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Date: 05 Oct 2006 10:55:35
From: colin
Subject: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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Just saw this on Canada.Com
Colin - CoffeeCrew.Com
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 09:31:05
From: coffeecrew
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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More quotes from Canada.Com -
Vince Piccolo said (of new owner Willie Mounzer)
"He is better able to move the company forward than I am..."
I would have thought with Vince's business acumen than he
would have been unstoppable.
It is a "former Earl's creator" who is actually no longer part of
Earl's that
bought up Artigiano - Willie built 52 Earls locations from the one
that opened
in 1982.
Willie goes on to say: "It wouldn't be very hard for me to take "it"
(Artigiano) everywhere
but I'm not sure about that yet..." citing "It's also nice to have a
few in Vancouver and just enjoy your life..."
Willie Mounzer says he wants to learn more about the coffee business
before deciding about the "companies future".. and continues "But down
the road, if everything works well, I think there is room for more
"premium-casual" coffee shops in other kets.
My personal thought: I have been to Artigiano dozens and dozens of
times. In the beginning, when Vince or Sammy were absent from one of
the cafes (perhaps on an errand) there was a noticeable blip or lag in
the energy and quality of product. That has not happened in a long
time. Artigiano (at last check a month or so ago) was a well oiled
specialty coffee delivery mechanism... an organism. It feeds on the
customers, the energy of the staff and the quality of their beverages
and like a perfect perpetual motion machine, it gives all the energy
back.
Artigiano is in a league all its own. Let's hope they can keep the buzz
alive.
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 08:43:55
From:
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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Ken Fox wrote:
> "Former Earl's chain executive buys string of local coffee shops
>
> Maybe the new owners think that this is an operation that can be either
> franchised, greatly expanded, or both. From the standpoint of Vince and
> Sammy, presumably this is a good move. From the viewpoint of coffee
> consumers in Vancouver, perhaps it is less good:-)
Additional intel from Reg at EspressoTec.Com indicates that the
new owner has "no desire to change anything..."
Two things -
a.) The universe abhors a vacuum and change is inevitable and
b.) Starbucks said they wouldn't touch Torrefazione Cafes either.
I think we all know that one day soon, we will see change at Artigiano.
It might be small. It might be large.
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 21:01:43
From: Ed Needham
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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It became a joke with employees of KFC Corp. that when upper management said
things were not going to do something, a few months later...they did. Like
clockwork. It's a stock price thing. Don't get the investors upset.
--
*********************
Ed Needham®
"to absurdity and beyond!"
http://www.homeroaster.com
(include [FRIEND] in subject line to get through my SPAM filters)
*********************
<cafeboiling@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1160149434.072206.15390@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Additional intel from Reg at EspressoTec.Com indicates that the
> new owner has "no desire to change anything..."
>
> Two things -
> a.) The universe abhors a vacuum and change is inevitable and
> b.) Starbucks said they wouldn't touch Torrefazione Cafes either.
>
> I think we all know that one day soon, we will see change at Artigiano.
> It might be small. It might be large.
>
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Date: 07 Oct 2006 14:31:33
From: Barry Jarrett
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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On Fri, 6 Oct 2006 21:01:43 -0400, "Ed Needham"
<ed@NOSPAMhomeroaster.com > wrote:
>clockwork. It's a stock price thing. Don't get the investors upset.
especially in the 4th quarter.
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 06:04:18
From: Ken Fox
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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"colin" <rnewell@uvic.ca > wrote in message
news:944be71c89dcd50c63c825516e2df9fe@grapevine.islandnet.com...
> Just saw this on Canada.Com
>
>
> Colin - CoffeeCrew.Com
>
>
This is what nonsubscribers can get off that site before the button
requiring registration:
"Former Earl's chain executive buys string of local coffee shops
Willie Mounzer 'can take us to next level,' Artigiano co-owner says
Caffe Artigiano owners Vince and Sam Piccolo have sold the popular Vancouver
coffee chain to former Earl's Restaurants executive Willie Mounzer for an
undisclosed price."
It's not exactly Earl's buying them, but they have sold.
Maybe the new owners think that this is an operation that can be either
franchised, greatly expanded, or both. From the standpoint of Vince and
Sammy, presumably this is a good move. From the viewpoint of coffee
consumers in Vancouver, perhaps it is less good:-)
There's always the Elysian Room, my personal favorite in Vancouver.
ken
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Date: 09 Oct 2006 15:42:55
From: Espressopithecus (Java Man)
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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In article <4omv5oFfeu0jU1@individual.net >,
morceaudemerdeThisMerdeGoes@hotmail.com says...
> "colin" <rnewell@uvic.ca> wrote in message
> news:944be71c89dcd50c63c825516e2df9fe@grapevine.islandnet.com...
> > Just saw this on Canada.Com
> >
> >
> > Colin - CoffeeCrew.Com
> >
> >
>
> This is what nonsubscribers can get off that site before the button
> requiring registration:
>
> "Former Earl's chain executive buys string of local coffee shops
>
> Willie Mounzer 'can take us to next level,' Artigiano co-owner says
> Caffe Artigiano owners Vince and Sam Piccolo have sold the popular Vancouver
> coffee chain to former Earl's Restaurants executive Willie Mounzer for an
> undisclosed price."
>
> It's not exactly Earl's buying them, but they have sold.
