4/13/08 Its a great sunday afternoon getting some work done, sunny day, took a break hung out in the beacon muddy cup for awhile talking with some friends and customers. A goup sitting by the window a couple of people I recognize from being frequent customers. I stopped to talk for a few minutes one older unassuming gentelman was among the group, others in the group introduced me we shook hands. I continued my discussion with the group, we mostly talked about how coffee houses provide an important gathering place for communities. This is a conversation I have often with people and most are in complete agreement no matter what generation they are from. But on the this day the unassuming gentelman who had kind words to say about the Muddy Cup was Musician Pete Seeger, a beacon resident, and though I am not as familiar with his music as some might be his reputation for teaching people to "question the world and come up with answers" precedes him. JIM 4/9/08 press and more press last week front page of the Poughkeepsie journal, this week the kingston times, today aired and interview on WAMC radio with Susan Barnett. Its nice to know that others see the hard work and good happenings that we do at the various muddy cups and the communities that they are in. Let me also take a moment and shout out to all those entrepreneurs out there that take a risk, work long hours, are passionate about what you do, just know that there is always someone out there that knows, appreciates, and understands what you are going through and the hard work you put into what ever your business maybe. Creating a business is fun, exciting, scary, exhilirating, exhausting, disappointing, and every other adjective I can come up with. being an entrepreneur can come with great success and disappointing failure. whatever may come your way we give credit to all those that make the effort and take the risk may many rewards be with you. Jim 3/21/08 ofcourse I haven't done a blog entry for a couple of months i'm busy give me a break LOL. anyway here's whats new: Celeberty siting this month was in new paltz, Eddie Izzard hung out, his new show " the Riches" is pretty cool, no cross dressing for eddie in the show yet but his son does. been busy working on some new locations as everyone I think knows already we are opening a new Muddy cup Coffee house on the corner of main st. in saugerties, NY. This is going to be a very special Muddy Cup because we have partnered with the pervious tenant, Inquiring minds book store, and going to create a totally integrated coffee house and book store lounge, its going to be very cool. I also apprieciate all the emails I have been getting from the residents of saugerties in support of this project and keeping the book store in town as well. (side note: Dave you bought the building next door, we are so flattered that you want to duplicate what we are doing and look forward to working with you to create an enhanced experience for the residents and visitors of saugerties.) until next time Jim 1/1/08 Jim, I don’t know if these comments will make the Muddy cup Blog but gaining access is not easy. First of all you always had a short attention span and yes your grammar skills are questionable as well as your handwriting style- do you still print. I was interested in the customer service comments. I do agree that respect for all people during any service transactions in person, phone or electronic should be a priority but only if the provider / supplier of services makes it easy to do business with. Being a trainer / management consultant nationwide there is a tremendous need to continually make the customer feel like a real person and exhibit empathetic feelings for customer situations. And of course nothing like a good cup of coffee and a comfortable social environment to accomplish that feeling !!! Well Jim just wanted to wish you and the Muddy Cup staff a healthy and successful New Year !! Your brother Gary 12/19/07 Usually I don't respond to attacks on my business and character directly but since it was in the form of a "letter to the editor" which ofcourse is not fact checked by the newspaper I must respond. I figured I would respond using my blog since more people read my blog than the news paper that this letter appeared in. Ok Mr. Daniel Ditonno the Owner of "No Beans About it" a new coffee/lunch place in Schenectady, lets address some of the misinformation that was contained in your letter to the editor since the Daily Gazette chose not to fact check and to print a letter that attacked another person and business owner in the community. First of all Daniel welcome to the community, I wish you well and great success I am sure that you will do very well. All those people wishing you well wished us well when we started also, The key to our success will be giving the people of Schenectady quality choices and no doubt we will share some of the same customers as well as our own. The attack on Metroplex was uncalled for, the staff of the Metroplex as worked very hard in its redevelopment plan for downtown and as we all know has done a remarkable