• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, July 14, 2010

While Starbucks pulled the most votes when consumers were asked to name their favorite coffee house or snack chain, Krispy Creme won by a wide margin when the results were indexed to factor in chains' comparative number of locations, according to a restaurant outlook study from Market Force Information. 

Market Force, a customer intelligence/experience management solutions provider, conducted the survey in May and June among its network of 300,000-plus independent mystery shoppers and merchandisers. The 4,600 respondents ranged in age from 18 to 72, and 76% were women. Respondents reflected a broad spectrum of income levels, with 60% reporting incomes of more than $50,000 per year. Eighty percent work full or part time, and half reported having children at home.

On the combined "favorite coffee house/snack" restaurant question, the non-indexed voting numbers showed Starbucks far ahead -- cited by 36% -- followed by Dunkin' Donuts (28%), Krispy Kreme (16%), Tim Hortons (7%), Caribou Coffee (5%), Seattle's Best (3%), McCafé (2%), Peet's (2%), and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (2%).

However, when number of locations was factored in, Krispy far outranked the competition with 35%, followed by Peet's (5%), Caribou (4%), Coffee Bean (3%), Seattle's Best and Dunkin' (each with 2%) and Hortons, Starbucks and McCafé ( each with 1%).

Respondents were not separately asked to pick favorites among coffee houses only, or snack chains only.

Krispy Kreme outscored competing coffee/snack chains on eight of 10 attributes (including food quality, service speed and friendliness, cleanliness, atmosphere, "accommodating," overall value, healthy choices and "green/sustainable") -- however, taste of food/coffee proved by far the biggest differentiator. Krispy's taste ranking indexed at over 1,200, while all competitors' taste rankings clustered at 200 or below.

The survey also showed substantial room for growth within the coffee house/snacks segment, which showed lower usage frequency and new visitor/trial rates than other restaurant types. Most respondents reported visiting a coffee shop only about once per week, 70% reported visiting coffee or snack restaurants fewer than five times per month, and just 4% said that they had tried a new coffee or snack place within the past 30 days.

Interestingly, given the ubiquity/familiarity of the Starbucks brand, Starbucks came out on top in terms of attracting visits from new customers. Of the 4% of consumers who said they'd made a first-time visit to a national or regional coffee or snack restaurant in the past 30 days, 38% said they'd tried more than one, with 16% naming Starbucks among these.

While Starbucks's greatly increased advertising/marketing efforts in recent months presumably have contributed to attracting first-time customers, the study found that with coffee/snack chains, traditional advertising drove only about 1% to 4% of trials (depending on the medium), and promotions drove about 11% (trends about on par with those for QSRs and casual dining restaurants).

Instead, the biggest trial inducer (31%) was whether consumers drive by a store owned by a particular chain. In contrast to QSRs and casual dining restaurants, for coffee/snack chains, this drive-by factor was even more important than friends' recommendations (24%).

The report notes that the new-trials rate for coffee/snack chains as a whole is much lower than for QSRs and casual dining restaurants (one in three said they'd tried a new QSR in the past month, for instance).

And while the most commonly cited reason for visiting coffee/snack chains was being pressed for time (42.3%), coffee/snack restaurants also showed the largest percentage (24.2%) citing "wanting alone time" as a reason for visits.

"We tend to think of coffee shops as a place to go and hold business meetings and get things done, when in fact, our research shows that people see them as a place to get away, de-stress and recalibrate," Market Force CMO Janet Eden-Harris tells Marketing Daily. "Ambience plays a huge factor in luring consumers in the door. Restaurants in this category can clearly benefit by marketing around factors such as stress relief, time out and indulgence."

Other common reasons for visits to these restaurants included spending time with family/friends (18%), wanting "a good meal that tastes great" (8.5%), "when I'm too tired to cook" (6.5%), special occasions (4.9%) and "just need to get the kids fed" (1.9%).

About two-thirds of consumers reported having a "great" experience at a new coffeehouse or snack restaurant. The remaining one-third rated their experiences as either "OK" or "bad." "The opportunity to delight new customers clearly exists in this category, and can make the difference between true growth for a brand and just maintaining the status quo," notes Eden-Harris.