want to start coffee house

[cssharkey]

Since Crimson Cup is using this thread to advertise, I might use this thread to relate a story about Crimson Cup.

A friend of mine in (who is also a coffee retailer) was investigating Crimson Cup about three years ago when he was starting up. They wanted a huge consulting fee in addition to being his supplier for all of his supplies. When he asked them what he got for his consulting money, they could not give him a straight answer. Now this was three years ago, and maybe they've got their stuff together now - but by the looks of this sneaky spamming, I guess they don't. I just checked out their website though, and it is a very cool website, so at least they've got one thing going for them.

Oh, and if you ever want to learn more about Crimson Cup just call 1800 555-5555. I truly suggest calling them. They will answer all of your questions no problem. No pressure.
In fact, if you act right now, you will get 5% off your first order.
Mention this post and receive 5% off your consulting fee.

Terms and conditions may apply. Void where prohibited.

 

[H Man]

:-D :lol:

This thread is sooo funny!

Here's my contribution to the search engine optimization campaign:


BTW, I think they call this "Google Bombing" or something like that...

Crimson Cup

8)

 

[equus007]

oh yeah

I shot them a nasty e-mail and they responded by saying...

"I am sorry that you have been receiving such emails and I thank you for
bringing it to our attention. In fact, we have never endorsed spam and have
sent nothing out to anyone in the coffee industry. We will obviously do
anything in our power to have these emails stop. "

I responded rather nastily which I apologized for later and they said...

"I appreciate your concern for keeping the CoffeeForums.com website just that, a forum for people in the business. For your records, we have never posted on either site. If you feel these posts from "fake customers" are some sort of guerilla advertising I suggest that you have the administrator of the site confirm the origin of the posts in question. I am quite positive the So. Cal post is from a guy named Vicente who we are working with currently on opening a coffee shop. My guess is the other is a customer named Christina is a customer of ours who has an independent coffee shop in FL.



The fact of the matter is that we have been in business for 15 years and have helped hundreds of coffee shops open and continue to supply them with product. Is it that far fetched that someone appreciates what we do? If you have any questions about what we do and how our program works I would welcome you to call us directly or better yet contact any of the customers listed on our website at random and speak to them.



I appreciate your apologize email yesterday. Please contact us directly next time before posting such remarks on the blog."

...I still don't believe them...too much of a coincidence that all of the posts were from new people who only posted 1-2 times and that it was on several different sites.

You make the call. I personaly would have never done business with them anyway.

 

[equus007]

etc

I invited them to post a rebuttal here if they felt the need. We'll see.

 

[CrimsonCup]

I have debated with myself for days on whether to respond but when I have read that a potential customer is being harassed how can I not respond?

First let me start by saying that I am not the owner or an “official” representative of CrimsonCup. I work at CrimsonCup and found this site not too long ago and was enjoying reading what people were saying for months. I did not contribute because I, myself, am not a coffee shop owner and my impression is that people here are looking for “hands-on” experience and opinions of coffee shop owners themselves.

If someone were to come here and ask for experiences with CrimsonCup (like they have) I would only expect that if anyone has had an experience with CrimsonCup, they would respond (mostly, like they have). If it is good, great we are doing our job. If it bad, then apparently we have more to learn. If you wanted my (or our) opinion of CrimsonCup then you would have called us and received our opinion. If you want someone else’s opinion then this would a place one place to ask.

So, why is so hard to believe that people might say positive things about us? Or even ask about our services? And just because someone types the word CrimsonCup why are they a “mole” and spamming?

From what I can tell there are two things that should be considered. One is, when anyone has said negative things about CrimsonCup is there anyone defending? That is, for example, is anyone responding quickly and with adamancy that they are wrong? If you look back I think you will find not. If I (we) were to be spamming I (we) can assure you that I (we) would not let a negative response go by without rebuttal. And second, can you honestly say that someone has blatantly just come here to sell services from CrimsonCup like so many other posters do on a daily basis?

Our potential customer is not a coffee shop that has already opened, like most of you are. That being said, most people here are not our potential customer. If you have had an experience with us please share. If you have not…well…I guess the reason I am posting is, please do not harass people for giving their opinion.

