“Meet & Greet” – Get to Know (and Love) Blue Coast Coffee

Owner: Hilary Lane

www.BlueCoastCoffee.com

274 South Street

Shrewsbury, Ma 01545

#1 on yelp

5-Star Rating On Facebook

About the Owner - Hilary Lane• Born and raised in Massachusetts

• Graduated Northeastern University, Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Entrepreneurship

• Spent the first 5 years after college working at the Staples corporate headquarters in Framingham doing product & brand management, marketing & merchandising. She always loved the process of bringing new products to market including figuring out what consumers want.

• Hard-working, self-taught, independent individual – loves a challenge

• Blue Coast Coffee was born after years of owner Hilary’s frustration with her inability to get great coffee AND great food under the same roof.

Our Story• Renovations – before & after pictures

Our Story (cont.)

• Hilary was not impressed with the standard “coffee house vibe” that Starbucks made popular and most independent coffee shops mirror. Rather than dim lighting, dark colors, heavy furniture, indie music & hipster Baristas… Hilary wanted a bright, airy, cheerful atmosphere with upbeat music and genuinely friendly, energetic servers.

• Our coastal theme is inspired by the New England coast and currently allows landlocked Massachusetts residents to ‘escape’ any time to a bright, relaxed, beachy atmosphere reminiscent of a coffee shop you might expect to find on the coast.

• Our decor brings the much beloved New England coastal feel inside our shop and we feature design elements such as cedar shingles on interior walls hung with colorful lobster buoys, bright vivid coastal photography, clam baskets full of shells, and even faux hydrangeas on the tables.

Our Story (cont.)

Our Brand• Our mission is simply to be known as the BEST at everything we do!

Our goal is for every customer to leave not just satisfied, but downright pleasantly surprised at their experience.

• The owner is extremely competitive, and has instilled a company culture of actively working at out-shining our competition in every aspect of business.

• We keep our menu simple and emphasize exceptional quality and taste.

• We are creative and are always coming up with new recipes… we have an ever-changing rotation of breakfast, lunch & ice cream specials including seasonal specialties

• We are have lots of personality – we’re outgoing, fun, passionate & hard working

• We are festive and love celebrating seasonal holidays and food holidays with themed décor, specials & promotions

• We strive for amazing customer service – we hire cheerful, motivated people with great attitudes & work ethics, and train them to provide genuinely welcoming greetings to customers, offer recommendations, and help guide customers through their order. We empower them.

• We share success stories, customer compliments & good online reviews openly and often with our staff to keep morale high, and we utilize recognition, rewards & raises to keep our staff motivated to share our values & fulfill our mission.

Our Customers• We’re proud to emulate an upscale/classy yet down-to-earth/unpretentious persona

• We attract and retain customers who appreciate good quality, good service, and a clean/welcoming environment

• We are not the low-price leader and our food is not the fastest, but our customers agree its well worth the wait (call-ahead orders are commonplace too)

• Our regular customers range from construction workers, to policemen, to business professionals, to high schoolers, to young couples/families, to retirees. We make everyone feel equally welcome!

• The majority of our customers are between age 25-50, equally split male/female

• We have a great loyalty program which our customers love, offering freebies based on $$ spent

Our Ratings & Reviews• We are the #1 rated restaurant in Shrewsbury out of 85 restaurants on both Yelp and Trip Advisor,

and have maintained the top spot for almost 2 years (ever since we opened)

• We are 5-star rated on Trip Advisor and received a 2015 Certificate of Excellence for our rating

• http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g41813-d6000591-Reviews-Blue_Coast_Coffee-Shrewsbury_Massachusetts.html

• We are 4.5-star rated on Yelp

• http://www.yelp.com/biz/blue-coast-coffee-shrewsbury

• We are also top rated on Facebook, Google Plus and ShopLocalMa.com

#1 on yelp

Our Numbers

Nov-Dec '14 vs. LY

Jan-June '14 vs. LY

BEVERAGES 49% 40%

BREAKFAST 61% 46%

LUNCH 17% 27%

PASTRIES, CHIPS/IMPULSE 23% 12%

ICE CREAM 33% 15%

BOTTLED DRINKS 20% 20%

MISCELLANEOUS 49% 62%

TOTAL SALES INCREASE 36% 29%

• In business 2+ years

• Operating out an under-sized space in a small strip plaza with limited visibility from Rt9

• ~1000 email distribution list

• ~750 signed up for loyalty program

• ~1000 followers on Facebook

Our Menu• Our menu is straight-forward and simple with lots of options – we

feature many popular items such as a Grilled Cheese, a BLT, and a Chicken Caesar Wrap.

• The “go-to” basics often end up being the most popular – for example almost 50% of all egg sandwiches ordered are a Bacon Egg & Cheese on a Plain Bagel… despite all the options we offer.

• Our menu is creative, but not trendy. We stick to classic flavor combinations with a fun twist. We take flavor combinations people already love and turn them into drinks & sandwiches!

• We are proud to serve premium quality, delicious coffee, specialty espresso drinks & tea without unnecessary frills. We let the taste of our lattes speak for themselves, not fancy latte art.

• We have a strong emphasis on rotating weekly specials, and we’re always coming up with new ideas!

• We make all our sandwiches fresh to-order, all are customizable

• Everything we serve is premium quality – from our coffee beans to our meats/cheeses/artisan breads, to our ice cream.

Ice Cream & Pastries

SpecialsThanksgiving Wrap

Spinach Artichoke Dip Panini

Chorico Sausage, Egg & Pepper Jack sandwich with grilled veggies

& salsa verde

Pastrami Egg & Provolone

Asian Salad Wrap

“Pigs in a Blanket” (Eggs, cocktail weenies & sauce, & American cheese

on a Croissant)

Specials

Loyalty Card Program

Areas of Growth Potential• Expanded breakfast menu

• Online ordering

• Catering

• Smoothies

• Gluten-free options

• Ready-made ice cream pies/cakes displayed in a merchandiser freezer

• Retail sale of coffee beans