Social-Class Patterns in Scones and Doughnuts

On the glass door of Starbucks on Kanan Road a sign reads, “I’m sorry, we’re out of soy milk until later today.” Next door, on the glass window of Yum Yum Donuts, another sign reads, “Medium coffee and muffin $1.49 plus tax.”

A thin strip of grass--and one invisible barrier--separates the two establishments. Walk into Starbucks and you meet a line of upper-middle-class professionals waiting for coffee and pastries. A plum-painted ceiling is complemented by the designer tile and carpeting. Soft music plays in the background. The coffee bar is staffed by the decidedly hip of all ages. Shelves boast items such as Formosa Oolong Awake Tea and custom-designed programmable cappuccino makers for $349.

“In here it’s the lighting, it’s more upscale and more comfortable,” said local resident Debi Klein.

The popular hangout is one of the only places almost everyone in town visits at some point, Klein said. When asked if her 14-year-old daughter ever ventured next door, Klein laughed and said, “I don’t think she’d be caught dead in a doughnut shop!”

Across the lawn is linoleum flooring and a glass display case filled with doughnuts, juice boxes and soda cans. Behind a plate-glass window overlooking a few small tables, store manager Carlos Marin is frying and frosting French crullers.

Senior citizens, men in work boots, gardeners, deliverymen and women in sweats stop in for exactly the same thing as the people next door--pastries and coffee. Only the prices are different.

Comparing the cost of espresso to doughnuts is perhaps like comparing apples to oranges. You can purchase a dozen glazed doughnuts at Yum Yum for $2.99, less than most of the specialty espressos at Starbucks. And Starbucks’ lattes come in almost as many flavors as Yum Yum’s doughnuts.

The largest cup of regular coffee at Starbucks is $1.70, compared with $1.10 for the largest at Yum Yum. But price is less important than comfort.

Class System Reflected

People go where they are socialized to go, and there are class patterns in deciding whether to have a scone or a doughnut, said Sally Raskoff, professor of sociology at USC. The division between the crowd at Starbucks and the is a reflection of the subtle American class system, she said.

Ask Yum Yum patron Eddie Chet why he never patronizes the Starbucks next door, and he smiles and says with a shrug, “I’m a painter.”

Despite this wingtip-versus-work-boot mentality, the two little shops have begun in a small way to form what Humphrey Bogart would call a beautiful friendship. Thanks to children.

Luckily for Yum Yum, which is often less crowded than its neighbor, children are equal-opportunity eaters. They don’t care about black or white, work boots or mood music. They love frosting and sprinkles and coconut and custard. When you’re a kid, doughnuts are what dreams are made of. They’re worth begging for.

So before Mom or Dad stops in to see and be seen, they will often pick up a chocolate and sprinkles doughnut for the little one.

“You see the moms with their Starbucks cups and the kids have their doughnuts,” said local resident Christina Reuch. “It works out great!”

Jon Miller, professor of sociology at USC, said kids are frequently found at the intersection of socioeconomic and cultural paths.

“I think there are distinct social-class preferences,” Miller said. “The places present themselves differently. They draw two different crowds, and the kids are kind of the equalizer.”

Which means there are a surprising number of doughnuts floating around Starbucks on any given morning. David Mizon, Starbucks’ district manager in Agoura, takes his daughter next door for a doughnut once in a while, he said.

Barriers Exist

Children determining where their parents go to eat is nothing new. Fast food places spend millions marketing themselves to youngsters, and kids respond.

“I don’t think yuppies would go to McDonald’s, either, if it wasn’t for kids,” Miller said.

Starbucks works to position itself as a gathering place with a culture all its own, said regional director Tesh Burke. But even in Yum Yum, which is less upscale than Starbucks, people are seen gathering together.

Joe Colford Jr., the self-proclaimed mayor of Yum Yum’s, meets with a group of his friends there each morning.

“The coffee is too expensive and too strong at Starbucks,” Colford said. “We’re just seniors; we don’t have that kind of money.”

Regulars like Colford and the management don’t seem to mind when the kids stop in for treats and are hurried next door by their parents.

And Starbucks doesn’t seem to mind when the occasional patron comes in with a box of Yum Yums. It all comes with the territory.

But there’s still a barrier that goes beyond breakfast treats and marketing campaigns and speaks of a community that to a large extent remains divided between gardeners and garden-owners.

“I bet some yuppies go there [Yum Yum] in disguise,” Miller joked.