The battle of the brands: After years as UGA’s only coffee shop, Jittery Joe’s faces competition – Red and Black

For over a decade, Jittery Joes has been the only name in coffee on the University of Georgia campus, but now they are facing unexpected competitorsa Starbucks and a Caribou Coffee both operated by the university.

This local Athens brand took its place on the second floor of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center in the early 2000s and has been providing an exclusive late-night fix ever since.

But eight months ago, that changed.

In July of last year, the national brands Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels came to campus as a part of the new Science Learning Center, and they were joined in November by Starbucks.

Now, a local brand with 16 locations is competing with two of the most recognizable names in coffee.

The hometown brand

In spite of these new additions, Jittery Joes is still busy pushing on ahead. The local brand has no plans to surrender anytime soon.

In fact, it is in part thanks to Starbucks that Jittery Joes has its current location in the MLC.

Bob Googe, the owner of Jittery Joes, said the location, which Jittery Joes now occupies, was originally intended for a Starbucks.

The university and Starbucks were innow this is my understanding of courseconversation about coming on campus, Googe said. Starbucks and the university architects were not seeing eye to eye on things, and so the university asked if I would like to bid on that contract as well.

This deal was also the result of a survey, said Googe, which also returned Starbucks as a top choice. The original survey, he pointed out, did not include Jittery Joes as an option as it was still only a couple of stores.

Googe said this doesnt surprise him, and he said even today, Jittery Joes isnt an instantly recognizable brand outside of Athens.

Jittery Joes is a brand they have to learn. Were available in lots of places in Atlanta, but we only have one store, Googe said. Students dont come to UGA having grown up going to Jittery Joes, so they have to learn who we are.

Plans are already underway to open a second on-campus location in the Science Library, which Googe said will open in March of next year.

When asked if he was concerned about the size and fame of his completion, Googe said, I am not concerned, but I am paying attention.

The convenience factor

Susan Van Gigch, the associate director of retail operations for Dining Services, said theres also another group benefiting from the deal students.

We surveyed all the students, faculty and staff, and asked a wide variety of questions, Van Gigch said. Without a doubt, Starbucks was the number one requested concept.

The student body seems to agree. Both Grant and Van Gigch pointed to steadily rising revenue at Starbucks, and van Gigch said Caribou had, exceeded expectations.

The store runs on the dining services system so students can use paw points for coffee.

I have paw points and I also love [Starbucks], so it kind of goes together, said Elizabeth Qardan, a junior psychology major from Cumming.

The other side

The new shops may have been a popular choice, but not everyone is happy with how things were done.

Caribou was built into the Science Learning Center, but Starbucks replaced a long-standing dance studio that was important to many students.

Grace Ho is an executive board member for the Prelude dance ensemble, which used that studio for regular rehearsals.

Ho said they first heard about the new Starbucks when they were told they would no longer be able to reserve that space for spring of 2016.

This was especially frustrating because the studio was closed even though work hadnt even started.

Over that entire semester no construction took place, Ho said.

Van Gigch said that at that point they were still working out the final legal details with Starbucks. The project did not begin in earnest until September.

For the most part weve made it work, Ho said. I cant even imagine what other dance groups had to do...for the longest time we werent able to tell our members this is where were going to be.

Ho said that she understood that, certain decisions had to be made, and that she was glad to see more job opportunities for students, but it was still a shock.

Weve been practicing there since 2009, every fall, every spring, so we were used to the space, thats why it was kind of unfortunate at the last minute just being booted out, Ho said.

Frances Newton is the general manager for WUOG, Starbucks new neighbor, and she lamented the loss of an artistic space.

This whole space has changed a lot, it was a dance studio, which kind of blends well with us because theyre two creative elements, and now thats replaced by Starbucks, Newton said. Its not a business that breathes creativity.

Still, she says its actually been a good thing. It caused some concern at first, but now shes glad Starbucks is there since it draws in a new crowd.

Its nice having new people coming in because of [Starbucks], Newton said.

Success is in the name

Van Gigch said name recognition is one of the characteristics that makes recognizable companies successful on campus.

Its prevalent. Its everywhereits the same everywhere you go, said Max Grant, the manager for the Starbucks in the Tate Student Center. When we go through our training one thing that Starbucks hits home for us, and a big reason why I think theyre successful, is everything is the same.

According to their contracts, both Caribou and Starbucks are licensed to the university, so except for a few small fees, 8 percent for Starbucks, and 6.5 percent for Caribou, the university gets all the revenue.

This means that the university takes more than 90 percent of what students spend at both stores.

UGAs profit is less than 90 percent, since they bear the full operating costs, but the university is still pleased with how things are going with the new coffee shops.

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The battle of the brands: After years as UGA's only coffee shop, Jittery Joe's faces competition - Red and Black