3. Purpose of Study
Our firm seeks to find what makes for a good coffee house
in the Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut
region.
Research Question
Do you have to have a certain atmosphere, location,
products
and service in order to make a good coffee house in
Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut?
Hypothesis
A good coffee house does not depend upon the taste of the
coffee served. Instead, other contributing factors based on
atmosphere, location, products and service make a good
coffee house.
4. Research Procedures
The following research procedures have been implemented in our study:
1. Research thoroughly reviewed on the history of coffee and how it has
evolved since inception.
2. Critical analysis of the history of coffee houses and how and why they
have survived through so many years.
3. Details on the past and present market trends of coffee houses.
4. Implement the research through observation strategies in the field.
5. Analyze the observable data through methods of coding.
6. Draw interpretations and conclusions from all the research collected to the
purpose of this study.
20. Initial Data Collection
• Observation Notes: The actual text written to describe the observer’s experience.
• Observer: The person observing and writing the text.
• Category: Some responses were categorized by the observer and
we did not want to lose this fact thus we kept it in the case we needed it.
• Address: The address of the establishment observed.
• Date: The date the observation was made.
• Start Time: The beginning time of the assumed half hour observation.
• The name of the
independent
shop visited. This column was left blank for the Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks
observations.
21. Move into MSAccess Database Format
• Standardize Addresses
• In the 1st Column, an Observation ID which uniquely identifies each row of
data.
• In the 8th Column, the Place Type which was mentioned previously.
• In the 10th Column, the Weekday derived from the Date field.
• In the 11th Column, the Time of Day derived from the Start Time field.
25. Research Limitations
• Time Constraints – Lack of time did not allow for further investigations.
With more time the consultants would have performed more field work
including: customer, employer, employee interviews and questionnaires.
• Determining Customer Motivations – This could not be determined with
observable data.
Surveys and questionnaires for the customers on reasons why they would
stay and/or leave must be conducted.
• Customer Demographics & Socioeconomic Status – A study of this
information must be conducted to further analyze if this has an effect on a good
coffee house.
• Observers – The participant observers are untrained and were able to visit the
coffee houses any day of the week and at any time.
26. Research Limitations
• Coding – Based on two consultants and their interpretation of the data.
• Area Researched – Observations were taken from a large area span from
Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. This cannot be
generalizable
to the nation as a whole.
• Definition of Coffee House – Each observer has their own definition of a
coffee
house. This could have been a problem when choosing an independent coffee
house.
27. Observable Data 12 observers
• 971 observations
Rank CatGroup Category Total
• 1,659 ratings
1Atmosphere and Location Ambience 213
• 32 coffee house locations
2Other Clientele Type/Demographics/Class 211
3Service Procedural - Competency, Accuracy, Quality 171
4Products The results Presentation top ten categories
show the 97
mentioned by the observers include the following:
5Atmosphere and Location Décor 95
6Atmosphere and Location Lounge - Comfortable Seating 81
7Atmosphere and Location Facility 75
8Service Personal - Feel Welcomed and Valued 69
9Products Variety 66
10Products Coffee 57
28. Observable Data
CatGroup Category Total Negative Positive
Atmosphere and Locationresults show
The Ambience the top ten categories mentioned 45
99 54
Service by the observers only including negative and positive ratings:
Procedural - Competency, Accuracy, Quality 83 32 51
Service Personal - Feel Welcomed and Valued 52 3 49
Products Presentation 45 19 26
Products Variety 36 1 35
Atmosphere and Location Lounge - Comfortable Seating 32 7 25
Products Coffee 31 1 30
Atmosphere and Location Decor 31 7 24
Products Take Home Items Available 25 1 24
Atmosphere and Location Accessibility 25 2 23
29. Observable Data
POSITIVE This shows the rank order of codes.
