Chain is stuck between McDonald's and the artisan café

Starbucks has done a fantastic job for us in the independent sector, which is everything from greasy spoons to specialists like me. They have created a lot of customers for coffee, which is great, but what they are charging does not match up to what they produce.

We are putting out a product that is really good for a price that is the same or below Starbucks. So we're getting busier and busier while they're not faring so well. They are good in the sense that they put a huge emphasis on the coffee, but they are trying to be everything to everyone. Are they competing with McDonald's or with me?

It is a measure of how the market has moved on that 10 years ago when I started we copied Starbucks. Now the big chains are watching us and taking ideas. That's wonderful. But they think they can find a way to reach the standards we're setting and I don't know how they can.

We are much more like artisans, they are making standardised, automated coffee. They don't use a separate grinder, the grinder is built into the actual machine. They just press a button and the expresso shot that comes out is a fixed amount. We use a grinder and are able to use exactly the right amount according to what we think is right for the coffee.

The beans they use are good but the coffee is much darker in the roast. My theory is that they need the darker roast to travel through all the milk in those big cups they use. It tastes a bit like burnt toast. We use smaller cups and use more coffee proportionately.

Another difference is that we use a lot of "latte art". We put patterns on the milk - tulips, hearts and ferns. It's a way of showing we use more textured milk. You can't do it with the jugs Starbucks use. We don't reheat milk, they do and that changes the consistency. What we do takes a tremendous amount of training and skill. They're trying to reduce the skill involved. Our sector of the market is booming, there has been a spate of cafés opening recently, such as the Expresso Room in Great Ormond Street.

I think the ambience of the Starbucks cafés is feeling old and tired and boring. When you get a small place you get a lovely communal atmosphere. To try to replicate that across a huge brand is very, very difficult.

Gwylim Davies runs a market stall in Whitecross Street near the Barbican.