他又面臨另一個重大決定：他在星巴克的合伙人鮑克決定賣掉自己的股份。鮑德溫咨詢了他最信任的知己——他的妻子簡。只用了短短的30秒，他就決定賣掉自己一手創(chuàng)立的公司，購入鮑克的全部股份——同時保留畢特咖啡的股權。他表示：“我知道，不管我們把星巴克打造得多好，它永遠也不是畢特?！? （3）做大做強，快速擴張，但不要失去你的品牌價值 星巴克目前已有2.2萬多家門店，年收益超過170億美元。面對星巴克如此耀眼的成績，畢特公司依然沒有追趕星巴克的計劃。畢特咖啡目前在全美共有240家門店，2016年的年收益預計在8億美元左右。布威克希望在未來5年推動畢特咖啡的年收入增至20億美元。 布威克表示，為了達到這個目標，公司必須保持咖啡的品質，“但為了公司的增長，并吸引更多消費者，我們必須采取一種與眾不同的方法?！?2015年，畢特咖啡開始啟動一波積極的收購浪潮，先后收購所謂的“第三波咖啡”品牌Stumptown Coffee Roasters和Intelligentsia。（注：所謂的“第三波咖啡”，是一些主打精品和高質量的咖啡公司相對于第一波和第二波咖啡提出的一種自我定位。第一波主要以Folger’s咖啡為代表，第二波主要以星巴克為代表。）有意思的是，這兩家公司的創(chuàng)始人也都是從畢特咖啡走出去的。這兩筆收購備受關注，一些忠實的咖啡愛好者在Twitter上頗有微詞。為了冷卻負面反應，布威克強調稱，畢特將繼續(xù)保留這兩家公司的原有領導層，并且允許這兩個品牌繼續(xù)獨立運營。 畢特咖啡之所以能歷經(jīng)50年而長盛不衰，還因為它保留了小而精的特色和對手藝的執(zhí)著。就像布威克所說的那樣，畢特咖啡的精髓就在于如何“將公司的‘小’做大”。 （4）勇于面對創(chuàng)新壓力 消費者對新奇感的需求，是促進咖啡行業(yè)成長的一個重要動力。目前，冰滴咖啡已經(jīng)成為一種熱門趨勢，受到24%的消費者熱捧。（其中大多數(shù)是千禧一代。） 2015年，畢特公司在所有門店都推出了冰滴咖啡，并且對門店進行了重新裝修，使其更迎合年輕消費者的品味。隨后畢特公司又收購了冰滴咖啡領域的先行者Stumptown公司，以進一步攫取年輕人市場。 畢特公司還在利用另一個大趨勢賺錢——單杯式的膠囊咖啡。目前，四分之一以上的美國家庭都擁有一臺單杯式咖啡機。有鑒于此，畢特咖啡的母公司JAB控股去年12月收購了膠囊咖啡生產(chǎn)商克里格綠山咖啡公司。當然，并非每家公司都能如此幸運地通過收購而穩(wěn)坐潮流前沿。這個故事傳遞的一個更重要信息是，企業(yè)必須時時把握市場脈搏，擁抱可能改變你的產(chǎn)品或服務的創(chuàng)意。 （5）勿忘初心 一家開拓性的公司要想保住市場主宰地位，就必須要試驗新產(chǎn)品，但它永遠不能動搖自己的“根”。布威克和鮑德溫認為，畢特公司50年的歷史是一種優(yōu)勢，而不是一個障礙。無論是收購，重新裝修門店，還是推出冰滴咖啡，這些都是畢特咖啡為迎合消費者而采取的舉措。但畢特公司如今做的最具顛覆性的事情或許可追溯至阿爾弗萊德·畢特在1966年開辦的第一家門店，那就是依賴人類的精度來制作咖啡。 “你相信嗎，到了2016年，我們還在使用手工咖啡機?！滨U德溫說。（財富中文網(wǎng)） 譯者：樸成奎 審校：任文科 ? |
When you pioneer an industry, how can you continue to stay disruptive for generations to come? Just ask Peet’s Coffee, the 50-year-old coffee company fighting to stay relevant and appeal to craft coffee-chugging millennials. Fifty years ago today, Alfred Peet opened the very first Peet’s Coffee shop. The year was 1966, when coffee from a can was the norm. From his shop in Berkeley, Calif., the Dutch immigrant began hand-roasting coffee beans in small batches, creating bold and complex blends that were unlike anything in the American market. That was the beginning of the specialty coffee movement. Today, the question at Peet’s Coffee is how to keep ahead of that movement while staying true to its brand. As demand for specialty coffee has exploded, so has the competition. Peet’s CEO Dave Burwick and Peet’s board member Jerry Baldwin, who was one of the founders of Starbucks, have learned plenty of lessons about entrepreneurship, disruption and innovation over the coffee chain’s decades-long existence. The pair recently sat down with Fortune to share five key lessons entrepreneurs can use as they look to grow their business. (1) Seek out the best players in your field and learn from the ground up. When starting a new venture, entrepreneurs must know every aspect of their business in and out. And what better way to gain insight than to seek out the most respected industry leader to teach you the ropes? That’s exactly what Baldwin and his business partners, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, did before opening the doors at Starbucks. They realized that the way to get close to the “Moses” of coffee was to work in one of his stores. Baldwin started scooping coffee beans at the original Peet’s store in California.That knowledge helped him when he started Starbucks in 1971; he was the coffee giant’s first roaster. “All of my early coffee knowledge came from Alfred and what we learned there,” Baldwin says. “What was clear to us was [how much] he knew about coffee, how credible he was and how lucky we were to have him share that with us.” (2) Don’t be afraid to make the right decision quickly – and move on. Some decisions require a great