Sydney is well known for it’s stunning beaches: there’s the iconic Bondi, popular Manly Beach and many lesser known beaches close to the city. Maroubra Beach is lesser known and is a little south of Bondi and could be my new favourite.
I’ve never thought of myself as the Boot Camp type. You know, those people out there in the park jumping about being yelled at by some “bloke” – it’s always a “Bloke”
Some how I find myself at an early morning outdoor “Foundation Training” at Maroubra Beach ; it’s not quite Boot Camp and there is certainly no yelling. Johnny is a real gentleman.
As soon as the training is over I’m looking for coffee. Where to go? This is not my local. Where’s good?
Let the fun begin!
We tried the first café we liked the look of, nestled in the “main street” aptly names Chalk. The people seemed friendly enough, coffee was good, multiple copies of daily newspapers, they have absolutely beautiful chalk drawings on their wall and lots of really interesting “non-rules”:
- No extra for Soy or Almond milk
- No extra for Gluten Free
- No Minimum EFTPOS
- Free BabyChinos
- As I went to pay for our coffees I heard the cashier ask another customer “do you want to split that? Or are you paying together?”
After breakfast we went for a walk and found another café on top of the hill overlooking the ocean. It was busy. It has a great outlook.
And a LOT of Rules
- No split bills
- No deviations from the menu
- 50cents for soy milk
- 50 cents for extra shot (of coffee)
- $1 for gluten free (bread) and
And My Favourite:
- $2 for BabyChinos with marshmallow …. Yay! For the marshmallow!
This had me thinking about what do we do to make it easy for our customers to do business with us?
And what will customers tolerate?
These two café do not really compete; one is in the main street the other on the cliff top. One feels like you are at home on the couch or at the kitchen table, the other has the ocean view.
The customers who want to sit in the sun and look at the ocean are immune to the rules and additional charges.
In the “main street” there are 4 or 5 other cafes so the competition is strong and Chalk needs to differentiate.
Having now tried both, I’m not sure which I prefer. They are so much the same. I like the idea of the non-rules Chalk and I enjoy bing able to sit in the sun even with all the rules, and luc