What's going on with Craft Beer Cellar?

"The suggestion that there is more to the story is positioned by some owner-operators that are doing a colorful job of telling stories, instead of working to become a successful Craft Beer Cellar!"......they make it sound like a cult. 14 stores in 18 months says more about the Franchisor than the Franchisee....

 

That the Franchisor created....

 

It's funny how many businesses (cough Trillium cough) blame their issues on how fast they're growing. They can't wait to promote how much they're growing, and how successful they are, but they don't pay enough attention to what that growth means for operations. "Look at us! We're growing! It's so exciting!"

Months later: "We screwed up." No shit, mainly because you were so enamored of your initial success you forgot to actually operate the business appropriately.

 

The correct answer is: Yes

 

Shhhhhhhhhaddup you!!!!

 

Laughable. The Trump comparison is dead on.

Blame blame blame, deflect and, sometimes, outright lie

I hope they fold completely. There are too many good local independently owned stores that deserve my business that don’t pull this kind of crap into the mix. These ladies just don’t seem to want to check themselves in the slightest. A little humility goes a long way

 

“We'll leave Portland and Brandon for now, though what we can guess is that both of these stores will likely not weather the storm of the current beer industry. Both stores were declining in the efforts needed to be successful; both were pushing back against simple things that are at the core of what it means to be a Craft Beer Cellar, for example, immersing yourself in the community in which you are doing business, having the best selection in your city, and having the most educated staff (including ownership). Both stores favored the tap room model, despite our constant efforts to reiterate the unbalanced bias of a dual concept store that tipped in this direction.”

I’m Reading this thread as an outsider to the New England beer scene. I lived in Brandon FL until very recently. It’s a large suburb about 15 minutes outside of Tampa. The Brandon craft beer cellar recently changed names to FR Bottle shop and from what I can tell is doing great. And that’s with them being in close proximity to not only a large total wine that has one of the better beer selections in the Tampa Bay Area but also all of the great breweries that The Tampa area has to offer. They also are very involved with the craft beer community and scene in this area and host lots of fun beer events, tap takeovers and bottle shares on an almost weekly basis. From what I’m reading on this thread and from the above posted CBC blog post the owners are either clueless, delusional, and just plain salty that people are running as fast as they can from their franchise.

 

Another blog post. https://blog.craftbeercellar.com/bl...ILV5KHxtBYZksjQeSQKqZXpPZF8d9rDg3jgrbuxqhG6h8

 

So we can safely assume that some journalist is writing a story about this stuff. Makes sense about their blog. Trying to get out in front and do damage control. Funny thing is all their posts probably did the opposite. I can’t wait to see what the story is this time.

 

Sooo defensive.....

This same journalist emailed last week...
"You mentioned that someone from the brand team has visited all of the stores in the network. A franchisee asked me why you didn't visit a California store last year while you were in the area at the Firestone Invitational event. Do you care to respond?"

Do they realize that a journalist will want to corroborate a comment with someone else before printing said comment?

 

This is giving off some serious "Fake News" & "liberal media is the enemy of the people" vibes

 

Yes, keep making yourselves look bad! What a stupid blog post. You really needed to justify how hard you work because a journalist asked why you didn't visit a store? Oh boy this is better than daytime TV.

Wonder how many potential franchisees have decided against working with them after seeing how they so quickly turn on their own?

Also, Suzanne's picture in that blog post is a great way to portray yourself... She looks really friendly and approachable

 

Sounds like they are trying to get out ahead of what they think might be bad publicity... it will be interesting to read the article or story when it comes out.

But really, why say you’ve visited each store if you actually haven’t??? That is the crux of the issue, not whether or not they deserve a long weekend off. They opened themselves up to scrutiny by stating something false- don’t try to deflect by letting everyone know how hard you work. That’s not the point.

 

Just joined up on BA so I can post something as I have been following this thread and the whole CBC issue. Just went into the Craft Beer Cellar in Swampscott - they're closing end of month. Everything has to go. Discounts are being offered. The owner says he can't post any longer on social media - wouldn't give a reason why but didn't seem pleased about it.

So if yet another CBC closes and no hears about it - does that mean it didn't happen? Head in the sand or what? Bought a mix 6-Pack and a beer sign and wished him luck.

 

I believe the Winchester CBC store also mentioned that they were unable to post about their closing on social media, as the CBC franchise had taken control of their social media accounts. Not sure if they meant literally, or perhaps it was something in their franchise agreement about how to handle store closings.

 

Would it have been so bad to just say "y'know what, you're right we havent visited those stores and we probably should have, but we were on vacation and not focused on work. We're sorry and we'll get out there as soon as we can."
Instead we get multiple paragraphs of them trying to prove they work the hardest. Typically i would think they shouldnt have to justify taking a vacation by talking about how hard they work or how long it's been since their last vacation. On the other hand they mostly blame the closings of their franchise locations on the owners not working hard enough, so of course they have to talk about that.

 

THIS ^

Each time they have been called out or even questioned there has been an opportunity to offer a simple answer, apology or explanation. Yet we keep hearing how everything is not their fault: stores are closing because they don’t try hard enough, hate women, or aren’t following the magic formula that will make them a success. It got old long ago. Time to man - strike that- woman up and accept a bit of responsibility for what is going wrong with your franchises.

 

Obviously that journalist asking the questions is a Straight, White Male.