Fast confession - Adam Marek about an idea from Singapore: I print selfies on coffee!

I assume that you are not originally a coffee shop owner.

No, I became a coffee shop owner by chance. But my partner Michala has a university education in the hospitality industry and has worked in gastronomy for a good thirteen years. I studied business academy and have only been working in the field of gastronomy for three years now, thanks to this idea.

So you complement each other?

Well, I tend to talk more to our customers, to hide any shortcomings I know I have, and the because I am honest people take me as I am. Michala is an expert. She is experienced, she enjoys and understands the work. So she uses her knowledge and skills to sell.

Where did you first have the idea that you could open a coffee shop like this?

When we returned home from holiday three years ago. We visited Singapore. That is where we saw this concept for the first time. I found out that this system was not available anywhere in Europe at the time, so from the business aspect I liked the idea that there was a gap on the market here. And that is why we started to consider it. But we made a little detour before we actually went for it together. We hired a stand from which we began offering this service and were able to judge people’s responses, to see whether it would be worth it. And the response was so amazing that we decided to risk it.

Prodej luxusního rodinného domu na Praze 6, Praha 6

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What was your first reaction when you saw this in Singapore?

We were gobsmacked. We were surprised that it was so simple, that it didn’t prolong the process of waiting for coffee, that it was really quick. And it is not artificial, the printed image does not change the flavour of the coffee at all. So we thought it would be great to bring it here.

What job did you have before?

Michala worked in gastronomy, she worked as a barman at various venues in Prague. I worked in the insurance industry.

So you both handed in your notice?

Actually we didn’t. I have kept my job. I left the entire process up to Michala and I help out when she needs to take a break.

So is your job a sort of guarantee, if this doesn’t work, then you will be able to support both of you?

That is one aspect, on the other hand if this enterprise cannot support us, then we cannot do it in the long-term. It would be impossible to manage. We are not that economically strong. We cannot simply do what we enjoy doing. I enjoy doing it too. But we have to deal with the economic aspect and that is the main reason why I kept my job.

Is it difficult to launch a business like this in Prague? A lot of people sell coffee here.....

The fact is that Prague 1 is very specific. There is a lot of so-called glitz, restaurants and coffee shops per person here. I would not start up anything that would not stand out. I cannot rely on the fact that the ambiance and surroundings here are wonderful. We had to have something that no one else has. So that people would want to visit us and seek us out. The feedback on our social network was fantastic. It increased the visiting rate, people quickly became aware of us. And that is positive.

On the other hand we are not naïve and we are aware that the trend of having a selfie on your coffee will fade away in the future. Sooner or later this service will be available on every corner and people will consider it a normal matter. No one knows whether this will happen in one year, two or five....I do have some sort of idea, a plan. We monitor innovations worldwide and the trends that are not here yet. We will be introducing something new in summer. It will naturally be connected to selfies, customers are still interested in this service. It will be connected to iced coffee. For now this service is only available in New York, nowhere else.

We have to try to remain ahead of the competition, because it will not be difficult to copy. We try to remain a couple of steps ahead.

Don’t you have some sort of patent, so that only you are able to offer this service?

We have a specific exclusivity agreement signed. I was a little naïve because I though that that would be enough, but it is quite simple to circumvent and I know this will happen at some time.....whether it is now or in six months. And this is why we are trying to forge our own path. We really are starting from zero. We put everything we have into it. And thank God for feedback from our customers who write to us to tell us how much they enjoy it, they enjoy our social network, they can see it isn’t forced and that there is no big company behind us. Just Michala and I, our sweat, enthusiasm and hard work.

How long has the coffee shop been opened for?

Since 15 April, but we have been attending events, weddings, birthdays, golf tournaments etc. since October last year. I have to say that wherever we are, even though there are other attractions or stands there, our stand always garners the most interest. This is something that people enjoy at any age. Our calendar is starting to fill up, which we are very pleased with. Orders are handled by our e-mail address selfiecoffee@seznam.cz..

So how well are the coffee shop’s accounts doing after such a brief period?

At this time we are not in the red, but we are not making a profit either. After talking to other coffee shop and restaurant owners I know that this is the normal process. It takes a little while for people to find their way here, before the promotion on Zomato and other portals people search starts working properly. The ABC Theatre certainly helps us here. Visitors stop here during the break, before or after a performance.

How do customers usually react?

Usually very similarly. All sorts of exclamations and they usually say it is a shame to drink it. They don’t even sweeten their coffee so they don’t have to put a spoon in to stir it, which would damage the picture. Then everyone takes a photograph with it. They make selfies with their selfie coffee. It is fun seeing the surprise and pleasure in their eyes.

