It has finally happened! Subscription service turns to coffee! A Tel Aviv based company has launch a monthly subscription service that will serve unlimited daily espresso at $85/ month at selected coffee shops (roughly a 20% discount, if you drink one coffee per day). Pay for your coffee with your smart phone app, and the store in turn retrieves the payment from the subscription company. There are a variety of coffee consumption packages to choose from:
The app will determine your geographic location through Facebook or Google Plus and direct you to the closest participating cafe. The coffee subscription service, Cups, has been running in Tel Avid since 2012. It has only just been launched in the lower part of Manhattan so far. But expansion plans to Midtown, Uptown and Brooklyn are reportedly underway.
Another unlikely gourmet item taking on the modern business model is meat on subscription service. AgLocal began as a supply source for premium meat and Michelin starred restaurants before developing into the popular subscription service. Members are introduced to the farms and receive cooking tips on selecting the best meats based on their needs – from cuts for home cooking, to special occasion cuts, to special dietary requests.
“What we want to build is community around this, so when I subscribe to the service, I’m not just getting meat. This isn’t Omaha Steaks…I’m connected to the farm, I feel like I’m a part of the community.”
We’ve already seen this type of unlimited consumption in video, music and books. It is interesting to see Cups& AgLocal as one of the first food consumption subscriptions. The idea of fixed monthly fee is becoming the norm and consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to it.
By: Carol Lin
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About Carol
Born into the world of fashion retail, Carol is an aficionado of all things in vogue. The cat-feeding, online-shopping, TED enthusiast is often spotted checking-in, instagramming and obsessively pinning. A decade of retail industry experience from commercial to luxury provides an insiders zeitgeist. And her consuming Fear of Missing Out keeps her in check of all real time up to date trends.
Image credit: AgLocal / Cups Tel Aviv
Video credit: Cups Tel Aviv
