A New Approach

Remember last week in my post about the Papa John's fiasco in Cleveland, when I said this stuff practically writes itself? Well, here's another good example from over the weekend: The Everet Herald is reporting that drive-through espresso stands operated by young women wearing bikinis or even less (called "sexpresso" stands by the newspaper) are causing a great deal of controversy in Washington State, where they apparently take their coffee (and tea and espresso) very seriously...

Now, I'm sure all of my long-term readers will remember that I've written about drive-through coffee operations before, in my post about What Business Are They In? The primary appeal of these operations is the convenience (and speed) of being able to obtain your morning coffee without having to get out of the car, and in Los Angeles (where everyone drives, everyone expects to park and repark constantly, and not everyone drinks coffee constantly) these stands have had limited appeal. In Washington State, however, it seems that the demand for drive-through coffee is much higher, the competition between these roadside stands is much fiercer, and the owners have been looking for a new business approach in order to gain (or maintain) market share...

This, in turn, seems to have led them to consider what they could do that would make a humble roadside coffee stand more eye-catching, and some of them seem to have taken that idea literally. Even better, the inevitable backlash from feminists, conservatives and anyone else who thinks that half-naked women and caffeinated beverages don't mix has gained attention in the media, generated controversy in the community, and generally provided lots of free advertising for the stands that have adopted this business model...

It's hard to say exactly what business these coffee stands are in -- beyond the obvious beverage service, of course. None of the young female baristas are allowed to do anything more suggestive than smile while handing you your coffee, and one of the owners correctly points out that you can see much more revealing costume on any beach, at least during the summer time. Clearly these operations are not going to pose any threat to strip clubs, Hooters locations, "lingerie modeling" shops, or similar business units any time soon. By the same token, it's hard to say who (other than a few old prudes and busybodies) this type of business harms; even if we are willing to accept that the sight of scantily-clad females is creating a traffic hazard (and that isn't easy to accept), a strategically-placed hedge or shrub should take care of that issue...

In the long run, it's doubtful that having your product handed to the customer by a young woman in a revealing costume will make any significant improvement in your sales, although we should note the persistence of bars employing scantily-clad cocktail waitresses before we dismiss the concept out of hand. In the short term, however, a handful of businesses who would normally never draw a second glance are landing in the local paper and generating a buzz all along the Internet just by asking a few of their personnel to dress down for work...