Comment

Comment by teresa pilarz on January 20, 2009 at 1:59pm

Hey Bigboy - welcome. I grew up in Plymouth and have been to your place many a time. Your Open Mic nights rock; I think the entire local population hangs out at the Bean on Mondays!

Comment by Mike Hite on January 19, 2009 at 3:39pm

Drink More Coffee!!

Comment by Kurt Stauffer on January 19, 2009 at 10:08am

Bigboy, nice simple website. Best Cafe in Detroit is a big deal. When you ask "how's everyone doing" I assume you mean how's business. I hear one of our big, mega roasters in town let go of at least one salesperson and sales were down in December for the first time ever. December is usually the biggest month for many roasters. I hear rumors about several cafes contemplating closing stores. I think there will be more to come but those who survive will have solid fundamentals (low operating cost, debt service) and a simple roll up the sleaves and get to work attitude. My biggest concern right now long-term is being able to continue to source super-premium and boutique green coffee. Since most importers act as banks for roasters by sourcing, buying, importing and distributing the beans and charging them later, a lot of capital is tied up for 3-6 months. If roasters suddenly don't pay, what happens to the importers and in turn the roasters who do? Not to needlessly worry about these negatives but its out there.
Kurt

Comment by Sam Granger on January 19, 2009 at 8:07am

Hey there,

I'm new to the board and live in Grand Rapids. I'm glad to see so many W,M. folks on here, we just may have a café culture a-brewing. I'm looking forward to that.

~Sam

Comment by Trevor on January 19, 2009 at 4:54am

Welcome to the BX Bigboy.

Comment by BIGBOY on January 19, 2009 at 2:27am

Whats up guys! I'm new to the board.
I own two coffee shops in Mi.
How's everyone doing?

Comment by Rich Abker on January 17, 2009 at 11:02pm

What is good for the goose is good for the Michigander! #9-)

Comment by Kurt Stauffer on January 17, 2009 at 9:33pm

Hey Everyone, Here's the Wikipedia origin of the word Michigander:
The word Michigander is attributed to Abraham Lincoln, coining it when he was a Whig representative in Congress. On July 27, 1848, Lincoln made a speech against Lewis Cass, who had been a long-time governor of the Michigan Territory. Cass was then running for president on a "popular sovereignty" platform that would have let states that were conquered in the Mexican-American War decide whether to legalize slavery. Lincoln accused the Democrats of campaigning on the former President Andrew Jackson's coattails by exaggerating their military accomplishments.

But in my hurry I was very near closing on the subject of military tails before I was done with it. There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tail you Democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander [i.e. Lewis Cass].[5]
Lincoln thus combined Michigan with gander to form a nickname that made Cass sound foolish like a goose. Michiganders would go on to vote for Lincoln for President twice in 1860 and 1864.

Comment by Kurt Stauffer on January 17, 2009 at 9:27pm

I'll admit, I'm not really "tight" with the BX crowd. 4 kids and a full-time working wife (God bless her). My forum is FB which is where I do the most damage. But I'll throw this up in case someone gets lost and stumbles onto this page. Tomorrow at the Rowster Coffee Lab we are hosting the 1st Annual Rowster Coffee Picnic and Goat Roast. Customers and neighbors and supportsers will be there. We have a goat in honor of the Kaldi legend, along with 3 kegs, a latte art contest, raffle, t-shirts and the epicenter of foodies and craft food restauranteurs in West Michigan all converging. If everyone shows up we may need the National Guard. Hopefully its really cold tomorrow! Again, this is for customers, and supporters. You know who you are.
Kurt

Comment by Kurt Stauffer on January 17, 2009 at 9:15pm

Rich, you want nostalgia, check this out. A primer on what it means to be from Detroit and/or Michigan: http://www.freep.com/article/20090110/COL01/301100004?imw=Y

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