“Ceai la Cotroceni”
- Posted by Sara on January 19th, 2007 filed in Food and beverage
Opportunity: Specialty restaurant / boutique outlet
After spending a wonderful evening in one of very few tea houses in Bucharest - “Ceai la Cotroceni” - I keep thinking about what assures the success of this business. It is located on a very quiet street, and would be impossible to identify if you didn’t know about it - no banner, no lights, nothing! There is no marketing effort made at all. Yet you must make reservations days in advance, as it is nearly always full.
By bringing a unique concept to Romanian youth, this tea-room tapped into the great potential of word-of-mouth marketing. People descend the winding small staircase into a decrepit-looking den, to encounter a remarkable experience - a menu with hundreds of varieties of tea, a very cozy yet exotic atmosphere. They leave not only wanting to come back and sample more varieties, but eager to tell everyone about their discovery.
Also, the sale of teapots, teacups, strainers, and other accessories, as well as all varieties of tea for home use, is at once a great source of revenue (I ended up purchasing accesories worth more than 4 times my consumption!), a constant reminder of the experience for the client, and a great marketing tool, as clients boast to friends about their new accesories and flavours of tea.
This strategy - introduce the customer to a world of variety previously unknown, create a highly remarkable experience that people want to share with others, sell take-home items that people will present to their friends - is applicable to many other products such as chocolate, bakery products, ice cream, hobby and craft items and many more. Which do you think would be most welcome by Romanians?
Written by Sara
January 19th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I like Seth Godin too….
January 19th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I love the place… the atmosphere, the music, and the wide variety of teas… However, I never bought tea or tea cups & stuff like that for home … Perhaps I should… for presents :), although for these I usually go to Carturesti…
January 19th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
The sucess of the business depends on the market. On a variate and segmented customer market like Bucharest this bussiness in a real success. I know a similar tea shop in Brasov, located in the center, from where you can buy tea and acessories for home but somehow they are not that successfull. Even if the place is small (they have 4 or five tables) you will always find (at least) a free table. The business model is the same but the customer market is different.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:34 pm
[...] I read Sara’s post from earlier this month on “Ceai la Cotroceni” and I thought that indeed she’s right, there are not that many tea houses in Bucharest. Let alone smoke free ones. For more on tea houses I found this interesting blog post “Ceai si povesti La Metoc“. [...]
March 8th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
[...] I read Sara’s post from earlier this month on “Ceai la Cotroceni” and I thought that indeed she’s right, there are not that many tea houses in Bucharest. Let alone smoke free ones. For more on tea houses I found this interesting blog post “Ceai si povesti La Metoc“. [...]