But, as I say, if I handed in my notice at work and only did this then maybe the coffee shop would support us both, but this would not fulfil our goal. We don’t want to be stressed.

Luxusní byt na prodej s terasou a výhledem, Praha 1

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The coffee costs around eighty crowns. Don’t customers complain that it is too much?

They complain that it is too little. I’m not joking. They say we are mad to have this price policy, that we have undervalued ourselves. They usually convert the prices into Euro. There are a lot of foreigners here. A lot of Russians visit us because a Russian daily wrote about us and they are completely astounded. I am glad to have them.

But the price...wherever you go for a coffee, where they have a good brand and they care about making sure that the coffee tastes good, the price of a cappuccino will always be around sixty to sixty-five crowns. When you see a cappuccino somewhere on the corner for forty-five crowns, then you can be sure they won’t have good milk or coffee. You cannot expect to get super coffee for this price. Which is why I think that our price is adequate. Of course, if we raise it, then people will still buy our coffee, but they won’t come back. And the purpose of the coffee shop is not for people to visit us once. We want them to keep coming back. As a result the ambiance here is wonderful. When you look at our ratings on Facebook or on Google we have five stars everywhere. That is our image.

You still haven’t described how it actually works to me. How does my image get onto the coffee foam?

There are two methods. Either you can surprise people. A lot of couples do this, or if a family visits. One person from the group knows all about it of course, because he sends me the photographs in advance to my e-mail address. So I know in advance what sort of coffee the people like and what they will have. When they arrive they order and we make it and serve it according to their photographs. It’s impossible to get it wrong. That is the most popular option, but of course most people simply arrive and we take a photograph here. We have excellent lighting here.

I have a laptop here with me, which has the program for the 2D printer installed. I can see the photograph in this program and I adjust it so that is fits the cup of either a cappuccino or a latté. I make the coffee, whip the foam just like they normally do everywhere else, but then I put it under the printer, where the photograph is printed. It takes 4 to 8 seconds. It depends on how big the photo is, how many people there are on it, whether there is text to go with it. I recommend a maximum of three people to a photograph. When there are more, their heads are too small and you can’t see any details.

What else did you have printed in Singapore?

Ourselves. Us as a couple. But they do it in colour there. It is great at first glance, but it has nothing to do with coffee. When you stir it, it turns into a rainbow and you suddenly start thinking about the fact that it is artificial and that the flavour won’t be good. We knew that we wouldn’t be using the full-colour method when we were there, during negotiations with the manufacturer, who showed us how the process works. We wanted a pure coffee product, so we raised the bar a little higher.

How long have you been partners with Michala? I don’t mean business partners.

Three years.

When a couple launches a business together, they suddenly start spending twenty-four hours a day together. Does business and love go together?

We don’t argue, and I think that is important. I think that business and love do go together. As I said Michala is rigorous in many things. I am the complete opposite. I need a firm hand, which she has, and so it works. I respect her, she understands this business and she has experience in it. I am still learning. I was not at all interested in it before. Now I enjoy it, it’s our coffee shop, so I have submersed myself in it completely and she helps me. To get back to your question. We are happy together. I believe that things will keep going well for some time, but I hope that we will have employees in time, so that can manage things rather than just working our fingers to the bone. I believe, I secretly hope that things will keep going as well as they are.

Can business destroy your private lives....

I don’t think this will happen to us. I believe it won’t. We are aware of this risk, we work on avoiding this and we talk about it. When we are dealing with our private lives, the coffee shop is side-lined. It was something else when we were doing the renovations here. We were here up to seventeen hours a day and then we really didn’t talk about anything else. We discussed the coffee shop even when we were at home. But then we set the limits. We come home and we don’t talk about the coffee shop. We talk about us, our life and what we will do in the future.

Are you ever closed?

We are – on Saturday and Sunday until two in the afternoon. We keep the mornings for ourselves. When there is time we try to go out. To spend time by the water or have a good meal, a barbeque with friends, but I won’t lie. There is no longer any opportunity to say its lovely outside, thirty degrees, and we’ll go swimming all day. That is no longer possible. But we knew what we were getting into. This was no spur of the moment decision. We had it all thought out.

We have enjoyed a holiday and I believe that we will have employees one day and that we will be able to enjoy some more. If it gets really bad and we start to become exhausted, we have chosen people who we trust and who we can entrust the running of our coffee shop to for a short period. But at the moment we cannot allow anything to go wrong, for instance being unpleasant to a guest because you are having a bad day. That is not possible. We are just starting out and every rating is important. We are very humble and we are aware that the people come here to visit us.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope everything goes well and thanks for the interview.