Kyle Barnhart grew up in Panama City Beach, Florida: The Redneck Rivera of the Gulf Coast. He graduated from JR Arnold High School back in 2005 and immediately high-tailed it to Houston, Texas, to attend Rice University. He enjoys food and quantum mechanics and was the 2009-2010 co-editor of the 
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Your coffee is better than my coffee (REDUX)
On April 25th, a team of suited-up somebodies tore the plastic wrap off of Rice's newest structural question mark. The Brochstein Pavilion is a huge glass box full of chairs and plasma TV's (sort of like the Situation Room) nestled between the RMC-- Rice's tiny little collection of shops and eateries-- and Fondren Library. I suppose the idea behind this huge glass box was to provide students a place to work and eat at the same time; something more formal than the RMC but less formal than the Library. But like any good idea that Rice's administration has ever squatted out of its brain-thorax, the Pavilion has conjured a huge and stupid mess of problems and bitchy, clever blog posts all over the Internets.
Problems? Enter Dirk's Coffee. It's not really Dirk's Coffee, though. Dirk was an Avant-Garde douchebag who sold all of his coffee to THE MAN a couple of years ago in order to fund his blossoming crank lab. Actually Dirk's Coffee is a rebranding of Dietrich's Coffee, which itself is a brand owned by Starbucks Coffee. Regardless of who actually owns the coffee, there is a circular kiosk that sells coffee inside the Pavilion which is, essentially, owned and operated by Starbucks. This would perhaps be the coolest and most indie thing ever, if...
- Starbucks was still indie, which it hasn't been since last Tuesday.
- Starbucks was still cool, which... eh. Whatever. I listen to Arcade Fire.
- They actually sold the good products that you like about Starbucks, like the Green Tea Frappuccino. But they don't, because they're branded as Dietrich's/Dirk's.
- WE DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE A COFFEEHOUSE.
I'm not going to point any fingers... no, fuck that, I am going to point some fingers. I guess the first finger is a sweeping one that slices through the entire student body, including myself. Why the fuck didn't we make a bigger ruckus when this was first reported? I know my reaction was something along the lines of "That's so stupid that it'll never happen." But I guess it's been proven time and time again that trusting administrative offices to conform to the rules of logic is sort of like leaving your kids with a babysitter named Josef Fritzl.
The next finger is for President Leebron. Don't get me started on how he "didn't have anything to do with the decision." He's the fucking president of the university. His office knows (or should damn well know) about every business that operates on this campus. While he may not have been sitting in a black robe waving his pale hands over a crystal ball trying to figure out how to cut more student jobs from the campus, the fact that the plan made it from start to finish without his intervention speaks to his priorities: Satan > University > Alumni Donations > His Wife Ping > Students > His Children.
Campus media, I'm going to half-raise a finger at you. There should have been a massive Save Coffeehouse campaign spearheaded via the Thresher and the Rice Standard. It seems that rather than taking a proactive stance on the issue, both publications sat back and waited for the stories to make themselves. Rather than affecting the issue, they cashed in on it, so to speak.
So what else is wrong with bringing Dirk's Starbucks Coffee to the big glass box? Oh, oh! I know! Let me enumerate the ways...
- Dirk's brings nothing new to the table. No 24-hour food solution, no hot meals, no student jobs, and basically nothing that students wanted to fill that Pavilion.
- It's not a Waffle House.
- Rice Coffeehouse has no way whatsoever to compete with Dirk's. In less than a year's time, corporate backing from Seattle will prove Dirk to be the winner in the coming price war between the two establishments. And besides, do you think Leebron + Co. are going to piss money into Coffeehouse or Dirk's?
- Popular opinion suggest that it's not that good.
- Did I mention that closing CH kills dozens of student jobs in favor of three full-time Dirk's employees that don't even go to Rice?
- The other non-Rice operated establishments on campus-- 13th Street Bakery and the Rice Bookstore (O&O by Barnes and Noble)-- are rackets that specialize in high prices and shit-poor service. I guess the University Copy Center is alright but, fuck, I'm sure I could find a complaint if I had a need for it.
16 comments:
wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong! wtf is your damage!
juuuuust kidding :-) teehee
I would agree with this post wholeheartedly one one condition: that Coffeehouse starts selling decent coffee. As it is, I buy and brew all my own coffee rather than support CH, since CH sells coffee that tastes similar to dirt.
I agree though that a better use of the space would be for late night food. Or Waffle House.
