Posted this message to Caribou Coffee's website earlier this week, and check out their response below. I withheld the Caribou Employee's name, just in case... (Just to clarify, so you don't get the wrong impression, I LOVE Suzanne Vega.)
-C

Dear Caribou Coffee,

Please take the person responsible for choosing the piped-in music at your stores and have them fired. Better yet, take them to the parking lot, and run them over with their own car. I visitied one of your stores for over 2 hours today, and was Annoyed with the music. Annoyed, as in "the music selection was so bad, it actually called attention to its self." Part of the problem may be the 'Genre-Jumping' in an attempt to appeal to too broad an audience: Big Band, followed by Soft Pop, followed by Country, followed by Bing Crosby, followed by a really bad cover of a David Wilcox song, followed by Suzanne Vega, followed by Jazz? Do you know of anyone who at some point wouldn't change the station?

Like many people, I hang out in Caribou to read, do homework, relax, socialize, and consume enough of your coffee to pay the monthly electric bill for one of your stores. The music choices at your stores are directly opposed to that goal. The music was distracting, and I suspect that is not what Caribou intends. I should point out that the music was not too loud; the volume level was perfect. But, I would have preferred bland, tasteless, Adult Urban Contemporary elevator music or better yet, no music at all.

What would better fit Caribou's 'cabin-in-the-woods' corporate image would be some wildlife sounds, wolves howling, eagle and loon cries, gurgling streams, rain, or the sound of wind rushing through the trees. I'm telling you now that if you are paying a service for the music to be 'piped in' (from Muzak etc) then you are idiots. On the other hand, if you are receiving any kind of 'kickbacks' for playing the songs I heard today, then you need to pass them along to the customers for putting up with it. Or, provide earplugs.

If you are interested, I would be happy to provide you with wildlife audio recordings which would add to your corporate image, and set you apart from the other Muzak-infused coffee shops. You could own the rights to the recordings, and stop paying monthly fees, and stop annoying your customers. Everyone would win.

Sincerely,
Conrad


Dear Conrad,

Thank you for taking time to write us with your feedback concerning our in-store music. At Caribou we strive to offer an experience that makes the day better and apologize that this has not been your recent experience with us. Please know I have passed your comments to the Marketing department to consider in their future music decisions. Once again, thank you for your correspondence and for making Caribou a part of your coffee experience!

Sincerely,

J.M.
Customer Relations Specialist
Caribou Coffee Company

Labels: consumerism, Open Letter