CoffeeGroundz is a popular, albeit modest, Houston, TX based independent coffee shop that sells a variety of locally roasted coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches, and alcoholic beverages. There are a couple of booths, 16 tables and another ten on the patio. If you come to CoffeeGroundz, J.R. Cohen, its general manager, strives to make sure “you feel at home.”
When and how did you get started?
JR. Cohen started using Twitter in October 2008 at the prompting of a CoffeeGroundz angel investor. At the time, J.R. admits, "I had no clue what I should be doing and didn't even know what DM stood for!" It didn’t take long, however, for J.R. to realize how critical Twitter could be to his business.
J.R. went out of his way to interact with Houston customers following him on Twitter. Growth in followers was slow and organic, but the connections with followers were strong. He would ask his followers from Houston to "come into the store and ask for J.R." J.R. then seized the opportunity to meet with each and every patron who asked for him by name, strengthening his bond with his followers. To J.R. and his customers "this is what social media is meant to be."
Most interesting Twitter experience?
Halloween morning 2008, one of CoffeeGroundz's regular customers, Sean Stoner (@maslowbeer), requested to place a 'to-go' order for a breakfast wrap. It is argued that Sean's request for an order 'to-go' was the first of its kind on Twitter. And because J.R. is an avid user of the Twitter service, was able to reply quickly to Sean’s requests. With this reply, J.R. spawned a whole new way to place and receive an order online.
JR seized on the opportunity to grant Sean's request and started taking to-go orders via direct message from all of his Twitter followers. J.R., to this day, continues to receive 'to-go' orders via DM. Customers can also reserve a table/booth, order from the patio, or reserve the place for events through direct message.
It just makes sense. If a customer is sitting on the patio in front of the store with his dog and doesn't want to leave it there unattended while he order my food inside, he can DM me, get whatever he want and I'll even bring my customers dog a bowl of water!" A customer of his says “everyone’s pretty impressed with his management of the to-go DM system. The man is so efficient.”
@coffeegroundz I want to pre order a bkfast wrap so i can zip thru to get back for gas man. c'est possible?
