Brand recognition in Addis
Every time I arrive in Addis Ababa, I pass the Denver Cafe, a coffee shop located in a strip mall on the road out of the airport. Incongruously for a country that cares little for American football, the sign features the logo of the Denver Broncos, which happens to be my favorite NFL team. But I'm always on the way to some hotel or appointment, so I've never actually set foot in the place.
As I drove past the cafe for the umpteenth time last weekend -- this time in a hurry to show my brother the National Museum before visiting hours ended, which ended up being for naught as the museum was closed due to power cuts -- I got to thinking that Addis must be the No. 1 city in Africa for, shall we say, appropriating Western brand names and logos on unaffiliated local businesses.
Addis has a Kinko's and a 7-11 -- though not the chains you're thinking of. I'm told there are also places called Burger Queen and Kentucky Chicken, though I haven't seen them. My favorite is the Mariot hotel, whose logo has shamelessly been designed to mimic that of the J.W. Marriott chain, complete with the scripty "M".
By far the most successful knockoff, however, has to be Kaldi's Coffee, a chain that keeps opening new locations throughout the city because of its strong product, locals tell me, and not because its logo and the interior of its stores resemble Starbucks'. I'm far from the only one who's noticed this. (Meskel Square posted some pictures back in 2005, and the New York Times did a story around the same time.)
Starbucks guards its brand zealously, and it wasn't too pleased when they heard about "Kaldi-bucks," although it didn't figure in last year's distribution and licensing agreement with Ethiopian coffee growers.
I stayed just around the corner from the Burger Queen when I was there. It was the first place the hotel suggested when I inquired about nightlife in the area. Perhaps regrettably, I went somewhere else.
Posted by: Derek | August 11, 2008 at 03:21 AM
There is also a "Starbucks" coffee shop in Mekele, my personal favourite
http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?title=ethiopia_starbucks_coffeeshop_in_mekele&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Posted by: Rob Crilly | August 11, 2008 at 04:33 AM
I'm not sure why Ethiopians lower themselves to the level of Starbucks.
60-70 years ago, Italians developed a coffee culture with cafes in every town in Ethipia.
Ethiopia has always had its "Buna bets" which used traditional roasting and the multiple brewing techniques practiced for centries in Ethipia.
Starbucks got their coffee machines from a trip to Italy and a knockoff of Italian coffe houses.
Ethiopia had coffee houses with much better coffee fifty years before Starbucks. Using the Starbucks name is a joke.
And the iTalian pastries sold in Ethipian coffee houses are much better than the sugar filled rubbish served at Starbucks.
Posted by: ducksawce | August 11, 2008 at 01:53 PM
I lived in Dar es Salaam in the late 90's. We frequented the Hard Rock Cafe there until the embassy bombings. I enjoy your blog and hope you know that you have the best job in the world.
Posted by: Kim Lancaster | August 12, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Marriott also developed three and ultimately opened two theme parks entitled Marriott's Great America from 1976 until 1984. The parks were located in Gurnee, Illinois, Santa Clara, California and a proposed but never-built location in the Washington, DC area, and were themed celebrating American history. The American-themed areas under Marriott's tenure of ownership included "Carousel Plaza" (the first section beyond the main gates); small-town-themed "Hometown Square"; "The Great Midwest Livestock Exposition At County Fair" with a Turn of the Century rural-fair theme; "Yankee Harbor", inspired by a 19th century New England port; "Yukon Territory," resembling a Canadian/Alaskan logging camp; and the French Quarter-modeled "Orleans Place". At opening, both parks were laid out nearly identically.
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