Rank Coffee House Total Rankings
1 Starbucks 228
2 Independent 165
3 Dunkin’ Donuts 110
NEGATIVE
Rank Coffee House Total Rankings
1 Dunkin’ Donuts 78
2 Independent 60
3 Starbucks 26
NEUTRAL
Rank Coffee House Total Rankings
1 Dunkin’ Donuts 352
2 Independent 331
3 Starbucks 309
30. Coffee House Addresses
IN 598 Sumner Avenue, Springfield, MA
IN 60 Masonic Street, Northampton, MA
IN PlaceTp Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT
712 Address
IN DD College Highway, Southwick, MA CT
155 Hazard Avenue, Enfield,
IN DD Enfield1600 Northampton Street, Holyoke, MA
Sqare, 90 Elm Street, Enfield, CT
IN DD Pleasant Steet, Road, East Windsor, CT
17 North Northampton, MA
IN DD 3 Allen Street, Hamden, MA
Suffield Village 68 Bridge Steet, Suffield, CT
SB DD 1089 EastPark Street,Avenue, Springfield, MA
44 Columbus West Springfield, MA
SB DD 54 Hazard Avenue, Enfield, CT
280A East Main Street, Westfield, MA
SB DD 55 Maple Street, East Longmeadow, MA
42 North Main Street, East Longmeadow, MA
SB DD 50 HolyokePage Boulevard, Springfield, MA
694 Street, Holyoke, MA
SB DD 620 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA CT
760 Park Avenue, Bloomfield,
SB DD 852 Cottage Grove Avenue, West Springfield, MA
85 Memorial Road, Bloomfield, CT
SB DD 93 Main Street, Westfield, MA
9 Hazard Avenue, Enfield, CT
SB DD 930 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT CT
Albany Avenue, West Hartrford,
SB IN 1344 Memorial Avenue West Springfield, MA
Springfield, MA
IN 185 Main Street, Northampton, MA
IN 226 Broad Street, Windsor, CT
IN 462 Main Street, Wilbraham, MA
34. REFERENCES
Articles
Coffee. (1999). NationalGeographic.com. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coffee/legend2.html
Coffee history. (2006). CoffeeResearch.org. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/history.htm
Ellis, M. (2002). The devil’s ordinary: consuming public culture in the coffee-house. Cabinet
Magazine Online. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/8/coffeehouse.php
Gale Group (2007). Specialty coffee. 11-10. Retrieved February 3, 2008, from http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BCRC
Gupta, N. (2004, September). Grande Wi-Fi: understanding what Wi-Fi users are doing in coffee-shops. Retrieved February 16, 2008, from
http://www.newburyopen.net/pubs/Thesis_NeetiGupta.pdf
History of the coffee house, part I. (2006, December). SupermarketGuru.com. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from
http://www.supermarketguru.com/page.cfm/31270
Montalvo, K. V. (2006, June). A gourmet coffee nation?. Gourmet Retailer, 27(6), 74.
Little known facts about coffee. (n.d.). National Coffee Association of U.S.A., Inc. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.coffeescience.org
Suter, K. (2005, February). The rise and fall of English coffee houses. Contemporary Review, 107. Retrieved from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
The history of coffee. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=68
Thompson, C. J., & Arsel, Z. (2005, October 7). The Starbucks brandscape and the discursive mapping of local coffee shop cultures. Retrieved February
4, 2008, from http://www.bus.wisc.edu/nielsencenter/research/docs/brandcoffeejcr-7.pdf.
Waxman, L. K. (2004). More than coffee: an examination of people, place, and community with implications for design. Retrieved February 16, 2008,
from http://interiordesign.fsu.edu/symposium/2007/2007Proceedings.pdf
Maps
All Mapquest maps retrieved from http://www.dunkindounts.com
44 Park Street, West Springfield, MA
https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/store/Results.aspx?hdnLatitude=42.107353&hdnLongitude=-
72.617059&hdnType=ByLocation&rdoUnit=Mi&txtPostalCode=&txtAddress=44+park+street&txtCity=west+springfield&selStateProvince=MA&selCountry
=NN&txtDistance=10&txtMatchesperPage=5
1600 Northampton Street, Holyoke, MA
https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/store/Results.aspx?hdnLatitude=42.20994&hdnLongitude=-
72.630049&hdnType=ByLocation&rdoUnit=Mi&txtPostalCode=&txtAddress=1600+northampton+street&txtCity=holyoke&selStateProvince=MA&selCount
ry=NN&txtDistance=10&txtMatchesperPage=5
55 Maple Street, East Longmeadow, MA
https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/store/Results.aspx?hdnLatitude=42.063508&hdnLongitude=-
72.516377&hdnType=ByLocation&rdoUnit=Mi&txtPostalCode=&txtAddress=55+maple+street&txtCity=east+longmeadow&selStateProvince=MA&selCou
ntry=NN&txtDistance=10&txtMatchesperPage=5
Observations
All observations were submitted by students at The Graduate School at Bay Path College, Longmeadow, Massachusetts for the Fall 2007 MBA 607
Methods of Business Research and Analysis Wednesday night class with Dr. James M. Wilson, III.