Crimson Cup Reviews Please

[chrisi]

Hi yha'll. Have any of you coffee shop owners use Crimson Cup? In case some of you are unaware, they are a company who provides advice for small business owners, as well as build out design (to minimize wasted time by counter and equipment not being laid out in an efficient manner) they offer business plan advice, menus, advertising and goods (cups, coffee, etc). We are currently using them at the coffee shop I work at and I personally like that they send drink menus, and the coffee we order is good. They seem to have a pretty good grasp on how to make a coffee shop work for you while keeping Faith/Family/Community on the top of the list. Very important in a small town. I have the opportunity to purchase this said shop along with the real estate. Don't really see a reason NOT to continue business with Crimson Cup. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Where are you located?
Have you ever visited their corporate store in Ohio?
I think if you are not going to roast your own beans, Crimson Cup would be one of the good choices.
They have tons of group buying opportunities and their coffee is pretty good. But the price is pretty high.
I believe they charge around 7 dollars per pound.
I would advise you to visit them in their corporate store and learn more about their operation.

Good Luck

 

[tortillatree]

Crimson Cup's claim to fame is probably their espresso. Really nice shot, and it tastes good brewed as coffee as well. The shop here only carries their espresso, which makes inventory control easy.
I wouldn't say DON'T use them, but I would say, don't AUTOMATICALLY use them. Why not poke around and find out if you have local roasters within 100 miles of you who would be interested in supplying your shop. Having a local connection is always good for sales, and the roaster may be able to help you out with things like "taste of the town" events, or an emergency Sunday delivery, plus sometimes sell you rare microlots that a large roaster can't touch (a lot of times, a microlot is only 10 bags or as much as 50, but that's not enough coffee for a large roaster to mess around with, because they're buying coffee 20,000 pounds at a time).
So get some samples from a few roasters. Drink them side by side. Compare taste/price/service factors and be happy knowing you've made the right choice, whatever it is.

 

[topher]

There was a few discussions about them a few years back. Use the search option at the top of this page. Hope this helps.

 

[chrisi]

Thanks for the opinions everyone. I am definitely going to try and get up to Ohio to visit Crimson Cup. I've seen on fb they also do trip down to Costa Rica to taste and see the roasting process first-hand. I'm in NW Oklahoma- there may be some roasters in Tulsa and or OKC to test out. (Both over an hour away) I really appreciate the guidance.