Free, in-house drinks used to be the norm at Shiru Cafe, but since August 12, the coffee shop has limited free options to coffee, tea and iced cold brew.
Lattes, matcha, juices, nitro coffee and other specialty drinks served by the cafe now cost between $3 and $5.50, even if consumed in-store. The price increased at all U.S. locations, including in Providence, “due to the cost of the premium ingredients” used in the beverages, wrote Keith Maher, the Shiru Cafe U.S. director of operations, in an email to The Herald.
Maher described a “more elaborate and sophisticated” espresso-based coffee culture in the U.S., which made the process of offering free specialty drinks in American cities unsustainable for the company. The initial pricing model, which supported free in-house drinks, was “based off what had worked in Japan and India,” Maher said. Prior to establishing cafes in the United States, Shiru built a presence in the two Asian countries, where they offer consumers 22 venues with free coffee, a job-recruiting service for students and an academic environment to study.
The company has no plans for further price increases and intends to keep the basic coffee and tea free, Maher said.
Shiru’s price increase also arrives as the company adjusts its broader business model in the United States. The company first transitioned to the U.S. last February with the opening of the Providence cafe, but has since expanded to Amherst, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut. With this new expansion, the business initially focused on building its national brand presence and working to establish its American cafes, said Steve Horton, vice president of client development and strategy. But Shiru now intends to grow its corporate partnerships and ramp up the networking side of its business.
Since its opening at the beginning of 2018, the cafe has established three U.S. employment partners: Upserve, Service After Service and Wirecard, Maher wrote in a follow-up email to The Herald. Globally, the company works with about 200 partners, which include Microsoft, Accenture, Cisco and SoftBank.
Going forward, the business hopes to connect cafe patrons with startups based in the New England region, since all of the American Shiru Cafes are based there, Horton said.
“It would be fair to (expect) twenty to twenty-five (sponsorships) by the end of the year” for these cafes, Horton said. By contributing to Shiru’s funding, corporate sponsors can recruit students through the cafe.
Shiru also intends to host more networking and recruiting events in the Providence cafe over the next few months. The company also plans to connect students with their corporate partners through the cafe’s app, but as of press time, the app’s “sponsors list” page was blank.
Meanwhile, for some specialty drink aficionados on campus, Shiru’s price increase further narrows beverage accessibility. Allie Frankel ’20, a regular Shiru customer, said the price change will either “change how often I come here or change my consumption of cappuccinos and matcha.”
Frankel said she felt “a little surprised by (her) three-dollar coffee.”
