Observation Lab Assignment

• I live in Silicon Valley, a big melting pot !

• How about to observe the culture differences from the coffee shops !

• I carefully selected shops representing different cultures

Peet’s

Fantasia

Café Venetia

Coupa CafeOla’s Exotic Coffee

Aroma Coffee

Coffee shops around the world

Peet’s Fantasia

Café Venetia

Coupa Cafe

Ola’s Exotic Coffee

Aroma Coffee

USA

Venezuela

Italy

Africa

Taiwan/China

Vietnam

So uncle sam!

So Artsy!

Ohh, Venice

So Playful, upbeat, happy!

Asian Coffee

houses are similar.

Mostly Asian

customers.

Feel like I am in China

Ola’s closed when I visited

Very colorful!

Insights

• Coffee shops definitely showcase culturePictures worth thousands of words… but here are some:

– Store front, furniture, store arrangement

– Employees

– Atmosphere• Why Chinese coffee shops/restaurant are noisier?

– Music • I wish I know more about Venezuela music to tell whether

Coupa Café is playing “local” music

• Visiting coffee shops can learn culture– Chat with owners and employees

Surprises

• Found so many ethnic coffee shops in my own neighborhood– Didn’t know we have an Africa community

• Fantasia Tea Café business is sooo good…– Continuous line around the corner during entire

half hour I was there.

• Piece of trivia found during research:– World Values Survey has consistently shown

Venezuelans to be among the happiest people in the world

– hmm, maybe I should go to Coupa café more often

Hidden Opportunities

• Coffee shops are adopting technologies– WiFi in most places

– Google wallet in a few places

– OrderAhead at one place

– Twitter…

– My next new technology?

• Help organize meetups and study groups? – Coupa café has a perfect separate room and large table

– Extra credit for projectors and white boards….

Epilogue

6 coffee houses in one day, I am high!