Broadway Café vs. Starbucks Goes National

By JEN CHEN

Last Saturday, the NBC Nightly News ran this story about Starbucks’ woes and mentioned how Broadway Café outlasted its Starbuckian neighbor in Westport. The NBC story came on the heels of this New York Times article that essentially said the same thing. NBC even quoted the same go-to business consultant wonk, Geoff Vuleta, who appears a little over-caffeinated himself on TV.

According to Broadway Café co-owner Sara Honan, all this national exposure wasn’t part of a coordinated PR campaign that played up the David vs. Goliath angle of the two coffeehouses. In fact, she’s not sure how the NYT reporter first found out about them. In any case, Broadway has received a flood of congratulatory e-mails, letters and phone calls as a result — as well as the satisfaction of being the last one standing on that corner.