deal of contemplation, but when you’re sure you know the answer, don’t be afraid to act quickly. In 1984, while Baldwin was busy running Starbucks, he found out Peet’s was up for sale. “I had to excuse myself, go to the men’s room and dance,” he says. The decision was easy – he bought Peet’s (which was a four-store chain) and then owned two coffee companies he loved. A few years later, he had to make another big decision: Bowker, his business partner at Starbucks,decided to sell his share of the company. Baldwin turned to his most trusted confidante – his wife Jane. In a matter of 30 seconds, he decided to sell the company he founded to buy Bowker out — and keep Peet’s. “I knew that no matter how good we would make Starbucks, it would never be Peet’s,” hesays. (3) Grow big, grow fast, but don’t grow out of your brand values. Peet’s still has no plans of chasing Starbucks, which now has 22,000 stores and generates annual revenue of $17 billion. With 240 stores nationwide,Peet’s will bring in about $800 million in revenue by the end of 2016. Burwick’s goal is to increase that number to $2 billion in the next five years. To do that, Burwick says the company must uphold the quality of its coffee, but “do things differently to grow and to reach more people.” In 2015, Peet’s went on an aggressive buying spree, acquiring third-wave coffee brands Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Intelligentsia Coffee. (Interestingly enough, the founders of both companies got their start at Peet’s.) The acquisitions did not go unnoticed, and devoted coffee lovers sounded off on Twitter. To calm the uproar, Burwick emphasized that Peet’s will keep the leadership in place and allow the brands to operate independently. The chain continues to abide by a vision of staying small and true to its craft. As Burwick says, it’s about “scaling a company’s smallness.” (4) Give in to the pressure to innovate. The coffee industry is largely driven by consumer demand for novelty. Right now, cold brew coffee is the hot trend, favored by 24% of consumers (most of them millennials). In May 2015, Peet’s launched cold brew in all of its locations and remodeled its stores to make them more appealing to a younger demographic. The company later bought Stumptown, what it views as the pioneer of cold brew coffee, to further capture the millennial market. Peet’s is also capitalizing on another big trend: single-serve K-cups. Right now, more than 1 in 4 households owns a single-cup brewer. Peet’s parent company, JAB Holdings, bought K-cup maker Keurig Green Mountain in December. Of course, not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to stay on top of the trends by buying up other companies; the larger message is to have a finger on the pulse of the market at all times and embrace the idea of changing your offerings. (5) Don’t forget what made you great in the first place. In order for a pioneering company to maintain its dominance in the market, it must experiment with new products, but it must never lose touch with its roots. Burwick and Baldwin see Peet’s age an advantage, not an impediment. The acquisitions, the remodeling of Peet’s coffee shops, the cold brew. It’s all part of the plan to adapt. But perhaps the most disruptive thing Peet’s does today is something that dates back to Alfred Peet’s original store in 1966 – the reliance on human precision to brew coffee. “We’re still using manual espresso machines in 2016, for crying out loud,” Baldwin says. |
財富中文網(wǎng)所刊載內容之知識產(chǎn)權為財富媒體知識產(chǎn)權有限公司及/或相關權利人專屬所有或持有。未經(jīng)許可，禁止進行轉載、摘編、復制及建立鏡像等任何使用。
