I was very excited to spot this café on the way to a meeting recently. What could be better – a café specialising in chocolate!
However, I couldn’t help feeling that the signage didn’t quite do it justice. It looked a bit more ‘small independent supermarket’ than a boutique chocolate café.
Looking through the plate glass windows, I spotted spindly chairs and plain tables, all looking a bit lost in a light and airy setting which was pleasant enough. It just didn’t look indulgent enough to be all about chocolate. It looked more like an ice-cream parlour and a little bit cold and clattery. Rather than rushing in, I drove past.
In contrast, on my way to my next meeting I passed another café in a small village which had cottage style windows, velvet sofas in various pastel colours, set around antique chests acting as coffee tables. That would have been more like it for a chocolatey environment.
Why does it matter?
Like any marketing, it’s all about perception. In order to get somebody to try something, it has to look and feel right. For me, a chocolate café is a fantastic idea, but it would need to be:
- Relaxing
- Indulgent & sumptuous
- Luxurious but not to the extent that you feel uncomfortable
- Velvets or natural textures
- A cosy and slightly quirky atmosphere
This café has great reviews on Trip Advisor and is evidently very popular – I wonder if it would be even more popular if it was more ‘chocolatey’.
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