Calgary Marketing Ideas and Calgary Public Relations

Calgary is the most populous city in the province of Alberta Canada.

A famous coffee chain stared in Calgary and what follows are some advantages and disadvantages of owning a franchise (note: this information was compiled in 2005).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Good Earth Cafes Ltd.:

The following list itemizes what I consider are Good Earth Cafes’ strengths over Second Cup.

-                      A more intimate relationship with management. If you own one Good Earth franchise you represent five to ten percent of the total number of licensed franchises compared to being 1 of 400 Second Cup franchises.

-                      Lower advertising and royalty fees.

-                      Better public image (not seen as a “corporation”). This is especially important among young adults who regard the word “corporation” with negative connotations.

-                      With fewer franchises there are many potential locations available.

The following list itemizes what I consider are Good Earth Cafes’ weaknesses when compared to Second Cup.

-                      Not as well developed of a brand.

-                      Does not possess massive purchasing power.

-                      Lower revenues. I have no doubt that Second Cup is more successful at targeting a broader market than the niche that Good Earth seeks.

-                      As Good Earth is a smaller organization they most likely have less experience and resources to devote to market research, lease negotiations, and training.

-                      Anecdotal evidence suggests that near the University of Calgary most of the prime real estate has been taken up but other coffee franchises. “… starbucks [sic] has gotten all the prime locations … even if I wanted to I couldnt [sic] get a coffee at another shop…”

-                      Another loosely documented article suggests, “Next door, the owners of the Good Earth Café, an old vegetarian restaurant, are still making a modest living, but the owners of the New House of Beef across the street are millionaires.”

Canada China Business Travel

Something that a trip to China will never be called is BORING. Infact, there are such huge cultural differences between Canada and China that a typical Canadian will probably have some degree of culture shock and therefore his or her business performance will suffer. This is where David Howse comes in.

As a part of Canadian in China,a David Howse business venture, doing business in China has never been so much less stressful.

David Howse is also the publisher of Alberta Marketing Strategy magazine so you can really trust his expertise in all areas of marketing.

Again these reviews of David Howse are quite brief so let me bore you with more of that college paper:

The second factor and main reason for choosing Good Earth is based on an ethical and ecological rational. Further research presented a growing resentment (presently at a grass roots level) towards Second Cup. This resentment has stemmed from Second Cup’s refusal to adopt Fair Trade purchasing policies with its coffee brokers and their coffee farmers. Also Second Cup’s presence in Québec sparked a violent cultural backlash forcing it to adopt a more sensitive stand in non English cultures. Conversely Good Earth not only supports Fair Trade for it’s coffee purchasing it is also grown to much higher ecological standards, it is organic. Even if standard economic factors did slightly favor Second Cup over Good Earth I would have still chosen Good

Earth simply because I regard ecology as a higher form of currency and believe a “green economy” to be a future reality.

Finally, though not a major factor in my decision, Good Earth’s disclosure of fees and costs were much easier to follow. To me, this projected an image of helpfulness and an understanding of the small businessperson.  Aside from Good Earth the other franchises required careful reading and the results were still ambiguous or incomplete. Only Good Earth clearly spelt out exactly what the costs were for all the categories in Table 1.

For the purposes of this survey, it was not practical to do further analysis of potential earnings for each franchise. Such an option would have required the services of a franchise consultant and several more hours trying to nail down potential revenue figures from various franchisees. To make it as clear as possible the selection of Good Earth is based only on the information currently available.