NYC coffee optimiser Blank Street started its London push by opening cafes, but now it's taking over existing ones
Blank Street’s model runs on a few key things: small spaces to minimise rent; automatic espresso machines to maximise speed and volume; and plenty of backing from investors. Itsstems from a denial of the “third place” philosophy, in favour of a “good enough” coffee that speeds its customers on to other things without having to think about why and what they are drinking.
Automation is a very viable way in which speciality coffee could progress: Baristas could get paid more to do less manual, physically demanding work while having time to actually communicate why speciality coffee producers are doing remarkable things; automation also helps to remove some of the “craft” theatre of pouring water which can sometimes obscure where the most remarkable part of the coffee value chain is, at origin.
, deliberately moved away from those benefits in favour of an anodyne pastel-optimisation pitch that pushes out local cafes might give pause for thought.
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