Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Can Food Franchises Become APIs?
Starbucks has taken some flack for their recent launch of several unbranded cafes designed to have a more local, community feel. Criticism has ranged from angry--calling the stores "corporate attempts to imitate and co-opt local-"--to the mildly confused--"is taking away your biggest asset (your brand name) and pretending to be something you’re not (an indie coffee shop) a good business plan?"
Over at SnarkMarket, one of their bloggers, Robin, offers up a counter-argument about the potential in Starbucks giving up at least some of their brand identity. Or, as Robin puts it:
What if Starbucks was offering up a Starbucks API—a set of hooks into a vast, efficient coffee shop support system with incredible economies of scale? You, the local coffee shop owner, simply plug in, and wham, your costs drop by thirty percent because you’re leveraging Starbucks’ insanely optimized supply chain. You can use as much or as little as you want.
To a certain extent, the concept sounds a bit like buzzword overkill, and that the idea of a Starbucks API isn't much different from arguing that Starbucks should expand their wholesale business. But I think that sort of dismissal misses the point.
Writing at Fast Company, Kit Eaton gets at some of the potential behind the idea:
Unlike a stealth Starbucks store, intended to deceive, this would result in what one NoahBrier.com commenter noted would be more like a "Local Hippies Coffee & Cookies shop - powered by Starbucks."
In a world where globalization has become a four letter word, this variation on a franchise seems like a sensible idea.
As part of our research for the Global Food Outlook, I've been thinking about how demands for more local, "authentic" food will disrupt global food systems. Although the idea of a franchise API seems to do more to address the demand for local character rather than local food, I think this sort of openness highlights one potential way that food retailers might try to deliver all of the benefits of global supply chains--cheap, quality and dependable products--to consumers who want the advantages of feeling like they're heading to the local, neighborhood coffee shop.