What sort of word is this? According to Wikipedia, beverage is used to describe a drink that has been prepared for human consumption. Perhaps a bottle of Evian is in and a sup from the tap is out! According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, beverage comes from the Latin, bibere, by way of the Old French beuvrage. In the COD it is listed next to bevy (plural bevies) but my edition only allows that to mean a flock of quails or larks; or a company of group of women; and not a few beers! My only problem with the word beverage is that it just does not sound great, it does not sound liquid, and it does not sound refreshing. The beauty of the word- for local retailers - is beverage mostly comes with high margin potential. As Mark Sterratt of gsk recently told Retail Newsagent, "You'd need to sell three packets of crisps to get the same profit as one soft drink."
True in part to my New Year resolution, I held a business meeting in an independent coffee shop today just next door to a Starbucks. The cafe was presented well and four staff were busy preparing for the lunchtime rush, at 11am. As my guests were late, I had a half hour overview of footfall on the street outside and in the restaurant. Six customers. Barely enough to form the queue in Starbucks or Pret-a-Manger just down the road. Plus one Italian girl who dropped off her CV. Some people stopped to look at the posters in the window and moved on. The owners seemed quite happy. When I left just after 1215, they were doing brisk trade. However, I have the impression that the business is not working hard enough. It could easily have managed 120 customers between 11 and 12, instead of 12. This is lost profit as the fixed overheads and staff costs are already in place. The owners are clearly busy - perhaps too busy to take time to look at the potential that their cafe has. What shou...
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