00:00Blank Street Coffee captured the hearts of Gen Z by offering coffee and trendy
00:04matcha drinks through its speedy no-frill stores the size of kiosks. But as
00:09revenue slowed for the coffee chain in the past year, it's now doing a complete
00:12strategy shift. Add more seating and opt for bigger stores to make customers
00:16stick around longer. The chain wants to curate its shop so that it becomes more
00:19of a hangout spot than a quick grab-and-go. A strategy that Starbucks once
00:23championed and is now trying to recapture, Blank Street is also trying to make the
00:27experience more social media friendly by decorating its doors with chandeliers
00:31and giant mirrors to enhance the experience for customers. What started
00:34out as coffee carts during the pandemic has over 90 locations throughout New
00:38York, Washington DC, Boston and the UK and they have plans to expand to even more
00:43hot cities in the US and across Europe. The coffee chain is now worth over 500
00:47million dollars and is backed by big-name investors like Jeff Rader, the co-founder
00:51of Warby Parker. But the real question is will Blank Street succeed in its bigger
00:56more ambitious format? Fast service competitors like Seven Brew and Dutch
01:00Brews are seeing wild transaction growth. Plus more than one half of people who
01:04bought coffee out of home in the past week did so through a drive-through, which
01:07is at an all-time high, according to the National Coffee Association. It doesn't
01:12help that the entire premise of the company was to offer fast and efficient
01:15coffee built on the back of the automatic espresso machine. It's also
01:19championed prices a dollar below Starbucks, but as it's opting to go big or go
01:23home, the company has also raised prices to keep up with ingredient costs.
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