I have been trying to avoid “selling” CrimsonCup but one of things that we offer is a forum for independent coffee shop owners to share all their knowledge and experiences with each other so they can learn and grow with the experiences of each other. Every one of our owners is independent and will impact their local community. We do not own or run a coffee shop. We teach, and give the tools, so people can successfully open and run a coffee shop, while continuing to support them with their marketing, product and financial tools after being open. This is not unlike what this board represents.

I would think that all of us could run a successful business while taking market share from Starbucks. Essentially, we all could all win (except Starbucks).

If you want to know something from me about CrimsonCup just ask and I will respond. I will let other posters represent themselves, without harassment or comment, no matter what their opinions and I will answer your questions honestly and openly. I hope to get the same from you.

Dave

By the way, it is CrimsonCup not Crimson Cup

 

[CrimsonCup]

I would fix my typos if they let me. They do not, so please fix them mentally.

Thank You

 

[equus007]

umm

:evil: I seem to have created a monster out of this one. :twisted:

Firstly let me state that I have expressed to CrimsonCup that I in no way speak for the entire forum nor am I the Op. Its a forum and everyone is free to speak their minds within the guidelines posted.

Secondly let me stress that from my experience no one on CoffeeForums is a "coffee Nazi". We are more than willing to help out anyone with suggestions be they franchise or independant. We, more than anyone site I have visited, understand the industry and take a very adult(generally) stance wrt the business end of coffee.

I believe Christine is in fact one of Crimson Cup's customers(she e-mailed me) and welcome any raves that their people may have regarding their experiences with them...jut as much as I welcome the rants. I am still not convinced that the originals posts(all four? of them)were not spam but again I am only one guy. The people who responded to my accusations of spamming are not sheep, they are intelligent men that are fully able to form their own opinions.

 

[H Man]

BAAAAH :-D

 

[topher]

I have stayed away from this thread mainly because I have no idea who crimson cup is. I think everyone needs to read the rules before they post.

2. URLs posted must be accompanied by quotes and discussion. Website address dropping or spamming is not permitted. We have opened a section of the forum for Coffee Business to business where URL dropping or blatant Coffee related company listings are allowed.

3. Signing your name is allowed, however URL dropping in signatures is disallowed and will be removed. Your profile can contain a URL however it may not be referred to. We do this because signiture lines take up a lot of space and make it harder for people to see the next post

 

[Coffee Guy]

Uh Yeah :lol: what Topher said... 8)

 

[topher]

coffee guy...I just realized you url drop in your signiture where is the moderators when you need them :wink:
3. Signing your name is allowed, however URL dropping in signatures is disallowed and will be removed. Your profile can contain a URL however it may not be referred to. We do this because signiture lines take up a lot of space and make it harder for people to see the next post

 

[equus007]

yeah

yeah they have been doing alot of that with me as well through e-mail. I have simply ignored them. If you look at their site you can probably tell who nathan is by looking at the little pics they have posted. I don't think anybody really cares anymore except for maybe them. Just kinda sad...I feel for the customers they alienated especially the real one(s) that posted here.

 

[topher]

wow I feel left out...no email or anything but as cafemakers said who really cares...

 

[Coffee Guy]

Hee hee...just as I said "If you ignore them, they will leave" 8)

 

[nathanvoght]

Andrew, thanks for taking the time to talk with me yesterday. I understand that everyone is really interested in hearing from those three original posters that did not leave any credible information about who they were. However, I felt compelled to call you since you left your email and phone number in your post.

I appreciate your apparent desire to resolve some questions raised by this thread. However, now I see that you really don't want a resolution. I don't appreciate your presumption that someone asked me to call you. I think your statements are completely irresponsible and unfounded. Had you considered that maybe I was just being conversational? Instead of posting your thoughts/questions about me in a thread, why not just call me back and ask me directly?

You told me on the phone that you are just trying to get to the bottom of some statements made by those three previous posters, and that you had nothing against CrimsonCup. You blamed equus007 for starting to question who was behind the posts, but it now is apparent that you, too, are part of this. Oh well, I tried.