Kyoto Kurasu Kyoto | Management philosophy from online store to physical store

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"finding beautiful things in daily life is a rare and precious gift. "from online to offline, popularity continues unabated, only because Yozo Otsuki, founder of Kurasu Kyoto, a Kyoto coffee shop, has been guarding this unique gift, insisting on discovering and promoting the beauty of daily life from handicraft coffee products or coffee. Making coffee is like being a man, simple and simple, is the most beautiful.

Adhere to the quality of the story contact

In general, coffee shops first open physical stores, and then slowly go online because of promotion: operate fan pages, websites, and promote their own brands step by step. The Kurasu Kyoto model, however, has a different tradition.

Founder Yozo Otsuki, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, emigrated to Australia with his wife and initially planned to take a break. When he was thinking about what to do next, because he loved Japanese simple, low-key household appliances, he decided to set up a website to sell these products to Australia.

After two years of operation, Yozo Otsuki found that 60% of the online store's income came from coffee-related products, so he decided to focus on selling coffee products. Yozo Otsuki attaches great importance to the craftsmanship and beauty of products, regardless of quantity, so most of the products are handmade, including ceramic coffee cups from Hasami, which specializes in ceramics in Nagasaki.

Kurasu Kyoto's business model is different from the traditional, first developed by the online store, before opening a coffee shop. (Photo Credit: Black Coffee only)

His persistence not only attracts a group of loyal customers from all over the world who also pursue life, but also promotes products that only a handful of Japanese coffee fans would notice around the world.

In addition to selling coffee products, Yozo Otsuki also selects a kind of coffee beans baked by Japanese coffee shops every month to promote to subscribers, including beans baked by Light Up Coffee, Trunk Coffee, Glitch Coffee Roasters and other well-known coffee shops in the coffee industry. He will also introduce the stories of these coffee shop owners, so that subscribers can better understand the origin and story of these coffee beans, so that the Kurasu Kyoto brand has a deeper connection with customers.

There is a deep connection between Kurasu Kyoto and guests (Photo Credit: Sprudge)

The entity and the network complement each other

Although online stores are fast and convenient, and can break regional boundaries and let goods go further, they can not replace the real communication between people like physical stores, and through personal contact with goods and coffee, deepen the public's understanding and sense of belonging to the brand. In 2016, Kurasu Kyoto, a brand run by Yozo Otsuki, finally moved from online to offline, opening its first physical coffee shop near Kyoto Station.

The design in the store is always simple, low-key and bright, with a wooden bar in the middle of the rectangular storefront, with a row of dim yellow lights, quite in Japanese style. When guests come to them, they can not only taste the coffee, but also know more about the coffee flavor recommended by Yozo Otsuki. They can also take the coffee supplies and try the unique handmade texture. Online stores and physical stores can be said to complement each other.

The design is simple, and the rectangular wooden table is the highlight. (Photo Credit: No Wave)

A cup of coffee needs to go through the production line of the entire global village: grow coffee beans, harvest them, export them to other countries, bake them, brew them, and finally hand them over to guests. The same kind of coffee beans are put into the hands of different countries and different people, and it is already very different. Coffee shops such as Kurasu Kyoto act as bridges, through which we can learn about the coffee culture of different places.

"We don't just want to be a supplier of Japanese coffee products, we hope to promote Japanese coffee blending methods, Japanese coffee culture and coffee itself. "Yozo Otsuki said.

Although each place has a different coffee culture, one thing is certain that we all share the wonderful experience of coffee.

Kurasu Kyoto

Address: 552 Higashiaburano-koji cho, Kyoto, Japan

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