The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Narcissists are sexy, at least at first Posted: 03 Jun 2013 08:49 AM PDT  Nice guy or narcissist? A new study finds that young women may find narcissistic men more attractive, at least from the get-go. - AFP pic BERLIN, June 6 — A new German study finds that narcissistic men may have an easier time attracting the opposite sex. In research led by Michael Dufner of Humboldt University of Berlin, a group of 61 young heterosexual men were paid €35 (RM140) to approach 25 women they would "genuinely like to know" and ask for their phone number, email, or Facebook contact. The researchers obtained narcissism scores using two types of measures and then tracked the subjects while they hit up women. "We focused on narcissism as a personality trait, not the personality disorder," he told HealthDay. "This means that everybody has a certain narcissism level—for some it is higher, for others lower. "The men approached, on average, about 23 women each. While the narcissists were no more or less selective on the type of woman they approached, they did manage to get the girl more often than the men with low levels of narcissism, the findings showed. Why? Narcissists may be more physically attractive, which may be a partial cause of narcissism, Dufner said. Narcissists may also be appealing, at least in the short term, because of their social boldness, exuding an air of assurance that many people find attractive. "People who are convinced of their own greatness often, at least at first, convince us," writes Psychology Today. However, while narcissists may make a great first date, over time, their charms tend to wear thin, the researchers said, due to their inability to form close intimate bonds. The research, published online, will appear in the July issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. In a separate study published last year, researchers found a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and the degree to which you are a "socially disruptive" narcissist. People who scored highly on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire had more friends on Facebook, changed their profile pictures more often, and updated their feeds more regularly. This study is published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. – Reuters |
| Cash brews robust US craft coffee market Posted: 03 Jun 2013 05:34 AM PDT  Roasted coffee beans are processed at Blue Bottle Coffee in Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. - Reuters pix NEW YORK, June 3 — For exotic coffee connoisseurs like Geoff Watts, the search for the perfect bean isn't the solitary quest it once was. On a recent visit to Ethiopia's southern Yirgacheffe region eight hours from Addis Ababa, the buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee bumped into a familiar face. "I saw a random white guy walking around in a field, and it turned out he was a friend and competitor," said Watts. US craft coffee purveyors are getting less lonely. The segment is a small but growing slice of the US$27.9 billion (RM86 billion) US coffee market, which has increased in recent years at an annual average rate of 5.6 per cent and is expected to reach US$33.7 billion by 2018, according to research firm IBISWorld, though it does not yet separate revenues for high-end purveyors. Small bi-coastal chains Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle Coffee and Stumptown Coffee Roasters lead the so-called "third wave" or "slow coffee" movement, while industry behemoth Starbucks Corp shows off its craft roots selling limited-supply "reserve" coffees for up to US$50 for a half-pound bag. The new generation of upscale coffee shops and roasters includes dozens of operators around the country. They are in a race to find rare and distinctive beans and hope to elevate one of the world's oldest and most popular drinks in the same way that craft beer brewers, boutique wineries and olive oil makers won fans by focusing on high-quality ingredients and production. During the last two years, private equity firms, venture capitalists and wealthy individuals such as former professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, and tech luminaries Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom and Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter and Square, have poured in well over US$55 million - including a large cash jolt for San Francisco-based Philz Coffee in May. Not your typical retirement investors, they are often coffee connoisseurs themselves and are eager to capitalize on the new breed of enthusiasts who were raised on espressos and lattes popularized by Starbucks. Customers are willing to pay dearly for their java habit - US$80 for a half-pound of rare, roasted beans and US$3 and up for a cup of individually prepared "pour over," high-tech "siphon" coffee, or old school espresso. Those prices are as much as triple the cost for an average cup of coffee and bean prices are at least 10 times more. Sales are expected to climb as the US job market improves and more Americans treat coffee as an experience rather than a utilitarian pick-me-up, said IBISWorld analyst Andrew Krabeepetcharat. But experts also wonder if there will be enough demand beyond wealthy, urban enclaves to support meaningful growth and whether getting bigger would hurt the mystique that fueled the craft operators in the first place. "I don't think the (exotic) market is that big," said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant analyst for the NPD Group's foodservice unit. While many people may try such coffees as a treat, winning the loyal, frequent users needed to support significant growth will be a challenge, she said. Blue Bottle founder James Freeman and his peers say they do not aspire to Wall Street-style expansions, nor the pricey exclusivity of high-end wine. For around US$5, "you can have an incredible experience at a high-end coffee bar and get something impeccably sourced and roasted and made," said Freeman. "It's the democratisation of luxury."
