Tuesday, March 4, 2008

BIGGBY COFFEE -- Ann Arbor

Goooood Morning!

I woke up early this morning...and I had bagels on my mind. I got a phone call from Barry Greenblatt of Barry Bagels http://www.barrybagels.com/ last night.....he was calling me because the flour he uses to make bagels has jumped up in price again and he was trying to figure out a solution. Barry supplies virtually all our stores with bagels...it took me a long time to convince him that it would be a good idea. He is a very traditional Bagel maker....and he was a little concerned about getting all of our stores the bagels in a quality way (you gotta like that!), but we been doin' it for years now and it's working out great....we get the best bagels in the world from Toledo OH....and Barry keeps his ovens cranking.

Anyway, I'm on the road about 45 min, and I am feeding my brain with a little NPR from MI Radio (my driving companion) http://www.michiganradio.org/ , but my cup of coffee that I left home with, is runnin' dry (it doesn't take me long)...so I start scheming on where I could stop next...it came to me in a flash, we have a location just off US 23 between Ypsi and AA on Washtenaw Rd...right next to Chipolte.

I think I am goin' catch these guys off guard, I mean it's still early...I slide in the front door and BANG!....there's Jordan....he has known me for a while...so there is no 'trench coating' past him. I gotta say that either he knew I was comin' or he has just has the most perfect customer service skills around! I tried to provide as much misinformation as I could yesterday so that people wouldn't know I was sliden' into Toledo today.....I'm given full disclosure now though, because I am pretty sure I saw Jordan on the phone puttin the APB out on me:)
A little change up today, I ordered a double short hazelnut latte (a nutty buddy in our system), Eva took my order (she is from Czechoslovakia orginally, she met her husband there....he is from the States).....a perfect 10 in the order process, I aleady had a bannana this morning, and I was going to call that breakfast, but somehow she talked me into a blueberry muffin. There were some samples there on the counter, and all she had to say to me in her slight Czech accent was 'try some' and the hook was in, and I was buyin' a muffin. She gave a me whole bunch of stamps on my frequency card...I always dig that....moves me a little quicker to my free beverage!

I jumped down to get my drink from Jordan, no suprise, it was beautiful.....it looked so creamy, I couldn't wait to take my first sip....divine....theres no other way to say it, I finished it faster than I should have, but it was so, so good...I just wanted to lick the inside of the cup to get the last of it mmmmm,mm.
Eva and Jordan
Those guys were busy and it was hard to get in there, to shoot them....I was begining to think Jordan was a Rock Star....cuz' everybody that came in seemed to know him.....one woman even said 'hey handsome'.....Jordan was talkin' to everybody, about everything....I can gaurantee you this, everybody who came in, is comin' back....I was watching them as they left and they keep sayin' stuff like 'see you later', 'see you tomorrow', one even said 'I love you guys'.....it warms my heart to hear these things....good drink, good music, and a neighborhood vibe that was spot on!
Eva and Jordan you guys are great, and I'm coming back! I gotta move on, I still need to get to Toledo and say Hello to Barry!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Bob,

I love the blog! I also love that you feed your brain with NPR while driving from Biggby to Biggby. I too, and a huge fan of both NPR and Biggby. I was listening today when I pulled into the Biggby in the DeWitt shopping center. The staff there is spectacular - always smiling, friendly and fast. Keep up the great work!

Nigel T. Monkey said...

This is the store I frequent. The staff here is GREAT!!!
I'll be moving to the West side of town in a few months and will miss my stops in before work on Fridays. Hopefully they will open a new store out by Ann Arbor-Saline Road/Eisenhower area.

Anonymous said...

This is the spot I frequent while at school (EMU.) And I have to say that they are GREAT! And boy-are the bagels tasty! I recommend the Turkey! Keep up the great work AA and Bob, your a joy to read!