The customers of Eclectic Cafe are generally young students, with some other types, according to the owner. Located walking distance from Rhodes College, a large amount of the customers are students from the college. "We have free wifi and kick-ass food so most of the college kids come between classes or after class." Since the food is so "kick-ass," the cafe draws in a lot of locals and tourists as well, however most of the crowd are college aged. Like most college kids, they consume all forms of social media, as well as the outputs of the college they attend.
I tried to interview customers that looked like they were different in order to get the best array of answers. Luckily, I found a table with a college aged man (Rhodes college jacket on), an older woman looked to be about 50-60, and then another guy who seemed to be about 25-30. I later found out they were locals the woman was the mother of the 2 boys, one was in college, the other had graduated and was back in town. They all agreed the main target group was college kids, as location and wifi are crucial in a college kids life. The mom said she really loved the food and always picked the cafe as the meet up destination for her and her sons. The older son said the cafe has been around since he was in school, and that him and his friends would often go between classes because the service, food, and amenities are incomparable to any other place in the area. The younger son said that since the cafe has been around for so long, and the emergence of technology that makes getting food easier has caused the cafe to be more of a treat, than a constant thing.
I think the owner has a pretty good grasp on his base and their needs. Based on the comments of the younger son, the owner might want to find a way to revitalize the cafe being a student center like in the older brothers time. Social media check-ins or creating a more active page can help, as well as making deals for student IDs or through the college.
Eclectic Cafe sounds like its a flourishing business out of Tennessee, especially being close to a college to bring in a lot of customers. If they keep up the way they're running things, then it should be fine and flourish even more! I would like to one day see if I can visit this place because from your description of what it is; it sounds really good! Check out my post here: http://joeyrubio.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-twenty-percent.html
ReplyDeleteHi Donovan,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really good job with this assignment. The Eclectic Cafe sounds like a really great business and the entrepreneur seems to know his customers really well. I also liked that you were able to get opinions from people of different ages. It seem that even though the entrepreneur is doing a great job with his business, there are some things hat can be done in order to get a bigger audience from college students, as the youngest interviewee mentioned. Great job!
You can check out my blog here, if you are interested: http://theroadtoentrepreneurship.blogspot.com/
Hey Donovan,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting post! The owner sounded like he had a good grasp on who his customers were, but should definitely come up with new ways to keep the costumers coming back. The comment made by the younger kid is definitely really important for the owner to think about. It's great you found such different customers. I did not do this assignment because it was due over Spring Break and I was already out of the country (lol), but take a look at my blog anyway! http://ffavorule.blogspot.com/