Dripped

Dunn Brothers coffee is a regional coffee shop chain (with some franchise inroads outside Minnesota) that sells really, really good coffee. In fact, as this post appears, I’m very likely drinking a Dunn Brothers medium roast.

But its corporate office had a really, really bad idea.

Dunns’ corporate headquarters is reportedly hosting Mayor Bloomberg’s “Plutocrats Interdicting Guns” (PIG)” “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” (MAIG) when they pass through the Twin Cities on their “Stick It To The Law-Abiding Plebeians” [1] tour.

Now, I don’t believe in boycotts – partly because they don’t work, but also because Dunn’s is a franchise operation that includes many independent businesspeople whose politics may be very, very different from the corporate line.

So I sent them this letter instead:

——–

Dunnbros,

I’ve been buying coffee at Dunn Brothers since you were a single store on Grand Avenue. Sometimes, when working near a Dunn’s, I’ve been known to go twice a day.

So I’m a little – ok, a lot – disappointed to see that Dunn Brothers corporate office is hosting Michael Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” tour.

Name notwithstanding, the group has nothing to do with illegal firearms; all of the group’s policy initiatives relate to attacking the law-abiding citizens’ human right to self-defense.

In the last 20 years, as gun laws have grown more liberal, violent crime has dropped sharply. The main exceptions are several of the cities whose mayors are in MAIG. MAIG has not a factual leg to stand on.

As a rigorously law-abiding guy, from a group that is two orders of magnitude less likely to commit a violent crime than the general public, I’m disappointed with your corporate office’s support of this group.

I urge Dunn Brothers’ corporate HQ to reconsider hosting MAIG.

Mitch Berg
Saint Paul

Sent from my iPhone

8 thoughts on “Dripped

  1. Ya know, seems to me that all of these fruity coffee joints are in bed with lefties in one way or another.

    Conservatives like good coffee too, but you don’t tend to associate them with these places, wanna know why?

    It’s ’cause conservatives are smert enough to realize that we can buy a pound of the best Kona for the price of two cups at the fruity coffee shack.

    That, and we don’t like chicks with hardware displays in their noses, bad tattoos and hairy pits messing with our brew.

  2. In general, I can handle a little diversity in facial adornment. My wife and I, however, were at Gloria Jean’s at the Mall O’ Amerika and encountered a would-be server with his face heavily tattooed and enough hardware dangling from all the usual (and unusual) places that he would have made a good muskie lure. It was so unappetizing we just walked away.

    And Dunn Bros coffee always tastes burnt to me.

  3. Well, for those days when I want to pay someone ELSE to make my coffee, I gotta cop to it; I like Dunn’s.

    And girls barrista-ing at the Dunn’s I used to go to pretty much daily, across from Ecolab? Cute, yes. Face tattoos and hanging hardware, no.

    Your mileage may vary.

  4. And Swiftee, I know of at least one Dunn’s run by a Republican who has run plenty of GOP events. And that makes a mean medium roast.

  5. Our local Dunn Bros. was opened by a great gal, probably in her mid-40’s whose husband and two old-enough kids worked at the shop without compensation. They put all their available cash, including retirement funds, to take a shot at making it on their own.

    Unfortunately, fate shot back.

    The “recessiondepressionBush’sfaulthousingbubbleburst” hit and caused all the development planned around her shop that she counted on to keep her afloat was cancelled. Plus, as only a franchisee, she had no power to stop Dunn corporate from setting up a little Dunn Bros. stand in the Cub Foods across the street from her. The final nail was the city developer’s construction of a one-way street and roundabout where her store was located, making it almost impossible to get to.

    After finally running out of cash during her father’s prolonged death due to cancer, she went under. I had already left work, so I missed her final day. Kind of glad I did since I really admired her and would have had a hard time wishing her well.

    So I agree with Mr. Berg; those who run the stores may have little to do with corporate goings-on. However, a friendly note or reminder from a steady customer might be good. Many Dunn stores also have public bulletin boards. Posting a copy of something similar to this might also not be unwelcomed.

  6. I, too, prefer Dunn Brothers, so when I stop by my favorite one in EP tomorrow morning, which I think is a franchised location, since it’s in the historic Smith Douglas More house, I’ll ask if they agree with the stupidity of the corporation. I will react accordingly.

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