An interview with J.R. Cohen, the general manager of Coffee Groundz. It is a bit technician, but I love Twitter & food, so here it is.

Groundz Zero of the Technical Age

The Coffee Groundz is the premiere venue in Houston for tech geeks and cool kids to grab the best roasted cup of Joe in Houston. Their exotic selection of coffees – combined with charismatic atmosphere, gelato and paninis – sets the perfect tone. They specialize in locally produced gourmet coffees, teas, pastries and select wine offerings at competitive prices. Whether it’s a quick caffeine fix to get you going in the morning, a quiet spot to study in the afternoon, or an evening skyline view on the patio this is the place to be in Houston.

The Coffee Groundz is a busy establishment. There are a couple of comfy booths around the edges of the establishment and 16 laptop friendly tables. There’s room for another 10 tables out on the patio. They are currently in the process of enlarging their space. They have an abundance of electrical outlets and free WiFi to lure the digital generation into the place. They serve about 400 people on an average day.

I have never been to The Coffee Groundz nor have I ever met J.R. Cohen, General Manager. Rather, I’m privy to this information because I’m following him online on Twitter, the increasingly popular – and utterly addictive – social networking and micro blogging site that encourages users to “tweet,” or post messages about what they’re doing, in 140 characters or less. Once you sign up, you can follow anyone who doesn’t block their posts (most don’t). Although Twitter has been around since 2007, recent weeks have seen a massive surge in membership, particularly among the food-obsessed and the celebrities.

I actively started using Twitter in January 2009 and immediately started looking for people that were tweeting about food. It was not too long until I stumbled on to Cohen (www.twitter.com/coffeegroundz). I tweeted about an Italian restaurant in S. California & it caught his eye. I soon found out that he was taking take-out orders from his customers via Twitter. The following paragraph tells the story:

On October 31st, 2008 Sean Stoner (@maslowbeer) was hungry. As a regular customer at The Coffee Groundz he sent a tweet to Cohen (@coffeegroundz).  Cohen quickly replied and Sean went through the drive-thru at The Coffee Groundz to pick up his burrito. This simple exchange got a lot of coverage on Twitter and was hailed as potentially the first time that Twitter had ever been used to place a to-go order. Seeing an opportunity, Cohen started taking to-go orders via direct message from any of his Twitter Clientele. This in turn so intrigued me, that I sent off a tweet to Cohen and ask if I could interview him about this Twitter-inspired drive through window.

Here is JR Cohen, General Manager, who is also the guy you speak with when you go to The Coffee Groundz:

Q: What kind of business do you have?
A: We have a Café in Midtown Houston.

Q: When did you start your business?
A: I started with the company 2 years ago. The company started in Sugar Land, TX, first around 4yrs ago, and then we opened the Midtown location in July of 2007. We closed the Sugar Land location down in April of 2008.

Q: How did you decide what kind of business to start?
A: The Company was formed by two best friends: Jonathan Zadok and Preetish Nijhawan.  They wanted to open a coffee shop that had a European feel, but catered to the American market. It was very important to the owners to have a very comfortable atmosphere that would cater to everyone. We offer just about everything and if a customer suggests that we should carry something else, 99.5% of the time, we do it. People who are working for themselves or don’t have an office, have found solace with our location. We provide many electrical outlets inside and on the patio. It really makes them happy because they don’t have to leave to recharge.  

Q: Did you need to have a certain mindset to achieve success?
A: Working “WITH” the owners and our staff, personally drives me every day. Not being a corporation, has allowed us to do what we want and run our business the way most companies can’t accomplish without going through a whole chain of command. We are all hands on when it comes to every aspect of our business. We are willing to try anything out there that might help us financially or secure our future. Perfect example is Social Media. We are believers and we inspire many others, while turning them into believers. It’s the creativity that we put into it, that has saved us from going out of business. The exposures from these outlets have been amazing.

Q: When did you start the Twitter account?
A: We started using Twitter in Sept 2008. It wasn’t until November that we really promoted it. 

Q: What was your initial purpose in starting the account?  Is your purpose to inform?  Entertain?
A: One of the Owners here, Preetish Nijhawan, his cousin lives out in San Francisco and told Preetish that The Coffee Groundz should start using Twitter. I had no idea what he was talking about. He said don’t worry I’ll be your first follower. I laughed and said ‘well then’ that makes it ok. So I started exploring on Twitter and posted some signs in the store letting our customers know that we were on Twitter. How I use Twitter, is in whatever way I can think of. Some examples are information, feedback, setting up events, to-go orders, raising money/awareness to charities, and helping out our local communities. 

Q: Is it just you that runs the Twitter account or is it a couple of people?
A: LOL!!! I get this question a lot.  I, J.R., am the only one that tweets from the account.

Q: How does Twitter help you build a relationship with your clientele?
A: The use of Twitter is endless. It’s up to the individual to create and get what they want out of it. Our online community is just as tangible as our customers coming in the door. Many forget how important the online community is. If customers DM their order to go, they can give us feedback or make requests as well.

Q: If I told you that I didn’t think there was any ROI in Twitter, what would you say to turn a non believer into a believer?
A:  Not to sound arrogant, but Follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/coffeegroundz).

Q: How does Coffee Groundz measure the ROI for its Twitter efforts?
A: I measure it when I meet someone from online, at The Coffee Groundz, and engage in a conversation. What people need to remember is that its “Social Media”, converting from online to person. We are constantly striving to become the “Cheers” of the modern technical age.

J.R. Cohen
The Coffee Groundz
www.thecoffeegroundz.com
Address: 2503 Bagby, Houston, TX. 77006
Phone: 713-874-0082
Email:  jonathan@thecoffeegroundz.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/CoffeeGroundz
Facebook we are under Groups and Fan page – The Coffee Groundz
To learn more about JR’s thoughts about using Twitter for you business, check out: http://cli.gs/8Mhb3L
Photo’s were taken by Katharine Shilcutt aka @She_Eats on Twitter &  Elain Mesker