Bluestone Lane's CEO Nick Stone reveals how his coffee chain achieved 350% growth post-pandemic by prioritizing exceptional, community-driven customer experiences inspired by Australian cafe culture. Learn why focusing on a core offering and controlled physical expansion is key, rather than diversifying into CPG too early. This episode provides a blueprint for building a thriving experiential retail brand.
Key takeaways
Prioritize customer experience over product diversification: Focus on perfecting your core service offering before expanding into new ventures like CPG.
Embrace an 'experiential retail' model: Create an environment where customers feel comfortable and want to spend time, fostering community and loyalty.
Leverage cultural distinctiveness: Infuse your brand with unique cultural elements (e.g., Australian customer service) to differentiate in a crowded market.
Strategically expand your physical footprint: Grow your number of locations to build broad brand presence, ensuring each new store maintains the core experiential quality.
Understand the challenges of dual business models: Recognize that running both physical retail and CPG simultaneously requires significant resources and can dilute focus.
Coffee shops may have seen a dip during the pandemic, but they’re back and booming.
That's especially true for the coffee chain Bluestone Lane. The company is ten years old, but has really kicked business into gear over the last few years. The coffee shop has over 60 locations and has seen its business grow 350% since the pandemic. Its founder and CEO Nick Stone joined the Modern Retail Podcast this week and spoke about Bluestone's strategy and future ambitions.
Part of the thesis behind Bluestone is customer service from Down Under. "If you have a coffee shop or a cafe in Australia that has the best coffee, but if they deliver it in a way that is cold and impersonal and obnoxious, Australians will boycott it," Stone said. (It shouldn't come as a shock that he is Australian.)
According to Stone, the best way for a business like his to thrive is to provide a good experience. "In hospitality, you really have no intellectual property." Instead, he has tried to build Bluestone as a place people want to spend time in.
That means doing one thing and doing it well. While Bluestone has attempted side-hustles like its own line of CPG products, Stone now believes that it's hard to run multiple types of businesses at once. "I think it's incredibly hard to do both at the same time unless you have enormous resources," he said.
For him, the focus is on opening more locations -- Bluestone is slated to have 70 locations by the end of this year -- while making sure customers feel comfortable and welcome in them.
"I think ultimately coffee shops should be about driving community," he said.
Frequently asked about this episode
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Prioritize customer experience over product diversification: Focus on perfecting your core service offering before expanding into new ventures like CPG.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Embrace an 'experiential retail' model: Create an environment where customers feel comfortable and want to spend time, fostering community and loyalty.
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Leverage cultural distinctiveness: Infuse your brand with unique cultural elements (e.g., Australian customer service) to differentiate in a crowded market.
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Strategically expand your physical footprint: Grow your number of locations to build broad brand presence, ensuring each new store maintains the core experiential quality.
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Understand the challenges of dual business models: Recognize that running both physical retail and CPG simultaneously requires significant resources and can dilute focus.
