Gloria Jean’s Coffees wants to make great coffee accessible to all Australians, and is doing so through its Good Cup philosophy.
When Gloria Jean’s first arrived in Australia in the mid-90s, it brought with it robust coffees and darker roasts, and the goal of making good coffee accessible to all Australians.
After more than 20 years of operation, Gloria Jean’s has seen Australians’ coffee preferences change and grow. To match the country’s evolving standards, the brand intends to revitalise its quality coffee, food, and service through its new Good Cup philosophy.
“Good Cup is the biggest and most exciting development for the brand since our launch in 1996,” Gloria Jean’s Head of Learning and Development and Beverage Innovation Melita Ferraro says.
“It is more than just a philosophy – it is an eco-system made up of 12 components that ensures we deliver award-winning coffee that makes our customers’ day.”
These components include key developments such as roasts, menus, uniforms, Acme crockery, fashion-inspired takeaway cups, and its Day Maker service.
“It’s been 23 years since Gloria Jean’s launched its first coffee house, and Australians’ palates have changed in that time, particularly in the last decade,” Melita says.
Gloria Jean’s new house blend consists of the same beans as its original blend, but is now produced with a lighter roast to bring out different flavours in the cup. The result is a blend that is less intense than the original but still full of flavour.
“We wanted to bring a smoother house blend to the menu to accommodate more peoples’ taste buds, but we know it’s not just the coffee that makes up a coffee experience. [So,] we embarked on introducing an entire eco-system that will ensure we deliver a Good Cup experience each and every time,” Melita says.
Further broadening Gloria Jean’s coffee offerings is a new Nicaraguan single origin to cater to the six per cent of the brand’s customers who drink their coffee black.
“[The] new Nicaragua single origin offers a complex yet smooth and balanced cup of coffee,” Melita says. “We’re also introducing Moccamasters into all of our coffee houses to brew the new single origin filter whole bean range.”
This Nicaraguan single origin is also used as the base for Gloria Jean’s new cold brew soft serve. The Nicaraguan coffee is brewed for 12 hours using the Toddy Cold Brew method before blending with Gloria Jean’s signature vanilla soft serve.
“Cold brew has always been a great part of our menu and a popular item, used as base for iced coffee. We saw an opportunity to bring to life something that has never been done on our menu before,” Melita says. “The result is a creamy soft serve with a smooth balance of coffee and sweetness. We’ve even discovered that non-coffee lovers really enjoyed the flavour of it.”
To complement its reinvigorated coffee offerings, Gloria Jean’s has crafted a new food menu with a streamlined focus that reduces the number of ingredients used but still provides a quality product.
“The food menu has shifted the pattern of the stores to more of a dine-in setting where customers are staying for a second or even third cup of coffee,” Melita says.
The focal point of Good Cup’s food menu is a new range of gourmet toasties that Gloria Jean’s began rolling out to its stores in February 2019. The coffee shops will also introduce a café-style menu with an all-day breakfast.
“Our toasties have always been a good seller, and a customer favourite, so it made sense for that to lead the charge,” Melita says. “The inclusion of our gourmet toasties was the starting point for Gloria Jean’s stores to offer a canteen-style café menu with an all-day breakfast.”
From the kitchen to the shop floor, customers will also notice a redesigned retro logo and new staff uniforms that pay tribute to the brand’s heritage, while Acme crockery will help keep coffee warmer for longer.
Tying together the various elements of the Good Cup philosophy is Gloria Jean’s Day Maker customer service experience.
“Day Maker service is the overarching program that brings Good Cup to life,” Melita says. “It only takes little things to really make someone’s day. Our staff go above and beyond to make sure our customers have a positive experience at our stores.”
To assist its franchise partners with the new Good Cup rollout, Gloria Jean’s developed an extensive training program to ensure each of its 250 individual franchise stores was fully supported and set up for success.
Field team members then provided two full days of in-store support upon rollout, focusing largely on the company’s new coffee, cups, tools, and standards.
“This allowed us to work alongside our franchise partners and their teams to ensure they felt confident and comfortable, and to help answer any questions along the way,” Melita says.
The first store to trial Gloria Jean’s refreshed look and feel was in Chipping Norton, New South Wales.
“Good Cup has changed the Chipping Norton store’s business pattern radically. People are staying for longer and ordering additional drinks. Sunday went from its quietest day of the week to its second busiest,” Melitta says.
She adds that the Good Cup philosophy has been embraced by a broad demographic, contributing to the Gloria Jean’s ethos of being an accessible brand.
“Good Cup appeals to the everyday Australian adult. From tradies and admin officers to nurses, teachers, and stay-at-home parents, we serve more than 20 million customers every year across our 250 stores,” Melita says. “We want good quality coffee to be accessible to everyone. This was our philosophy when we started 23 years ago, and it’s the same philosophy we believe in today.”
This article appears in he June edition of BeanScene Magazine. Subscribe HERE.
For more information, visit www.gloriajeanscoffees.com
