Four Firkins

It's interesting. As one friend always says about crowd sourcing, "Why would I give money to someone to help them make more money?" It's a fair point. The rewards do not really cover the cost, so it's just free money to them. $1000 to have beer held for you? $500 for some swag? I hope nothing but the best for the store, but unless I get to be an investor, then it's just giving money to them with minimal return.

 

Yeah, I'm not really a fan of any kickstarters/indiegogo/etc's

 

Free beer for life would do it for me! (not sure how much I would donate to achieve that status)

 

Some I'm ok with. If a product won't get made without me pre-ordering it through something, then I'll throw in my money early to support it. I've done it with some graphic novels and stuff. Likely wouldn't have been created without some early help. Really just a pre-order, but to fund a business without being an investor? I'll pass. Rather spend my money there and get my beer.

 

Socialism. Seriously, that is what Kickstarter reminds me of. Just like that arcade in Minneapolis that opened without a business plan and had to Kickstarter "fundraisers" to stay open. Of course they eventually shut down.

 

x2 to everything above. I like the FF a lot and have been buying from them since day 1, but they dont need more of my money while offering little in return. I can get my regular beer store to hold beer for me for free most of the time...

 

I'm a big fan of the Firkins, and I have supported some Kickstarters that made sense to me (and wish I funded Northbound). But this one doesn't.

I get that they have the bulk of the funding lined up from the bank, and that this is the downpayment - but if they don't have enough for a downpayment, I'm not sure they should be expanding. As much as I love the store, if they don't have enough profit to fund the downpayment for a second location, it probably isn't a good idea to expand.

 

Remember that one time Ziggy Wilf was worth Billions of dollars but still wanted to government to pay for his stadium... (ok , a bit of a stretch for this scenario, but you get the picture)

I have nothing against the firkins, they are a friendly and knowledgable staff and I feel like they are always hosting tastings and a great starting point for beginners I also feel like this will be a nice store to have east of the river.

Its also worth noting, there are people here in the metro have more expendable income than I can dream of, and Im sure there are people who can put down a large amount and write it off and not even blink. That person just doesn't happen to be me.

 

Saying they have they offer the best customer service in the state is laughable. They lack in this area in my opinion.

 

I like the offer to have your name immortalized in the "original" SLP location. What is that now? An Ax-Man annex?

 

Im going to start a kickstarter for my beer fund. You guys pay me, in return, Ill send you a picture of me drinking the beer. You guys are then free to do what you like with the picture. Most likely fridge material.

 

So FF is planning on someday having 5 stores across the Metro and they are looking for $50k while giving back some cheap swag and reserving the right to buy 1 or 2 limited releases? No thanks!

I enjoyed how FF tried to play the small, independent store angle while they are on the side of the large, chain liquor stores to get Sunday sales while many (most?) of the small stores are against the idea. I guess now we really know why FF is campaigning for Sunday sales. It's all about $ and has little to do with customers having access on Sundays. If this funding request wasn't true, I would laugh at the idea.

I guess there are suckers, FF already has $4k of free money raised.

 

As much as I disagree with their methods of raising capital, your notions are much more laughable. FF is on the side of the consumer and on the side of their best interest when it comes to Sunday sales. How does the fact that they aspire to have multiple locations put them on the side of the chain stores (which most have not come out in support of lifting the Sunday ban)? I mean by that logic Grumpy's is the same as Applebee's, Republic is equatable to Red Lobster, Punch is the same as Pizza Hut...

 

Maximum disappoint. Not only are they a business that has been running for years successfully asking for a Kickstarter-type cash infusion but the rewards they are offering are for the most part laughable. Almost everything there is available in the store for cheaper.

If they need the money, they aren't running an effective enough business to expand. If they don't then they are just asking for a handout. Kickstarters are justifiable for start ups, although I like FF, they are not a start up.

 

To me this is a slippery slope... Paying a "premium" to have the "right" to have beers held for you... step one in the wrong direction.

 

You know, you don't HAVE to give to them. That's kinda how these things get determined to be successful or not. Judging by their fundraising page though, it looks like they've built up enough goodwill with a lot of their other customers that they'll have enough supporters to get them to their goal.

So many negative posts right out of the gate here, you would've thought Zach Braff was behind this one!

 

One consumer's perspective: Store A wants to have multiple locations where they sell to customers 7 days a week. Store B wants to prevent competition from selling to consumers on Sunday in order to (in theory) save themselves money paid to an employee.

If in fact, both stores are making these moves because "It's all about $", I know which one I prefer as a consumer.

And your accusation that FF is "on the side of" chain stores is transparent MBLA rhetoric for "if you're not with us, you're against us".

 

If this is successful, I wonder how long it will take for others to essentially "charge" their loyal customers for access to limited releases. $300 (plus the cost of the beer) gets three years of one limited release per year? Sounds like a great deal (*insert Internet sarcasm here).

In the name of fairness and transparency, this is not an attack on Alvey or anyone else associated with the Four Firkins. I do like their store and what they represent; they are always friendly and have never come off as pompous (like the staff at a store I used to frequent in Roseville). However, I fully disagree with this method of obtaining funds for any business expansion.