A new blend: Researching coffee culture in the Middle East

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I’ve just returned from a particularly fascinating trip to the Middle East, researching Costa’s new international coffee shop store designs, while immersing myself in the café cultures of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The research featured certain traditional elements such as accompanied store visits and interviews with store colleagues. But, just as importantly, I was tasked by my client to conduct some cultural anthropology and immerse myself in the coffee shop world of each market.

As something of an avid shopper (and caramel frappe lover), it wasn’t exactly a hardship to have to explore the local souks and shopping malls, visiting a few competitors. But it did mean having to step out of my comfort zone into societies that, from a Western viewpoint, aren’t necessarily renowned for their diversity and tolerance. I had to recognise and park my own preconceptions, to look at these cultures with empathy and openness – essential skills for any qualitative researcher.

Without doing this, I wouldn’t have grasped the fascinating role that coffee shops play in these societies. In Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, coffee shops are real hubs of social activity – places where people congregate to socialise, work and study, often for many hours at a time and in large groups.

In stark contrast to the dominant ‘grab and go’ or ‘quick sit down’ nature of many coffee shop experiences in the UK, here they are destinations in and of themselves. In these markets, many customers view international coffee shops – which are often luxurious in design – as glamorous destinations. I learned that international brands, such as Costa, are in some ways, examples of how these markets are beginning to undergo real change and liberalisation – something people were eager to discuss with me.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, women I spoke to were proud to detail how life was changing for them, celebrating what it meant to have more independence, for example the freedom to travel without a male chaperone, drive cars and benefit from wider career and education opportunities. They described the important role that coffee shops played, being a positive example of a progressive place where they can now spend time independently, unaccompanied by males, in locations that aren’t just single-sex.

In Bahrain, our qualitative participants were also keen to explain that coffee shops were the equivalent of Western pubs and bars – lively places to socialise and spend time with friends in the evenings, without fear of judgement.

In addition to this, our participants were also using coffee shops for work and study, so they needed to be peaceful and have all the necessary plugs and sockets to hand to facilitate this.

In both countries, participants were also keen to remind me that coffee shops, and indeed coffee beans, were part of their culture, not an appropriation from the West. We learned that there were opportunities for the design, and indeed the product communication, to reflect this.
So, how did Costa reflect on these findings?

• The company was able to take the insights on shop design and ensure it tailored its design features for new store openings and refurbishments appropriately for these markets
  
• It also took on board the findings around how participants were using coffee shops for work and spending time in large groups socialising and taking pictures, ensuring store design incorporated features that would facilitate this
  
• By using features such as traditional coffee pots and arabica beans in the design and story, Costa could show it was cognisant of the local culture surrounding coffee.

My experiences highlighted a number of things that you need to embrace to make a success of international research. First, it’s so important to take your time. It’s not enough to just fly in and out of locations in 24 hours. Cultural exploration and analysis requires time to get a feel for how local markets interact with things and what makes any key target audience tick. So much can be gleaned by immersing yourself in the area, observing people going about their lives.

Second, you must be bold and brave to make the most of it. Such adventures reward those willing to step outside of their comfort zone and explore beyond the confines of the hotel and research facilities. Some of the most important insights I gleaned were from spending time in the souks and shopping malls, visiting competitors and seeing how differently people were using local traditional shisha cafés versus global coffee shop chains.

It’s also vital to be sensitive to different cultures. In these markets, the sight of Westerners can still be something of a novelty, especially when research is being conducted outside of the ‘tourist’ enclaves. It’s important to do what you can to blend in and respect the culture. I made sure I observed the local customs, dressing appropriately and making myself as invisible as possible to be the fly on the wall I needed to be.

As researchers, you must also remember that not only are you in the privileged position of meeting participants, but you also have the benefit of working with local partner agencies. Their inside knowledge is invaluable, not least in advising on customs. It’s important to be inquisitive and take the time to build a rapport with translators and moderators.

While you learn lots by listening to what people tell you, observing how they interact with their environment and with each other can tell you so much about what makes or breaks a retail experience in these markets.

I learned so much just by quietly watching people as they enjoyed being in the coffee shop and engaged with certain elements (and ignored others).

Lucy Hobbs is research director at Boxclever

This article was first published in the April 2023 issue of Impact.