Biggby CEO Bob Fish in current issue of Entrepreneur magazine

It's great to see good news coming out of Michigan and the article on Biggby CEO Bob Fish is no exception. Bob was interviewed this past fall for the article that appears in the February 2009 issue of Entrepreneur. Bob Fish is a CEO who 2 years ago gave up his office and uses the individual Biggby locations as an "office." It lets him see (without reading complex marketing and other analytical reports) how the stores are running, get instant customer feedback, and personally check in on the franchise operators.

I've never had a bad experience at a Biggby location. The baristas are always super friendly and when they make my son a caramel milk they make a big deal out of it just as if he was an adult customer - he eats that right up. My current favorite is the Moon Boot Latte. It's a delicious blend of white chocolate and mint with a handful of those mints that melt in your mouth tossed on top. SO good!

The other thing that I really like about Bob Fish is that you can interact with him personally through his blog, Twitter, and Facebook. The auto industry and many other industries could take some pointers from him about how to run a large corporation.

Here's where you can interact with Bob:

Where is Bob? Follow Bob on Twitter The Biggby Lounge on Facebook Biggby Bob YouTube Channel Biggby on Flickr

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.