A few months ago, I wrote about drinking tea with Carly Rae Jepsen. We didn’t meet at DAVIDsTEA to catch up like old friends; we simply posed at a meet and greet. Drinking coffee with Second Cup’s chairman Michael Bregman was kind of similar. It wasn’t a one-on-one information interview, but rather a breakfast event where he spoke and young professionals listened intently.
In hindsight, Michael’s talk was similar to Annie Young-Scrivner’s keynote at QMAC 2013. At the time, Annie was President, Starbucks Canada and now she is President, Teavana. On both occasions, Michael and Annie succinctly shared their views on coffee consumption, inspired advice-hungry audiences and left enough time for questions.
I liked Michael’s approach to addressing some of Notable’s most loyal readers. Instead of listing off tips on how to find a senior-level job in retail or making jokes about latte art, he focused on the hot topics that really keep millennials up at night. Through stories about everything from family and finance to entrepreneurship and leadership, he captured our attention by sharing detailed anecdotes from his career.
His story about how Starbucks’ arrival in Canada affected Second Cup was the most insightful. When Starbucks came to Toronto, the Second Cup franchisee at Yonge and Davisville was convinced that Starbucks didn’t pose a threat. To prove it, he refused to serve his regular customers and directed them to buy their morning coffee at Starbucks, then come back the next day and provide feedback. The next day, they came back and said they preferred Second Cup!
Fun Facts About Michael Bregman
- Michael likes to think about customer satisfaction more than competition. He would rather serve customers hot chocolate than obsess over what Tim Hortons or McDonald’s is doing down the street.
- Uniqlo is Michael’s favourite fast fashion retailer because they offer excellent customer service.
- He enjoys working in retail because there’s a relatively low cost of failure and it’s easier for retailers than CPG companies to experiment.
- His first boss was Dave Nichol at Loblaws. In addition to helping Michael develop key skills, Dave taught Michael about taking risk taking. “Try 10 things. If 3 work, then we’ll be a way better company.”
- “I’ve never had balance. I don’t know if there is such a thing. I don’t have an on/off switch. Now I get to go to meetings and then leave. It’s like having grandchildren.”