Biggby Coffee Blog is a fun read

Biggby Coffee (the coffee shop formerly known as Beaners) has a neat blog that I just found out about today via an email. The blog's title is "Where is Bob?" with "Bob" referring to Biggby CEO and co-founder, Bob Fish. It's basically a collection of Biggby Coffee news as well as stories about the franchise owners and possible upcoming locations (Owosso looks like a winner). This is a great example of what a big company blog should look like. It provides business information, but at the same time helps spread their message and shows you that they aren't a faceless corporation - the stores are owned by people living in the same community as the coffee shop.

I fell in love with Beaners Biggby Coffee when I used to live and work in Lansing (their first location was on Grand River in East Lansing). My Biggby Coffee standard order (unless I try one of their limited time special flavors) is the Caramel Marvel. Man, that is THE best cup of coffee I have bought each and every time.

Contrast that with a well known national chain that sells music, food, books, and then coffee as an afterthought. Biggby Coffee sticks to what they do best - make a great cup of coffee with excellent service and a comfy atmosphere.

While that faceless corporate coffee shop closed their locations yesterday for three hours of training at least one Biggby Coffee location in Grand Rapids (located just across the street from said faceless corporate coffee shop) was offering all of their coffee drink items for f-r-e-e during the three hour time frame.

Even if there isn't a Biggby Coffee near you I have seen a select number of their whole bean coffee variations for sale at Meijer. It looks like their expansion plan will lower the number of folks that don't have a location nearby.

This quote from their website Biggby.com says it all about what they stand for -

Every BIGGBY café is locally owned and operated; there are no corporate stores. The people behind the counter are people from your communities, and the dollars generated stay in your communities.

You have got to try the Cinnamon Swirl Latte at Beaner's

I signed up with the Beaner's E-wards program last year and every week I receive a couple of coupon offers. Some of them are only valid at specific locations (annoying) in the area, but most of them can be used at any Beaner's location. Anyway, last week I received a buy-one-get-one coupon for a new drink - the Cinnamon Swirl Latte. Oh man, that was the best coffee I have had from Beaner's.

They add a shot of vanilla and a shot of cinnamon flavoring to the espresso. It is topped off with a generous dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of some sort of sweetener, and sprinkled with ground cinnamon.

Man, I wish I was sipping one right now. It was so good. It kind of helped to make a cold wintry day in April not feel so bad.

U.P. Paper to be Delivered by USPS

The Ironwood Daily Globe is shifting from traditional paper carriers to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery of the newspaper. The Globe cited troubles with delays and a shortage of carriers which caused people to miss the paper sometimes as the driving force behind the decision. I am writing about this because the only paper I ever received in the mail was the Wall Street Journal and I had not heard of smaller localized papers doing this for their immediate customers. I know you can have other major newspapers delivered through the mail, but the concept of dropping all of your local delivery struck me as interesting.

The upside to this is that the efficient post offices in Michigan's Upper Peninsula stated that they have all mail delivered by 4 pm. Some subscribers wouldn't receive their paper until the evening before this switch was made.

Rising gas prices were making it more and more difficult for the independent contractors who use their own vehicles. The newspaper is paying the carriers a bonus if they continue their route through June 19. Part-time jobs created by the change in the paper's production will be offered to the carriers first out of consideration for their positions being eliminated.

Now, if only my Beaners coffee and Sweetwaters donuts could be delivered in the mail every morning. Man, that would be great! :)