Sunday, September 21, 2008

Coffee Shop Secret Survey Part 1

While working for a cafe in a little bookstore I shall not name for legal purposes I secretly conducted a survey which to my ability is as accurate as possible without offending people. The Data is as follows:

Body mass index (BMI) is how i measured most of these people. Since I did it secretly I had to do it by eye. It was very obvious which people were overweight obese or not. I probably cut people a lot more slack than they deserved, but with that said here is the BMI percentages I used and how i roughly judged by eye which category they fell under.

# A BMI of 18.5–24.9 is normal weight (meat on their bones or skinny)
# A BMI of 25.0–29.9 is overweight (protruding stomach and thick legs/arms/neck)
# A BMI of 30.0–34.9 is class I obesity (overlapping fat and as well as the overweight symptoms)

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this guy is way too hardcore to drink coffee! haha

Approx 1/3 or 33% of the coffee customers were found to be not overweight, but they weren't in top physical shape either. 80% of them bought regular brewed coffee the other 20% either got coffee with flavored syrup or with liquid ice cream in it.


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Around 45% of the coffee consumers were most definitely overweight and seemed to favor the espresso coffee with more syrup and ice cream than the lower weighted consumers.

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The Obese customers which comprised of about 22% of the coffee customers also found the sweater syrup filled coffees and ice cream based coffee malts more appealing.

I believe the Age relation to these weight levels has a lot today with how each of the generations was raised. Here's that data:

Ages 10-14 99% loved the ice cream based coffees
Ages 15-19 80% purchased the espresso coffees with syrup or ice cream base.
Ages 20-29 about 90% of them went with the espresso coffees adding syrup and whip cream
Ages 30-39 purchased approx. the same data as the 20-29 year olds
Ages 40-50 were split down the middle, 50% going with regular old fashion coffee
and the other 50% branching off to try the newer generation's choice of
high calorie and sweat caffeine beverage.
Ages 50+ there wasnt a large number elderly coming to the shop to buy coffee, but
if they did buy coffee it was just a regular brew either medium or dark.



With this rough data and my own personal experience of selling this product every day it seems to me that people over the age of 40 are more prone to buying a regular brewed coffee as compared to one made with espresso shots and liquid ice cream. The espresso drinks with added syrup and the ice cream based coffees are more popular with the younger crowd. could this be due to some cultural changes in the past couple of decades? I would think so.

2 comments:

  1. It might be because the older folks are under some health-related stricture (low fat, low carb, reduced sugar) for whatever reason -- as you age, this can happen, if you want to live and keep moving. It might also be because older people's wallets might not bear the strain of the more expensive drinks under the current economy. Just some addition input. Interesting study, by the way. Implications?

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  2. well just stay tuned in for part two it's soon to come, be patient lol

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