Still reading How to Kill a Unicorn and learning how its easy to run a victory lap a little too soon. In this example, the Starbucks Evenings program cited by the author as an example of a winning two-sided solution that brings Magic and Money together - the mantra of his company. In the book, the Starbucks Evenings story is a winner - its proved out the concept and the business case handily:
“When we went live with the first prototype, I sat nervously at a table waiting to see if women would come and if our hypothesis about their needs would be borne out. The first customer in the door is a guy who steps up and orders a glass of wine. I’m thinking wow, were we that wrong? When he settles in, I come over and start chatting. He’s a stay-at-home dad who’d just dropped his kids off at soccer! You can’t make this stuff up. The other big moment was when I discussed the idea with some women and one of them broke down in tears. She said, ‘I can’t tell you how stretched I feel by that point in the day and what it would mean to have this option.’ ” As the program expands to select stores that fit a particular profile, there are a lot of happy women, and an occasional guy, too. Like Rachel and Howard Schultz.
Fast forward to 2017 and the concept was sunset by Starbucks and a Forbes article covering the story does not invoke so much happiness:
Starbucks’ “Evenings” program was aimed at driving traffic in the latter part of the day, since most customers flocked its stores for their morning coffee. By introducing wine and beer, the company hoped that it could attract customers in the evenings. However, it appears that this strategy did not work, especially since table service in the evenings conflicted with the counter service format in the mornings.
It's for good reason that vendors and consultants try grab those customer references as soon as possible before anything could possibly be proven out. To see the same strategy make its way into a book that is meant to teach others how to innovate is disappointing.
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