Campus
Coffee Consumption
November
22, 2013
A piercing whirring sound permeates
the buzz of hushed voices every so often.
A pleasant aroma wafts through the still air. And beside many of the books or laptops that
occupy most tables, a tall white disposable cup sits.
This is the typical scene at the MSU
Student Union. The screeching noise is
the sound of a barista steaming milk.
The sweet aroma is that of ground coffee beans. And the tall white cup is the characteristic
container of lattes from Biggby Coffee.
A similar scene can be found in
Wells Hall, where there is a popular Starbucks, as well as nearly any other
location on campus that serves coffee.
College students’ increasing
consumption of specialty coffee can be attributed to convenience, the necessity
for an energy boost, the atmosphere of coffee shops, and also an element of
indulgence, according to two baristas and an expert on consumer behavior.
Starbucks supervisor and MSU junior
Emily Kaip said that at the Wells Hall location, the busiest time of day is
“definitely in the morning starting around nine, and probably up until about
three o’clock.”
“It’s just when people are in class
– when people are on campus,” she said.
CAN WE QUANTIFY WHAT EQUALS
A BUSY TIME? HOW MANY CUSTOMERS PER HOUR?
Biggby barista and fifth-year
student at MSU Michelle Cusick elaborated on the same observation: “During the
day – in the morning – it’s in between classes, like right before classes. And then once classes start, it slows down.”
Clearly, the location of these two
shops on campus is a major component of the convenience students depend on,
considering that they do not have to stray far from their classes to acquire a
latte of their choice.
Kaip SAID SHE agreed that likely the greatest factor influencing
students’ decision to purchase specialty coffee is convenience, but offered a
different perspective as to why.
“I
don’t have a coffee machine at home – coffee machines can be kind of
expensive,” she said. “Also, you’re
brewing a whole pot, and if you’re the only one drinking it, you would not need
ten cups.”
MSU junior Athena Smith, on the
other hand, said that she purchases coffee “just for exams or if I’m like super
HYPHEN HERE tired…I wasn’t a big
coffee drinker to begin with in high school, and then once I came to college I
drank more coffee.”
Smith said she typically only drinks
coffee to stay up and keep studying, a phenomenon Ayalla Ruvio, an MSU
marketing professor and expert in consumer behavior, referred to as “the notion
of caffeine to boost your performance – at least for the short-term.”
It is this shared notion that causes
coffee shops like Starbucks and Biggby, according to Kaip and Cusick, to see
drastic spikes in their numbers of customers during stressful school weeks such
as midterms and exams.
“For the closing shift, it’s usually
pretty dead,” said Cusick. “But when
midterms and finals and stuff come – that’s when you get a lot of people,
‘cause they’re here studying at the Union and are pulling late nights.”
But Ruvio revealed that based on
basic human nature, another reason students are likely to be found near coffee
shops while studying for exams is so that they can reward themselves for some
of the hardest work they will do all semester.
She said that during exam week, it’s
almost as if students “get more value for the same price” for their cup of
coffee, as it both makes them more productive and rewards them for their
studying efforts.
“There’s a lot of rational
decision-making that needs to be done by students to survive their college
years,” Ruvio said. “But we all have the
need to splurge every once in a while, to indulge ourselves, to pamper, to
reward our hard work.”
Nonetheless, most people –
especially college students – can’t afford to treat themselves by purchasing
the latest Gucci purse, Ruvio said as an example.
“We have to really focus on things
that we can afford that still will give us that feeling of pampering,” she
said. “And coffee is a really great
option.”
Furthermore,
“it’s here, and it’s available, and it’s trendy, and it tastes good,” she said.
And on top of that, coffee shops
typically feature an environment that is conducive to the activities of
students: there are tables where customers can use their computers, couches
where groups can meet to discuss responsibilities for their projects, and
usually soft background music playing that helps many concentrate. ACCORDING TO WHOM? ATTRIBUTE
Ruvio said that specialty coffee is
no longer just about the product, but also the service and the atmosphere of
the environment.
“Coffee has become a part of student
life. It’s more than just a product,”
she said.
And coffee franchises such as
Starbucks want to keep the college student segment of their consumer base
satisfied. Ruvio explained that when
most people imagine the “typical” Starbucks customer, they think of a
businessman or woman, nicely-dressed, most likely on their way to work.
So in other words, “students are
Starbucks’ typical consumers five years from now,” Ruvio said.
From specialty coffee providers’
perspective, by marketing to students, they’re “investing in their future
customers,” said Ruvio.
Word
Count: 843
Sources
Ayalla Ruvio
Professor in Department of Marketing;
expert in consumer behavior, materialism, spending and buying.
(517) 432-6467
Emily Kaip
Starbucks supervisor; MSU junior
Michelle Cusick
Biggby employee; MSU fifth-year
Athena Smith
MSU junior
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