Four Firkins

For what they want you to chip in I would expect more confirmed access to hard to get releases. It just seems like they want something for very little that you can get from any other store.

 

You have to love the FF. When they were out of regular BCBS they offered me 2008 BCBS. They are a very nice store with lots of good product. I would love to help them out but I think that the reality is that most of us just don't have the money to fund their new store(s) especially just for a couple of confirmed access to something everyone wants and as someone already brought up... is that gonna be a four pack or a single bottle. Regardless I would love to help the store but all that money for so little in return just isn't worth it. Really if you have that much money to give up to secure such little beer, one might as well take the day off of work and go bottle shopping. Surely one would do better that way. The only way I see this as a good thing is that it helps a true beer store but it also hurts other true beer stores that have been hooking people up for years. I personally can't come up with the moola even if I wanted to. These days it seems like even the beer stores are trying to do the money grab and this is just another example. I will be supporting my local store instead of helping put them out of business. And that is no dig at Alvy as he is a great guy but in the end we are just helping support a chain instead of helping the people who have hooked us up for years. It's a shit sandwhich... Damned if you do and damned if you don't. I personally love the relationships I have built with my local stores and feel like I would be helping put them out of business if took the tiny token for the money I donated. Cheers to Alvey for all he has done for the beer scene and all the advocacy he has done with the government. It's a sad thing to have to make this kind of decision but in the end I don't have the money for a couple releases that I could trade for if I don't get them.

 

The customer service they like to provide is to the novice beer drinker. They want to sound like the experts all the time.

 

I'm not giving to Alvey's established business kickstarter money any more than I'm giving Target kickstarter money to open a new store. <sarcasm>It's a miracle Heritage was able to afford their new digs without crowdsourcing.</sarcasm>

 

I agree. I feel FF is a store more for those just getting into the craft beer scene that don't realize they are paying higher prices (in many cases) or that they could get the same craft beer often at a local store closer to their homes. I see many customers with no idea what they want to buy when they shop there. I'm not saying this business model is wrong but the store seems aimed toward novice craft drinkers.

 

It always makes me wonder how they are one of the first stores to be sold out of limited release stuff. Literally in minutes they'll be out of stuff. Who are these people that just wait for them to get it then go there. I know well enough not even to try there.

 

The funding is currently up to over $11k. Incredible.

I wish someone from FF would respond to this thread defending their money grab, I mean expansion funding request. I'm not sure how FF could state their case for needing money for expansion of 5 stores but I am willing to listen to their side.

The bad feelings toward and lost of business FF from some on BA probably won't hurt their business as much as $50k but their reputation is being drug in the mud.

 

My thought on this is. They do not sell the volume of flagship beers others do. I would assume they get pretty small allotment because the lack of flagship sales.

 

"I'm just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they're getting hoggy. Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way." - The "Cubes" (AKA Mark Cuban)

 

they send out the bat signal whenever they get something rare to twitter and facebook and have a large following in both places.

If I'm looking for something rare these days, I'm generally going to the places that don't send out the batsignal every time something drops. works better.

 

And open a bar to boot.

 

Wow, I'm pretty appalled by this...I've written, then deleted several times, because I'm not sure what to say. I'm an owner of a small business, and fully understand start up costs, loans, and being leveraged to the tilt, but as an owner we do this because we believe in our business. We are the ones who gain as our business grows, the customer/community can get trickle down benefits, but it's not the same. I'd love to hire 10 more sales reps to grow my business even further and faster, but I don't currently have the funds to do so. It takes time, dedication and sacrifice amongst a solid business plan, which is what I thought FF was all about before I received the email yesterday.

Last time I checked, I picked up the tab when I took my customers out to dinner, not the other way around and I certainly don't charge them(maybe I'm not exactly comparing apples to apples here being in a different industry, but still). $1k for beer to be held for you? $1.5k for a beer class with ten beers? - Go on Amazon and buy the book Tasting Beer for $10, I guarantee you'll learn more. $5k for one on one consulting with the one and only Alvey??? If you're worth $5K, for 5 hours, why the F### can't you afford to open a second shop.

This little fundraiser might work for the cash injection, but talk about bad press.

 

I knew that a second store was in the offing, but from the way this has developed, maybe a third and fourth location will be likely, too?

 

They really have nothing to gain by responding to this. They're successful enough for this thread not to matter one bit. You know, the 'dont feed the dogs and they'll go away' logic. They'll hit their goal. Life will move on...

Also, I second that they are more geared to the novice drinker, although they are very knowledgeable by the simple fact that they all get to drink a ton of beer, often times rare/special stuff that people bring in.

 

Yep, they have no need to respond. It'll do them no good. They will hit their goal, and even if they don't, they get to keep whatever money they raise. It's at $11k after a day, they'll get there with some word of mouth.

 

The FF plan is to open 5 stores so a store can be close to everyone in the Metro area. But remember that FF is just a small business so they need our money to do this. I wonder if FF will ask for more $ when they begin to open stores #3, #4 and #5?

 

Who knows, but it seems this money is to help them get the 2nd store open, where they can take better advantage of economy of scale. Order more, lower prices, compete better (though are their prices really limiting their competition? Seems like their prices are what they are, and the idea is they provide a better service then Byerlys down the street.) I just can't see how they haven't run a business for as long as they have and managed enough profit to fund their own down payment for a second store. As an investor I'd be nervous if that was the case.

 

Four Firkins is a “Boutique” shop in my opinion. The reason why one off stores tend to make it is because they are special. If you go to 50th and France or The Galleria, how many of those stores exist somewhere else? Not many. Once there are 2, 3, 4 of the same store with no real competitive advantage, you sales will take from the others. If I drove from St Paul to the Four Firkins, my business will now be shifted to Woodbury…my dollars are the same. Will they pick up new customers, sure, but will the new customers be worth the investment. I believe that FF is fun for people to go to because it is “their” store. I like going to see Ed, Bill, Mick and Jim. They all have the same beer as MGM, FF and Total wine, but I like to go there; and I can buy more than just craft beer because sometimes I am looking for something additional. Does the price that FF charges justify me going there and not one of the dozen I drive to along the way, no it does not. Beer is a commodity.

 

Relevent and topical situation (but on a much larger scale)

"Crowdfunding has always carefully walked the line between a charitable gift and a businesses investment. But more and more, projects are starting to look like the latter, leaving backers to wonder why they should keep giving."