The new movement is built on the success of Starbucks, whose founder and CEO Howard Schultz often speaks of the "romance" and "theater" of coffee and is credited with pioneering coffee's "second wave" by shifting the masses from cheap, hours-old brew to fresh-made drinks from premium beans. With some 12,900 cafes in its US-dominated Americas region, Starbucks holds the biggest share of the country's coffee market with 18.7 per cent of revenue, according to IBISWorld. That figure shows how competitive and fragmented the business is in the United States, where local cafes, fast-food chains and even gas stations peddle coffee and lattes. "We are all focused on that highest quality cup of coffee and there is room for everyone to grow," said Craig Russell, senior vice president of Global Coffee for Starbucks. Seattle-based Starbucks is a major buyer of artisan beans, going up against rivals like Chicago-based Intelligentsia, which sells 8-ounce bags of its Santuario Geisha roast from Colombia for US$80.50 and expects to grow to 12 stores this year from nine. "The third wave of coffee really is about understanding the craft and the lifestyle of coffee," said Instagram CEO Systrom, a self-described coffee addict and one of a group of investors led by True Ventures and Index Ventures that poured US$20 million into San Francisco-based Blue Bottle late last year. He and fellow investor Hawk, who said he kicked in US$100,000, also advise Blue Bottle on its growth plans. Investment opportunities appear limited to the very wealthy - but it is not for a lack of effort from fans of the cafes. "We get all sorts of weird inquiries all the time," said Sightglass co-founder Jerad Morrison, who did accept startup capital from Dorsey, a personal friend. Baristas at the new coffee shops often sport handlebar mustaches, bow ties or suspenders. They spend long moments lovingly tamping espresso, coaxing clever designs from frothy cappuccino milk, or coaching customers as they select beans. It is a time-consuming process that bears little resemblance to the button-operated speed and efficiency of Starbucks' current generation of espresso machines. The third wave caters to fanatics like Northern California author Bill Tancer, 47, who said a "coffee concierge" opened his eyes to a new world of coffee during a visit to Philz, which received an "eight figure" investment from Summit Partners, a private equity firm. TechCrunch reported that the infusion was in the US$15 million to US$25 million range. Summit and Philz declined to comment. "We had this back and forth about what I was looking for in a cup of coffee - did I want rich, light, more acid, flowery?" said Tancer, who since has become a home roaster. "There are so many coffees out there to discover. It's a bit of an adventure," he said.
In 2011, Portland, Oregon-based Stumptown, which has nine coffee bars, took a large investment from TSG Consumer Partners, a private equity firm. The parties declined to quantify it, but two sources familiar with the deal said it was in the area of US$20 million to US$25 million and constituted a controlling stake. The sources declined to be identified because the information is not public. Some die-hard fans fretted that the craft coffee trend-setter had sold out, considering that TSG has a strong track record of investing in small brands, helping them grow, and selling them to large corporations. Indeed, one of its most notable investments was a stake in vitaminwater maker Glaceau, which was ultimately sold to Coca-Cola Co for US$4 billion. TSG declined to comment, but Stumptown's new president, Joth Ricci, said maintaining the brand's identity would be a major factor in any future deal. "You figure out the right fit for a brand. Some work really well and some don't," Ricci said. Customers said Stumptown's quality remains high, even if it now seems a little more corporate. "I've definitely seen them go from their scrappy roots to almost acting like a franchise. ... It feels a little less genuine but, I don't think the quality has gone down at all," said videogame maker Lindsay Gupton, 47, who lives in Seattle. While he is still loyal to Stumptown, Gupton is on the lookout for coffee's "fourth wave." "I'm such a coffee purist. I'm always going to seek out the latest, greatest," said Gupton. – Reuters |
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