Four Firkins

You know it's a good thread when one of your posts gets reported to the mods. So stupid.

 

May be true. But i can promise you they will lose sales indirectly. I certainly will never go there again and others have voice that stance. And if someone asks me if they should go there I will steer them somewhere else.

 

Exactly. I'm not saying they are going to be ruined by any means, but I certainly know several of my friends will never shop there again and I won't ever tell anyone to go there again. At some point it all adds up, even if it's merely additional profits they would have gotten, it's something.

 

I feel like the people that support this move see the people that do not. As being outrageous that by them trying some sort of crowd funding as the sole reason we won't go there anymore. It's more than that, it's the arrogant (lacking) customer service. It's paying a 15-20% premium on certain beers. It's the pompous/pretentious attitude that you get when you ask one of the Cicerone/stockboy if you have a certain beer in and they respond as if you asked the most outlandish question. It all adds up and this is the nail in the coffin.

 

Mine too. I mean, I can see why there's no room on these forums for an "April Fools" post. But hey, at least now everyone who stumbles upon this thread will think that I've changed my tune and am now in support of this project

 

Ha, they took away your April fools quote, but left the other?

 

You know the rules: there will be no fun to be had by anyone. Ever.

 

Haha, yes. Saga: the great equalizer.

 

Yes, you're right--I should have stated it a little differently. They will lose a small amount of sales, but I would imagine they will come out fine in the end.

Their Facebook post announcing this has received a bunch of likes, a bunch of shares, and with nary a negative comment to be found whatsoever. I really don't think the general public is at all affronted by this effort. Indiegogo and Kickstarter are the current ways of the world, and businesses asking for money via those methods is getting to be pretty regular. It may not be "right", but it's happening all the same.

I'd hate to ask for people's opinions of Travail on here after their Kickstarter raised $250,000+!!!

 

Sure some obvious similarities. But a lot of differences. You have one of the best restaurants in Minnesota and they offer superior service and one of the best dinning experiences I have ever had. They also gave away better gifts at every level. They were giving away free t-shirts just for saying you would support a kickstarter campaign. FF offers non of these things Travail does.

 

I was a substantial donor to Travail and also one of the folks vocally opposed to the Four Firkin effort (stopped shopping there as a result). I have no cognitive dissonance as a result. Why? Because for my money, Travail has given me multiple options for reservations throughout the year (which they do not do, which gives that some value to me), my name is on the "family wall" (no real value), a calendar (small value, but hilariously awesome and its hanging in my kitchen), two free tickets to their big summer event (free food value), and I also got two tickets to attend their soft-opening (where we had SIXTEEN courses of their new menu for free, for fun, and only had to pay for drinks--due to state law--which included $5 pints of Darkness -- value of at least $200). So, in short, there is a huge effing difference and the comparison almost made me angry.

 

FTFY bud. I've got your back.

 

Just to bring the difference into the open, here is the link to the Prevail Travail Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/travail/travail-democratizing-fine-dining-in-robbinsdale-m

 

I have an excellent understanding of how this business works, thank you. Are there price discounts for quantity purchases? Of course. The same applies to potato chips and, yes, cocaine. Are limited products allocated based on overall brand volume? Absolutely. Are limited products leveraged for the benefit of some other brand? I've never seen it and welcome your secret examples.

 

What in the hell is happening in this thread? Folks, if you want to make a point, complete sentences and punctuation are helpful. Good lord.

 

I would say that plenty of The Four Firkins' customers would view them as one of the best liquor stores in the area. And by definition, one would assume those people have had decent customer experiences there. If the main issue on here is the gifts they are giving away are not commensurate with the amount of money you are donating (which I actually don't disagree with), then I guess the people who donate are getting screwed...? Seems like that's the problem of those folks who are giving money to the campaign, who are adults and presumably understand what they are getting in return, and shame on The FF for not offering more of an incentive. Not sure what else there is to say about that.

However, there are plenty of responses in this thread that either imply or outright state that businesses such as this are in the wrong for asking the public for money via a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. Therein lies my reason for bringing up Travail. Travail and The FF are both for-profit businesses that were looking to expand, and asked for money from the public without giving away ownership in their companies.

Like I said, in regards to the gifts/incentives being offered, yup, I can buy that. In regards to the philosophy behind the practice, however, it is a perfectly apt comparison.

 

I don't know anything about the Travail Kickstarter, so won't comment on that, but Facebook? Sure, some people have no issue throwing out money for nothing. I bet a lot though, liked the post due to FF mentioning they were opening another shop without giving it any further thought or researching the campaign.

I will agree a lot will shop or continue shopping there without ever hearing about this Indiegogo or knowing the full details, or caring about it. I also agree there are a lot of businesses out there looking for free handouts, hell some just get bailed out by the government. From the sounds of it you're stating this is just the way business is conducted now a days and I won't argue that. I'm just not in support of it.

I don't think the idea of free money is good for business in the long run. Business is meant to be risky, because without it people would be less inclined to put their blood and sweat into it to make it successful. IMO, people are highly innovative and creative when anything less than a passionate best effort is insufficient. Free money takes away from that.

 

I can completely understand and support that.

 

...except that businesses have total control over their Facebook pages. I have no idea if they are moderating theirs or not, but I know there are businesses that regularly will delete anything negative posted on their FB page. So the lack of negative opinions is pretty meaningless in this case.