>
> Maybe the new owners think that this is an operation that can be either
> franchised, greatly expanded, or both. From the standpoint of Vince and
> Sammy, presumably this is a good move. From the viewpoint of coffee
> consumers in Vancouver, perhaps it is less good:-)
>
Earl's Canadian competitors often vel at how well Earls delivers
quality and value in food and presentation at its modest prices. I've
heard other restaurant execs say "I don't know how they do it". Some of
that know-how would certainly help Artigiano expand.
St business people buy businesses which they believe have much more
growth potential in their hands than in the hands of the current owners.
Put Artigiano's current business together with the experience to take a
foodservice company from 4 locations to 40, and you've got a potential
business winner -- emphasis on "business". That will likely require
changes that might well disappoint AC readers but wouldn't even be a
blip the radar of 98% of the Artigiano clientele.
Rick
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Date: 12 Oct 2006 13:53:18
From: Jack Denver
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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There's always a question as to how far you can stretch, expand and
duplicate a concept before it breaks. Some ideas travel well, others are so
uniquely rooted to a particular location and/or particular individuals,
they can't be duplicated at all and you'll kill them just by trying. Cafe
du Monde could open a million locations in mall food courts and none of them
would have anything like the magic of sitting in outside in the French
Quarter, even if they used the same coffee and the same beignet recipe. In
the case of Starbucks, apparently they've designed something that is like a
perfect contagious virus that can replicate itself infinitely without
apparent damage to the concept (at least to its money making capacity). On
the other end of the spectrum, we all know of local restaurants that have
changed hands and after the original owner has departed , even if they don't
change a jot or tittle (sometimes especially if they don't) its just not
"the same" anymore - the mojo is gone.
I don't know the players in this case but given (A) the current growing
awareness of what REAL quality espresso is (see for example the recent NY
Times article - by the time the NY Times jumps on a trend it is already well
established) and (B) the fact that quality espresso is not rocket science
and beyond ordinary human reach IF management is focused on and is not
indifferent to this goal and (C) the availability of skilled corporate
managers who by now have learned the proven methods for "scaling up"single
location concepts into chains (methods that are not by any means foolproof
but at least increase your chances of success), it is only a matter of time
before someone puts the pieces together. This Willie fellow seems as well
equipped as anyone to do this, but I don't know whether he will be the one
or not.
It will take someone with the vision to see that "quality espresso" is a
product for which there is a developing but distinct niche that is not being
filled by Starbucks. Someone with the discipline not to give into the
temptation of short term profit and is willing to educate the public rather
than rely on what is already popular. Remember that when Starbucks started,
the "latte" was a drink that was unknown to the public and everyone was used
to paying 60 cents for a cup of watery drip coffee. If Starbucks had
assumed that the route to long term profit in coffee was in duplicating
exactly what Dunkin Donuts was doing, on the theory that "this is what the
public wants", they would have gotten nowhere. Any fool will assume that
what the public wanted yesterday is what they will want tomorrow (the US
auto industry ran itself into the ground with such fools at the helm) - the
real geniuses have the vision to know what the public will want tomorrow
even before the public does.
"Espressopithecus (Java Man)" <rickk@letterectomyTELUS.net > wrote in message
news:MPG.1f940ddbb35a30cc989858@shawnews.vc.shawcable.net...
> In article <4omv5oFfeu0jU1@individual.net>,
> morceaudemerdeThisMerdeGoes@hotmail.com says...
>> "colin" <rnewell@uvic.ca> wrote in message
>> news:944be71c89dcd50c63c825516e2df9fe@grapevine.islandnet.com...
>> > Just saw this on Canada.Com
>> >
>> >
>> > Colin - CoffeeCrew.Com
>> >
>> >
>>
>> This is what nonsubscribers can get off that site before the button
>> requiring registration:
>>
>> "Former Earl's chain executive buys string of local coffee shops
>>
>> Willie Mounzer 'can take us to next level,' Artigiano co-owner says
>> Caffe Artigiano owners Vince and Sam Piccolo have sold the popular
>> Vancouver
>> coffee chain to former Earl's Restaurants executive Willie Mounzer for an
>> undisclosed price."
>>
>> It's not exactly Earl's buying them, but they have sold.
>>
>> Maybe the new owners think that this is an operation that can be either
>> franchised, greatly expanded, or both. From the standpoint of Vince and
>> Sammy, presumably this is a good move. From the viewpoint of coffee
>> consumers in Vancouver, perhaps it is less good:-)
>>
> Earl's Canadian competitors often vel at how well Earls delivers
> quality and value in food and presentation at its modest prices. I've
> heard other restaurant execs say "I don't know how they do it". Some of
> that know-how would certainly help Artigiano expand.
>
> St business people buy businesses which they believe have much more
> growth potential in their hands than in the hands of the current owners.
> Put Artigiano's current business together with the experience to take a
> foodservice company from 4 locations to 40, and you've got a potential
> business winner -- emphasis on "business". That will likely require
> changes that might well disappoint AC readers but wouldn't even be a
> blip the radar of 98% of the Artigiano clientele.
>
> Rick
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 15:46:39
From: Barry Jarrett
Subject: Re: Earl's buys Artigiano! Noooooooooooo!!
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> 'can take us to next level,'
i really wish this phrase would fade into obscurity.
--barry "it needs to take itself to the next level and go away"
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