Ideas Maverick Blog by Preetham Venkky

It started with a blog post against Cafe Coffee Day, by an aggrieved customer and as all things powerful, moved onto some classic bashing online. In this case, a typical social media frenzy on Twitter with the hash tag – #ccdsucks taking on new life. It’s even gone upto the extent of creating an anonymous Twitter account with the handle @CCDSUCKS with a defaced logo for a profile pic. One can only assume it was created by the loud and active tweep @AmolMathur considering the only conversation mentioned there was about his rank as a tweeter on 90di. Trying to get your 15 tweets of fame using a topic which is not equally represented is both unfair and in bad taste. But let’s get down to the facts at hand and represent the issue from both sides:

Tweeps at CCD

If anyone’s been to the Cafe Coffee Day at Ispahani centre in Chennai, you’d realise that it’s a store with very high foot-falls. This would put pressure on the store staff to cater to an ever-growing customer base. I personally think it’s unfair to keep other customers waiting only because you’ve ordered a Latte and seem to have a four hour agenda. I’m only making such assumptions because the blog doesn’t seem to be unbiased and we haven’t had a statement from the other side (Cafe Coffee Day or it’s franchisee). Lack of statement doesn’t mean admission of guilt.

But having stated the above, I think rudeness from a staff is unacceptable under all counts. People are reasonable and if the manager had put forth his point reasonably, then such a backlash could’ve been avoided entirely. Adding to this, there was the lame expectancy of a ‘cover charge’, something that doesn’t take place in any Cafe Coffee Day anywhere. I think such issues can be best avoided if all parties involved can behave gently, diplomatically and honestly; which the tweeps seem to have conducted themselves but the same wasn’t forthcoming from the store management. Taking this a step further, I would’ve expected tweeps to have handled the situation with more maturity:

1. They should’ve protested and tried to reason with the Manager
2. Not bluntly deface the CCD brand
3. Clearly state their dismay and their ‘feelings’ regarding the issue
4. Put forth a sane and practical demand (an apology for instance)
5. Welcome any kind of apology or dialog from CCD

Cafe Coffee Day

Well, clearly they seem to have offended a few customers and that is unacceptable. I do appreciate them getting to the bottom of the issue as quickly as they have, and apologised to the aggrieved parties involved. It’s not everyday that a company accepts their fault and tries to resolve the issue amicably. But clearly, things got out of hand and continued to do so for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, the last tweet from Cafe Coffee Day stopped at 12:40 pm on 05 Feb 2010. I would’ve expected a more active participation and it would’ve served them better if they had followed the three As – Admit, Apologise & Act. CCD should’ve handled the matter using the following means:

1. Contacted the franchise and interviewed Mr. Shiva
2. Published the interview and admit their fault (if any)
3. Immediately, publish a blog post with their side of the story and action taken
4. Actively respond to all tweeps using the #ccdsucks tag with their twitter apologies and blog post
5. Conduct pt 4 in a quick timely fashion
6. Try to steer the conversation from #ccdsucks to #ccdresponds

One of the primary reasons #ccdsucks has become a trending topic is because of the lack of active presence of Cafe Coffee Day on twitter. Their incapacity to steer the conversation from #ccdsucks to #ccdresponds  (or the likes of it) seems to have cost them dearly.

Conclusion

#ccdsucks issue does seem to have gone out of hands. While the mob frenzy seems to have stir a storm in a coffee cup, it was clearly uncalled for and completely misdirected. Considering their presence on Twitter, Cafe Coffee Day could’ve done better by actively (and constantly) responding to the issue by steering the conversation away from #ccdsucks to an alternative.

Photo Credit - Karthik Narayan