Function Coffee Labs is a coffee shop started by Ross and Megan, located in the Bella Vista / Italian Market neighborhood of Philadelphia. Here at Stampmore, we often work out of coffee shops and Function is one we frequent quite a bit. As fans of their brand (and of course coffee!), we wanted to learn more about their story and how they went about branding their shop. Oh, and we of course asked about their cool custom rubber stamps :)
What's FCL all about and how did it start?
FCL's goal is to be one of the best coffee shops in the world, a preferred source for quality coffee and innovation, and to make specialty coffee knowledge accessible to all. With a unique menu and professional baristas, we're giving consumers a reason to care about exceptional coffees. FCL started because we traveled to dozens of countries while living in England and ended up seeking out great coffee shops everywhere we went, not just because we are coffee lovers, but because we love everything that a coffee shop can be.
We played chess in a tiny basement bookstore/coffee shop in Bergen, Norway. We made a great connection with a small record/coffee shop owner in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We had our Eureka moment in a shop in Bath, UK where we both finally tasted all those flavors that bags of coffee promise but never really seem to deliver. We became regulars at the smallest cafe we’ve ever seen in Paris, France while we lived there for three weeks. The barista there was the epitome of cool, the coffee was great, and everyone talked to everyone else the entire time.
Ross is obsessed with the technical side of always improving the quality of the coffee, and Meg is obsessed with the way in which coffee shops become hubs of community activity and people making connections.
What were some of the challenges early on with branding, recognition, and customer loyalty?
From very early on we were hesitant to invest in our branding. We thought we could come up with a logo ourselves but after countless rounds of drawing up logos that weren't quite the right fit, we decided to hire a professional, Melissa Yeager, to help with our branding image. We knew that we had to get serious about our brand if we wanted potential customers to take us seriously. This was the best business decision we could have ever made. We asked Melissa to design a logo that looked established yet warm and inviting. She created the "F" surrounded by a coffee plant in the shape of a shield. This has attracted many passersby on the street who have become customers because we looked like a legitimate coffee shop.
What are some of the things that have worked for you from a branding perspective?
We get compliments on our logo all the time. One of the best things we did was paint a large version of it on the brick wall outside our shop. Some other little things that have worked for us from a branding perspective is adding our logo to any item we can, including, stamping our paper coffee cups and pastry bags, stickering our iced coffee plastic cups, and printing our logo on notebooks, t-shirts and travel mugs. We recently printed our logo on small brochures that sit on our tables and passively educate customers about the coffees we serve.
Tell us more about your stamps and stamping!
We love our custom rubber stamps! We have two, one with our primary logo image and one with our secondary logo. This was a cost-effective way to ensure all of customers walk away from our shop with our logo on something, whether it be their paper cup or brown paper pastry bag. Printing logos onto these items can be extremely expensive and we actually like the rustic look of a stamped image better.
Any advice for other small business owners/young coffee entrepreneur?
We would tell other small business owners/young coffee entrepreneurs to take their branding seriously and not to be afraid to invest the money as it will payoff tremendously. A company logo and brand identity are the first things that will attract a customer to your business and in a world where consumers are faced with choice overload, any way that you can stick out is extremely important.
If you'd like to connect with Function Coffee Labs, you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.