"The Not-So-SImple Life"

I was at the airport in Seattle Washington last week and picked up the new issue of FSB. I found this article about a coffee chain in Petaluma, Calif that bases its model on simplicity. The coffee shop is called Deaf Dog Coffee and "if you want to order a 20-ounce cup of joe there, this is what they call it: the Pretty Big Cup of Coffee. Everything else is either Big or Very Big. Want a pastry? No matter which one you pick, it will cost you the same: $1.75. There are four kinds of smoothies, and each one carries a $3 pricetag. "Every simple move has been carefully calculated," says owner Ron Salisbury, 61, who looks every bit the bank vice president he used to be, except for the four earrings dangling from his left lobe. "You’ve got to find the line between simple and not-so-simple, and there is no easy measurement for that. It’s all in the details." Now, I will agree with Joshua Hyatt, the writer, that there is only one perfectly simple coffee shop and that is one that serves nothing but what I, the customer, wants. What Joshua found out, however, was that it lost its personality and individuality. Everyone was the same! So it appears that you have two choices in the coffee world, the corporate "green giant" muding up our ability to understand what the hell we are ordering (see my ealier post "A Size Matter" for more on this) and shops that are going to make us loose our personality. Check out this aritcle, it is an interesting and fun read. Let me know what you think.. --be bold