By: Katherine Brigandi, Patricia Cannizzaro, Michael Dibenedetto, Tanvir Jahan, John Troino, Susan Wu
1. What did you do?
Our group compared the Starbucks on West 67th Street and Broadway and The Sensuous Bean located at 66 West 70th Street. We videotaped both places and compared the coffee, food products, prices, décor, and the atmosphere of each café. Also, each member of our group sampled the product in each location.
2. Why did you choose it?
We choose this topic because each member of our group really enjoys coffee. We spend many dollars a year buying coffee at Starbucks. Starbucks has really good coffee but we wanted to explore alternatives. We were looking to find a place that sells coffee with a compatible taste at more reasonable prices. We also wanted to see if it offers the same scenery and atmosphere.
3.What did you learn?
We learned that Starbucks is a well-known chain coffee shop all over the country. Each Starbucks has a beautiful exterior and interior, fully equipped with flat screen televisions, comfortable couches, wireless Internet connection, and different blends and tasty treats. However, Starbucks is quite expensive. For example, a caramel frappachino costs $5.17, a hot chocolate costs $3.25, and iced mocha costs $3.87. We found that The Sensuous Bean has coffee that is just as good as Starbucks. They have six flavors of coffee with which they can make about thirty different combination specialties. They also have chocolate milk and hot chocolate. These drinks, plus snacks, chocolates and biscuits all are sold at more reasonable prices. Two iced coffees at The Sensuous Bean cost only $6. However, the Sensuous Bean has no wireless Internet connection and no seating. Overall, we learned that both Starbucks and The Sensuous Bean have pros and cons.