Your concerns are legitimate ones, but I'd like to clear up some misunderstandings out there. For one, Diedrich (not Dietrich) Coffee has never been affiliated with Starbucks in any form or fashion. Here is the real story behind Dirk whose last name is Smith if memory serves correct.
He actually is a graduate of Rice University and native Houstonian. He was recruited by Diedrich Coffee in the 90's to be Vice Presidents of Operations or some similar title. He was over all the California stores there. Diedrich Coffee always wanted to be big but never could stop their bleeding.
Long story short, they used to have corporate owned Diedrich stores in Houston. As part of a turnaround effort, the Houston stores were sold to Dirk for $1M dollars. So he was a franchisee for Diedrich Coffee. He was supposed to open 6 other stores, but instead he has shrunk down to just one on Montrose. And that lousy performance held true for the entire "turnaround" efforts that never got off the ground.
So Diedrich Coffee in its latest turnaround attempt (still bleeding red ink) sold all its company stores to Starbucks. That's the only Starbucks connetion. They are only a Roaster now. And the Dirk's Coffee name is part of their new strategy to get out of the coffeehouse business and into wholesaling only. Not sure I understand that part of the logic, but it's definately not connected to Starbucks. It's a small roaster.
And if you are anti-corporate, take comfort in knowing that this coporation has never been able to turn a profit for more than a quarter. They are like a sick animal. So try not to be too abusive, will ya?
And just in case I wasn't real clear about the sale to Starbucks, let me emphasize that they only sold most of their corporate store to Starbucks. Starbucks did not buy the brand or the company. In fact, Starbucks in true predator fashion paid only a pittance for the Diedrich stores, knowing Diedrich was desperate.
Starbucks rebranded those stores to Starbucks stores in, and the agreement is that Diedrich can't open another company store in Houston or California for 6 years or so. OH, I just answered my previous question. That's why its Dirks and not Diedrich Coffee I think. It's part of the agreement with Starbuck's predatory practices attached to the sale of the company owned stores.
And remember, Dirk was a franchisee of Diedrich's. He got kicked out of the Westheimer location because when his lease expired, it coincided with all the crap going down in California as Diedrich struggled to avoid a collision with bankruptcy. Dirk always paid his rent on time and the coffeehouse was popular. But the landlords were spooked. In a controversial move, they told Dirk to hit the dirt.
That created a not-so-good domino effect that did not help the situation with his Clear Lake Store. Now he is down to Montrose, and the deal with Rice was a done deal before he lost the Westheimer store. In the end, all I'm saying is that Starbucks does not own Diedrich, they don't roast the coffee, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with Diedrich in any form or fashion.
Diedrich is really just another struggling coffee company victim of Starbuck's predatory practices.
You know, that's probably the most intelligent thing anyone's ever written on this blog. Including me. Thanks for that.
fuck you.
i work at dirks.
and i work really fuckin hard, might i add.
ohhhhhh.
and im sure one of the reasons dirks opened up, was because the student run coffee house just cant sustain the students high demand for coffee.
and if you REALLY wanted to make a change you wouldnt get on the internet and complain about it, you'd be outside with some signs and shit.
hold on..
lemme look for you...
NOPE.
dont see you.
douchebag
get over.
quit crying.
and its not like dirks doesnt hire rice students, we have 3 students that are employed so far, and im sure that once the summer is over there will be a higher demand for jobs as well. PERHAPS the SRCH workers could apply here. hmmmmmm.
bet you didnt think of that, huh?
I've never seen anyone rush to defend their crappy part-time job with such fervor. Hell, my friends that work at Coffeehouse don't even love their jobs that much. I think you just did all the talking I'd ever need to do myself. And I like your style, too: Give away the zealotry early on because, if nothing else, people will read what you have to say just to see how batshit crazy you are.
Though kudos on calling me out for being non-involved-- after all, didn't I write that thing about Rice students needing to become more involved? Dirk's Coffee isn't exactly an issue that deserves round-the-clock CNN coverage and riot squads overlooking the protests. When it comes to the decision of whether to buy your coffee at the student-organized coffeehouse or the one run by people like you, I think education is all people need.
And the anonymous poster above that corrected some of my misinterpretations about the corporate nature of Dirk's should probably be a lesson to all of us. We don't have all the facts because the entire situation was obfuscated from the rest of the campus, which was very interested in knowing who this new pavilion tenant would be.
I think my article stands well enough up on its own such that I don't have to come back here nearly two months after I wrote it and reply to every one of your arguments, some of which have changed since the time I wrote it.
