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Video: CEO of mobile bike café franchise plonks one of her sellers directly outside StarbucksWheelys set up outside Starbucks (via YouTube).jpg

Video: CEO of mobile bike café franchise plonks one of her sellers directly outside Starbucks

Wheelys has just raised $2.5m in funding
by Alex Bowden
Wed, Apr 27, 2016 13:10
10

She says they’re not a competitor, but Maria De La Croix, the CEO of mobile bike café franchise, Wheelys, still saw fit to set up right outside Starbucks for a day. After reportedly serving 210 customers to Starbucks’ 148 in the time her seller was there, they may be wondering about their decision not to employ De La Croix because she had blue hair.

De La Croix says she applied for a job at Starbucks three years ago. Not that she bears a grudge, but she thought it would be entirely appropriate to set up directly outside one of their cafés to see how her new business fared in comparison.

They’re not rivals though. “Starbucks basically offers the same GMO sugared drinks as McDonalds and all the rest, only with a different logo,” she says. “To compare us with Starbucks would be like calling Best Western Hotels a competitor to AirBnB. We are growing with three outlets per day right now, yet we have just scratched the surface of our potential. Sure, we might force Starbucks out of business, but that would not be a goal, but collateral damage.”

The blue hair, it seems, is no longer a problem. Although she does admit that she’s used to people looking for “the real boss” behind her.

Billing itself as ‘the world’s greenest café,’ Wheelys mobile cafés are trikes furnished with a solar panel, electric motor and an optional windmill. Last month, the firm easily surpassed its $100,000 funding goal on Indiegogo and it has now raised $2.5m in further funding with investors including Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail; Jared Friedman, Founder of Scribd; and Justin Waldron, aco-founder of Zynga.

They also offer one more Starbucks comparison which goes some way towards explaining their success. Where a Starbucks franchise apparently costs $500,000 to start, a Wheelys café costs just $5,000.

Wheelys
Coffee
Maria de la Croix
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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10 comments

Avatar
Beatnik69 | 8 years ago
0 likes

Sould I ever visit a Starbucks again, when they ask for my name I think I'll reply 'call me Ishmael...' yes

Avatar
the little onion replied to Beatnik69 | 8 years ago
4 likes

Beatnik69 wrote:

Sould I ever visit a Starbucks again, when they ask for my name I think I'll reply 'call me Ishmael...' yes

 

Best one I heard was in a big queue at starbucks - when the server asked for the person at the front's name, and someone at the back shouted "don't tell him Pike!"

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 8 years ago
1 like

Didn't Starbucks build its business by brand bombing? That is they'd identify a location and open a couple of (loss making) shops until the competition was squeezed out, then close one of the loss making shops thusly leaving Starbucks with the one remaining coffee shop in the location.

 

It was also very satisfying to see their first attempt of entering Spain fail, less satisfying that they are more successful in their second attempt. But here's hoping they fail again.

I'm sure they'll applaud the ingenuity of this entrepreneur.

Avatar
Gus T | 8 years ago
1 like

Starbucks always use the competition is good for business card when applying for planning permission, usually near to a local established business that they then surround with advertising & undercut, nice to see them getting a taste of their own medicine

Avatar
brooksby | 8 years ago
0 likes

I've always wondered why Starbucks coffee is almost always lukewarm by the time you get it, even though you've watched their barista push a button, then push another button, then call out whatever fake name you've given them...

Avatar
nowasps replied to brooksby | 8 years ago
0 likes

brooksby wrote:

I've always wondered why Starbucks coffee is almost always lukewarm by the time you get it, even though you've watched their barista push a button, then push another button, then call out whatever fake name you've given them...

 

Blimey, I've always found it scalding hot, sealed into the mug by the thick, dense layer of insulating foam.   

Avatar
Arno du Galibier | 8 years ago
4 likes

Well, considering this is very much Starbucks business expansion strategy (swamp an area with outlets so that the competition goes out of business then close those that are not turning a profit), it's only fair... Nice one.

 

Avatar
1961BikiE | 8 years ago
3 likes

Good luck to her. Even set up outside a Starbucks she isn't a direct competitor as obviously they can only offer take away. No doubt the product will be better value (cost vs product quality) and no doubt, for now, the business is too small to avoid it taxation responsibilities.

Avatar
Bob's Bikes | 8 years ago
3 likes

Don't see anything wrong with setting up near to a coffee shop it gives the consumer a choice, and whilst I have no idea what the mobile stuff tastes like I know I don't like starbucks version of coffee.

Avatar
Simon E | 8 years ago
6 likes

"Sure, we might force Starbucks out of business, but that would not be a goal, but collateral damage."

Ha ha, love it!

Shouldn't be hard to produce better coffee than $tarbucks.

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