Here is a coffee brand and shop that ignored every best practice and it's the only one you can't get a seat in.

Gen Z ers are the health conscious generation that ditched clubs and alcohol. While millennials came with a pack of cigarettes in their 20s, Gen Z ers come with a gym membership. They replaced clubs and cigarettes by elevating experiences they enjoy.

The coffee scene is actually too crowded. There are coffee spots every 100 meters or so in the center. More and more coffee spots show up every few months, its hard to keep up with. The opportunity is in the niche coffee businesses built around a segment.

A new trend has been picking up doing this exactly: a higher end coffee experience. What used to be a quick coffee to go has become the new me-moment, the replacement for drinks on first dates, or even the overpriced dining out.

Here is to my taste one of the best examples of this trend: Uncommon Bar. Coffee for connoisseurs (or snobs, like myself). A menu of V60 coffee, and btw that’s unheard of. V60 is coffee made manually and most coffee places do not serve it because it is more expensive than any other coffee, and it takes time plus you need to know how to make it. They also offer the usual suspects, but made with care and presented better. Done with specialty beans that they describe well because their target knows the difference between anaerobic or washed beans. Then the whole experience goes to the next level with high end pastries to die for (tiramisu is stupid good).

To double down on experience, they ditched the concept the more the better, and made the interior a beautiful japandi style, well curated furniture, large windows, great playlists (not the usual dutch radio station from Albert Heijn) and a slow and calm pace. Here the upsell makes total sense, because when you had such a good moment, most likely you are drawn to buy their beans. They also paired this up with matching branding, good website and beautiful products to buy from on their site.

Result? Can’t get a place to sit anywhere in the morning, I choose to go around 2 after lunch, I bring everyone I can there. Most people that have been there recommend it, 5 star reviews, and they have been in business just a few years. In the center of Amsterdam, surrounded by around 6 coffee spots.

There are always opportunities to do something with a point of view in any sector, as long as you are willing to sacrifice a large part of potential audiences. It might seem counterintuitive but it is exactly what the crowd is doing that shows you where the unique opportunities are.