I can't ever remember not drinking coffee even at the age of seven I remember having a milky cup of it with my now deceased grandmother, who was always seen with a cup nearby.

About five years ago I gave up 'real' coffee in order to see if I could stop having my excruciating migraines and also for the benefit of the growing foetus in my belly. The results were positive I stopped getting headaches but my taste buds still crave the flavour on a daily basis, so I started drinking decaf. Now I know what your thinking Yuk! but there is good decaf out there, it is hard to find! But you can cheat a decaf mocha is really good! If you find the right one.

Anyway when I moved into my new office in the city I went around to every cafe within a 300 metre radius to see if I could find the ultimate decaf mocha. I finally found it and it's just simply delicious, however as of today I wont be purchasing my coffee from this particular coffee shop anymore. Why? You ask because although the product is fantastic the service is just awful.

Even though I purchase the same coffee just about every morning, the Barrister never recognises me, I don't even get a smile or thankyou. At first I thought it was just me, (occasionally I have been known to become the invisible woman) but as I lined up for my coffee every morning I began to watch and analyse their behaviour to all customers in general.

I noticed that they very rarely smiled at anyone, in fact they don't even ask for your order, they simply look at you and wait for you to say what you want. It kind of reminds me of the soup kitchen nazi in the Seinfield episode. The coffee is undoubtedly good there because the crowds are pretty big however the crowd will be one less after today.

Once again branding has taught me that you need more than a great product to be successful. The experience of buying the product is just as important as the product itself, businesses that recognise this have a much stronger chance of being successful than those who think that they can rely on a great product alone.

Brand loyalty is after all what keeps customers coming back and most importantly helps spread positive word of mouth, which leads to an increase in customers.