Would you visit a cafe without baristas?

by chee Leng (on coffee makers)
(Singapore)

And this is exactly what you would find in Apgujeong’s Cafe Italico, in Korea. Everything looks the same, except that there is no baristas in this cafe.

Instead, you would help yourself to a single serve coffee maker. Pop in a coffee pods also known as capsules and make your own drink.

A place to hang is really just what this "cafe" is about, you make your own drinks right, so what is the difference between this place and your house.

Anyway, this is a 20 outlet strong cafe chain, so they should be doing something right, at least something the consumers wants.

I do not know if this would be the future of cafe, but if you think about it, what is the difference, especially in Asia.

In the US, Australia and Europe, Baristas is a real profession, where individuals take years to horne their skills.

But, in places like Korea and Singapore, they are mainly staffed by part-timers that did a two hour crash course. So, tell me, what is the difference between getting your coffee from a Nespresso or a part-time baristas that probably know less about coffee than you?

Seriously, I would suspect that the Nespresso might be giving me a better cuppa!

This might be the reason that folks in Korea are pretty okay when it comes to having their coffee from single serve coffee maker.

And the only perk that the cafe give them is probably a good place to hang and enjoy the coffee.

If this concept works, and consumers are able to get quality coffee from single serve brewer, and cafe start to use more of these. This would be yet another boast to the already growing market segment!

In a separate article, GMCR also known as Keurig just make a statement about the growth of single serve coffee brewer, it has to be -this is the segment that is making all the news!