Double Coffee Estonia Declared Bankruptcy
Once upon a time, Double Coffee in Estonia pst. used to be a “must-go” place for the night lover who lived outside the centre of Tallinn.
No more "Baltic Starbucks" for Estonia
Bad coffee and 24/7 angry waitresses were the traditional end of the evening for all those ones who, between a latte and a cappuccino, wanted a warm and quiet spot where to rest while waiting for the first morning bus.
Now, few year after the aggressive expansion of the chain, the Estonian division of Double Coffee had to declare bankruptcy and wave goodbye to all those clients who rarely left the doors of any of the cafés fully satisfied.
Double Coffee moved rapidly from being considered the “Starbucks of the Baltics” to a financial disaster with a negative balance of over 3.000.000 Estonian Kroons last year.
After its probably too rapid expansion, Double Coffee management seemed not to be able to find the recipe for the assessment of the company, leading it to the declaration of bankruptcy made official on November 17th.
I lived in Estonia for 8 years and sampled the local 'Service' in many if not all of the Tallinn 'Places to be seen in'. I encountered the same problem wherever I went, poor service and in most establishments none at all. The thing I found really uncomftable about was the accepted procedure of queuing to order and even worse, paying before you had the chance to show your disatisfaction with either service, or quality of the food and drink, possibly this was the sole reason for doing it back to front.
I love this country, in fact I plan on returning there in the near future to open my own place there. The first thing I shall teach my staff are that 'Tips' are earned and not a certainty, and if the service does not improve, then waiters and waitresses (If they make queuing obsolete) will carry on earning what they deserve.
Dear MIke, your place would be warmly welcome then.
I remember myself falling in love with Molly Malones exactly cause they allowed me to pay *after* my drinks and they always cared about my staying there. Something I did not use to care much about before coming here.
Unfortunately, and I witnessed it from some friends-entrepreneurs, even explaining them about service and tips is sometimes not enough. Some people kept the "What do you want?" attitude also when it meant losing money..
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