Busting Up A Starbucks

When mother-daughter team Joyce Coady and Samantha Stephens started their small business a year ago, they took what many said was a huge gamble.

The pair, fresh out of aesthetician school, decided to pass on their plans to start a spa and instead, opened the doors to a coffee shop, even though their small New England seaport town was already chock-full of coffee spots, including the behemoth Starbucks. Like Starbucks, their Plum Island Coffee Roasters is a high-quality operation catering to coffee connoisseurs. Yet unlike the coffee giant, they have a small-town feel and raised the ante by buying and roasting their own select beans.

Risky business, some might say. But Coady and Stephens contend the Starbucks connection is actually good for business and one of the very reasons they, with the help of another family member already in the coffee business, decided the town could carry another venue for dark roast Sumatra blends or mocha lattes. “If there wasn’t a Starbucks here, we wouldn’t have done it, says Coady. “Wherever there’s a Starbucks location, there is a select clientele for specialty coffee.

Being small and local can also give them an edge. “We know everyone who comes in, and if we don’t, we know them when they leave—you don’t find that in Starbucks, Coady explains. “We take the time to know your name, what you do, what your kids do.We want it to be personal.

Keeping it personal, especially in an artsy community like Newburyport, means making the coffee shop inviting enough to encourage the work-at-home population and small local businesses to make Plum Island Coffee part of their daily routine. Along with buying top-of-the-line kitchen equipment, Coady and Stephens also invested in cozy touches like a gas fireplace and comfortable seating with views of the Merrimac River. Also, the pair didn’t overlook the high-tech appeal of Starbucks. Plum Island Coffee offers customers free wireless access—a cost the owners say is minimal compared to the possible returns.

Location, location, location

As with any small business, Plum Island Coffee has had to contend with its share of hurdles. Town zoning for its waterfront location, which is off the beaten path near the whale boat docks and marinas, didn’t allow for food preparation. But Coady and Stephens have gotten around that limitation by partnering with local bakers and sandwich shops to offer a small but select menu that is fully prepared for them and delivered on a daily basis. This “outsourced arrangement actually works well for the coffee shop since they don’t have to worry about hiring someone to make the food or dealing with keeping inventory and cleaning up. “We didn’t want to go crazy and spread ourselves too thin, Stephens says. “We’re good at coffee—that’s what we do.We’re not a sandwich shop.

Plum Island Coffee’s location— on the working waterfront, away from the tourist-traveled boardwalk— has also caused some problems related to generating foot traffic. Tourists don’t necessarily happen upon the coffee shop when they’re window-shopping in downtown Newburyport, and the locals sometimes even have a hard time finding the spot. “Our location is our best asset and our worst asset, Stephens says. “Yeah, we’re on the water and we have great outside seating, but no one knows we’re down here.

Stephens and Coady are hoping happy customers will spread the word, and they’re taking matters into their own hands with grassroots marketing tactics like promotions and in-store events like coffee tastings.

Word must be getting out about the hip, new coffeehouse in town. When Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, and Vince Vaughn were location scouting in Newburyport last summer, they passed up Starbucks for a Plum Island Coffee cup of Joe. BA

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