Introduction

Founded in 2020, Blank Street Coffee has rapidly grown into a specialty coffee chain with over 60 locations across New York City, Boston, and London. Committed to reimagining the coffee shop experience, they offer a clean, natural, and high-quality menu at affordable prices.

The Challenge

As Blank Street Coffee expanded swiftly, maintaining low operational costs without sacrificing quality became crucial. A significant portion of their expenses was tied to AWS cloud services, which were doubling and tripling each month due to the growth of their technology products. Traditional AWS Savings Plans presented a dilemma: while they offered cost savings, they required long-term commitments and lacked flexibility, making it difficult for a fast-growing company to predict and commit to specific spend levels.

The SolutionTo overcome this challenge, Blank Street Coffee partnered with Usage to optimize their cloud spending. Leveraging Usage's Insured Commitments, they accessed the substantial savings of a 3-year AWS Compute Savings Plan without the usual long-term lock-in.

• Flexibility with Insured Commitments: Unlike standard Compute Savings Plans, Insured Commitments required only a 30-day initial commitment. After this period, Blank Street Coffee could adjust or exit the commitment at any time, thanks to Usage's 100% cash-back rebates on any underutilization losses.
• Maximized Savings: This approach allowed them to triple their coverage for on-demand usage, significantly reducing costs while maintaining the agility needed for their rapid growth.
• Minimal Capital Commitment: Their financial obligation was just 3% of the total cost of a traditional 3-year contract, freeing up capital for other critical investments.

The Results

Starting in February 2024, Blank Street Coffee applied Usage's Insured Commitments to their c7g and t2 EC2 instance families. The impact was immediate and substantial:

• 50% Cost Reduction: They achieved a 50% savings compared to on-demand pricing.
• Greater Flexibility: Compared to a 1-year AWS Compute Savings Plan—which would have offered only a 28% savings with twelve times the commitment duration—Usage's solution provided nearly double the savings with far greater flexibility.
• Reinvestment in Growth: The significant cost savings allowed Blank Street Coffee to reinvest in innovation, productivity, and further expansion.

Usage's Insured Commitments enabled us to access the highest AWS savings rates without the risk of long-term commitments or lock-in. This flexibility has allowed us to scale our operations more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Ali Salihoglu, Special Projects Lead at Blank Street Coffee

Conclusion

By partnering with Usage, Blank Street Coffee not only slashed their AWS costs by 50% but also aligned with a solution that supports their fast-paced growth and commitment to quality. This collaboration reflects Usage's mission to maximize cloud savings through deep customer insights, integrity, and innovation.

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