But you stand up for your job at Dirk's, man. Maybe they'll even promote you to manager in 20 years.
Hey, corporate or not corporate, its a job and a decent one at that. It's really hard to fight the establishment and "the Man" when you're living on the street. Diedrich's hired me when no one else would because of my crazy school schedule. So why the angry rhetoric? We are all just doing teh best we can to get by. I'm sorry your pavilion didnt turn into what all Rice students expected but then maybe ALL of your anger should be directed at your school officials, not at the people who work hard every day and get up early so you can have your coffee or muffins.
Though I respect those who work to earn honest money in the Pavilion coffee shop, I share concerns about the arrival of yet another coffee shop. Rather than strengthening our campus community around the student-run coffee shop or promoting the free-trade, organic coffee they sell, Rice administration has placed a competitive, outside business within 2 minutes' walking distance of the student center.
Though Dirk's coffeehouse is already in place, Rice students still have the power to change it. What can we do? We can support Rice Coffeehouse and refuse to purchase anything from the Pavilion. But we can't do it alone; we have to get the message out to other students, faculty and staff. We also need to communicate our concerns to the administration, showing them the magnitude of distaste for the new business.
I really appreciate the views you have shared online. I hope your passionate opinions will transform into action in the coming months and I'm eager to help in any way I can.
Regarding Margie's comment - most of the coffee sold at Dirk's is fair trade certified and/or organic and/or shade grown. And all of it is roasted locally by a native Houstonian specialty coffee roaster/small business owner. So now on campus you can choose from TWO local specialty coffee roasters in the TWO independent coffee houses. I think that is something Rice students should laud, not demonize.
Why would Dirk's Cafe be getting coffee from a local roaster and not their Diedrich roasting facility in California, which was purchased with the Gloria Jean's chain back in 1999?
It's my understanding that Dirk would be in violation of his franchise agreement by buying from a local roaster, but maybe the relationship between the two are bad? Nothing surprises me anymore.
BTW, I posted the story of how Dirk's came to be a few posts above, and it's been awhile since I came back in here.
I just want it on the record that I'm a very, very angry shareholder -- well, former shareholder in that company. I know a lot about the company because I was abused and my hard earned money pissed down the toilet in this company.
I just don't agree that Rice has to be so anti-corporate, and they definately aren't Starbucks. I loved them as a coffeeshop in Houston; I hate my decision in investing in their future "success."
I also have to add that I was wrong about Dirk being a graduate of Rice. He is a graduate of U of H. Still, that's part of the Houston family I think.
It's my understanding he lives in California though. The only thing Diedrich has going for it are its k-cup sales, a quick-serve office/home product that is experiencing phenominal growth; however, the margins are slim, and the company still can't turn a profit.
The company owns the struggling Gloria Jean's chain too. The former Diedrich stores in Houston were originally bought from Brother's Coffee. Dirk had former franchising experience with Taco Bell before the Diedrich days, and I think he was a regional manager or something.
Diedrich's former chairman, John Martin, was a prior CEO of Taco Bell, and he recruited a lot of former Taco Bell executives, Dirk being one of them, to help Dierich dominate the world and crush Starbucks into oblivion. Or at least be the Pepsi to their coke. Yeah, well, it didn't quite turn out that way, obviously.
Anonymous former shareholder, I appreciate you coming back here every once-in-a-while and updating everyone on the Dirk's debacle. This post must be the first thing to come up on Google searches; the volume of comments and attention it is getting months after its publication is sort of unprecedented.
Predictably, student concern over Diedrich's and the on-campus coffeehouse at this point is tepid. In fact my only real issue continues to be the necessity of installing Dirk's when we could have just moved the original coffeehouse to the pavilion instead. Rice Coffeehouse could have then facilitated more jobs and more customers, students and faculty would still be able to get their coffee, and RC could have expanded its own menu using the resources afforded by the Pavilion. It's as simple as that.
college students write and argue about stupid shit; you should be studying
what a great idea kyle, take all the jobs away from all the broke ass community college kids and college dropouts who are employed at dirks and give them to all the upper class "successful" students at rice. you asshole rice kids just think you deserve everything in the world but the reality is those jobs are being filled by people who really need them. the proof? the one rice student who works there works less 15 hours a week. the college dropouts all work 20-35. we bust our asses just to survive in this world because we are the lower class rejects whose parents couldnt afford to buy our way out of all the shit thats happened to us, and were tired of your shit. we NEED these jobs. you do not. fuck off.
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