Don't Close Bewleys
November 06, 2004
I had a meeting yesterday that needed to take place near Grafton Street. Prior to last Friday when Campbell Catering announced they would be closing the Bewleys Cafes, I would have probably chosen to meet in any number of small, new funky little cafes in that area. It simply would not have occurred to me to meet in Bewleys.
Why not?
Well I just didn't associate it with good coffee. I thought of self service trays and pots of tea for 1. Sticky buns but "they're not the same as they used to be"...
I suggested meeting my contact there yesterday. Like most Dubliners, we're all feeling a bit nostalgic that Bewleys is closing down. Everyone has their Bewleys memory.
For me, it's the morning after the Trinity Ball in 1st year, lots of bedraggled looking students perched over full Irish breakfasts (if you're a boy) or one of the lone pots of tea previously mentioned (if you've got such a bad hangover coming on that you can't stomach any food).
Bewleys of Westmoreland Street was also a place where I chose to meet various dates. Again, during the college years. When you'd need to go somewhere where you wouldn't bump into loads of people you know, but which was suitably private in case things turned out positive.
In later years, when I returned to the new economic miracle that was Dublin from London, this time armed with an early edition mobile phone, a City attired boss, and a briefcase (yes, I carried one!), it was to Bewleys that I took my boss to get a taste of Dublin.
The problem in recent years has not been that Bewleys has locked itself into Dubliner's memories. No, the problem has been that it is most certainly not positioned in the Now. When you're running a business that depends on footfall, that's not sustainable.
I put it down to a badly defined product offering. I've heard tales of Bewleys serving Asian vegetables and noodles. My own memories of sausage and chips. Plus older ones of tea and sticky buns. Campbell Catering, to be fair to them, have tried a number of different ways of marketing the cafes. But the mistake they made is that they've left residue of each marketing effort hanging around and diluting the current offering.
Bewleys Cafes have simply not been properly advertised. Yes, I think their agency should be rounded up and shot. I am not aware of a single ad for Bewleys since returning to Dublin in 2001. Sure if something had registered, I would have wandered in out of nostalgia's sake. Then, hopefully the products and service would keep me there, and lo - a frequent customer I would become.
Did I mention too that property on Grafton Street is the 5th most expensive shopping street in Europe? That must be quite attractive to Campbell's management too. "Ah well lads, we haven't been able to market them properly. Let's just sell up and make a killing." And it's back to hotels and bags of coffee for Campbells.
If they sell the Bewleys Cafes I don't think they should be allowed to keep the brand. The cafes and the brand are synonymous in my mind.
Negative remarks aside, yesterday was a perfectly lovely experience in Bewleys. We were shown to a table for 2. Two steaming apple and cinnamon scones, a latte, and a hot chocolate were delicious. The atmosphere was olde world, but not dated. And there was a long queue to be seated when we were leaving!
Now, does this mean that the little scare we all got last week has doubled or even trebled the traffic through Bewleys? Does this mean that perhaps management will rethink their exit strategy and give the old institutions another chance?
If so, my advice is to fire the marketing team, round up the advertising agency and be done with them. Poach some executives from successful and growing coffee outfits like O'Briens, Insomnia, or dare I say it: even Starbucks.
Don't close Bewleys. We've learned the lesson. We ignored it and we shouldn't have. Now let us keep it.
Bewleys is for life, not just for pre-Christmas - I hope!