Café Aroma has been making Israel's best coffee for the last fourteen years and I would easily qualify it as my favorite coffee house. I was happily surprised to run into a branch in Berlin, located by the famous Check Point Charlie. My discovery drove me to enter aroma.co.il where I learned that in recent years this Israeli brand has expended globally with franchises in USA, Romania, Canada, Ukraine and Cyprus. When I first walked into Aroma I felt as if I was entering a branch in Israel, the look and atmosphere were the same. It was only when I grabbed a menu that I realized that besides the coffee, all sandwiches and salads offered were different than in Israel. For example, you would never find a bacon and egg salad sandwich in Israel while here in Berlin it was one of the first options on the menu.
Aroma is a perfect example of globalization while localizing and adapting the host country’s lifestyle and values. This is usually a challenge for marketers who enter a market that is different than theirs and especially when an Israeli company that began with targeting a Jewish market must adapt to a non- kosher market. Globalization refers to when brands have the same brand image and equity no matter where there location is. Localization is when a brand thinks locally and molds their offerings and image to that of the local culture. Any of my friends who came with me to Aroma said that if I hadn’t told them that the coffee house was from Israel they would have never had known.
In the United States, most restaurants from other countries keep their Unique Selling Proposition (USP). For example, restaurants remain globalized and market their brands as uniquely global or that of a particular country. However, Aroma in Berlin has localized themselves to fit a market of Berliners and tourists while keeping their brand identity and maintaining their image.
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