job at helping to turn around downtown Schenectady, maybe you should spend more time reaching out to others than attacking your neighbors. Lets talk coffee, the coffee supplier you are refering to is actually a part of the Muddy Cup Company, we had no problems selling you coffee, the problem started when you went around town to "introduce yourself" you actually went around bragging that you were going to serve "Muddy Cup Coffee" and stating that you were even going to use the same cup style. No threats were made to you, That was a lie, we gave up your business and quickly refered you to another coffee supplier without interuption. So Daniel, lets get to the root of this problem, the issue was not greed, it is something called a Brand, copyright and a trademark. We have spent many years building our brand and what it stands for, we have spent alot of money and time trademarking our brand, logo and name, we have also spent 20 years roasting coffee and perfecting our blends. Company's do this to prevent other companys from stealing there name and doing business on the back of the hard work of another business. You said you are a starbucks type of coffee house, lets say you obtained some starbucks coffee and told everyone that you serve starbucks coffee, well you need to talk to starbucks about that and obtain a license to say "we proudly serve Starbucks coffee". Daniel if you want to say "we proudly serve Muddy Cup Coffee" then you need to ask, not take or brag about what is not yours. We have worked very hard and have had our share of failures and successes and those experiences is what makes up the Muddy Cup Brand, those are experiences that you must go thru on your own as you build your own identity and your business,(otherwise you would buy a franchise) who knows someday there maybe 100's of "No beans about it" stores all over and you will be protecting your brand as well. Daniel anytime you want to sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about business let me know, but instead of complaining and offering attacks in a letter to the editor maybe you should work with the business community which includes the muddy cup and metroplex and be a part of the redevelopment, not just in the money you invest but in more meaningful ways in working with others in your community. Jim 10/10/07 Well here I sit at the New Muddy Cup Cafe which is part of the Proctor's theater in downtown Schenectady. Yep thats right Schenectady who would of thought we would have a muddy cup in Schenectady! this town is coming up! not just the fact that there is now a big beautiful Muddy Cup Cafe that actually serves real food. With a huge expansion of Proctors theater a multiplex movie theater and many new restaurants and bars. All you hudson valley folks who have not been to the proctors theater for a show are missing out! check out www.proctors.org and come see a show. Jim 9/12/07 I keep my blog short for several reasons: 1. The longer it is the more mistakes in grammar I am likely to make 2. My readers have a short attention span 3. I have a short attention span Ok so today’s topic is customer complaints: I consider ourselves lucky, when I consider how many stores as we have now and how many customers we serve a day , I really feel we do a great job and get very few complaints. I get the occasional customer who emails me a complaint about a staff person or a bad experience at one of the stores. I do take all comments seriously, BUT let’s talk about this. Is the customer always right! Bucking the usual trend in the food industry I say NO! I am sure I have pissed off a few people but here are my thoughts. As a customer even though they are spending hard earned money have just as much responsibility in treating a person serving you with respect as they do you. Being on the other side of the counter and spending money does not give anyone the right to be rude, mean or offensive. All of us serve others in someway and all of us are customers at some point. I think most of us put an invisible wall up and pretend that the person serving us behind the counter is not a real person trying to make a living, has a family, is a single mom or just trying to make ends meet and overall a good person. How many of us stay in a continuously good mood throughout an 8 hour day? Think of it this way as far as my business: Its like having quests in your house all day long coming and going, asking to be served, eating all your food, putting their feet on your furniture, not cleaning up after themselves and then being rude and ungrateful. I think all of us at some point would say enough is enough and GET OUT! Well of course we can’t do that, we would be out of business in no time. So I guess what I am trying to say is that for some businesses (not all) that there is a mutual respectful community relationship that develops between the business and the community and the server and the customer, we are all human beings for those of you that forget this then get your coffee from a vending machine. Jim ----------------------------------------------- 9/1/07 Ahhh the internet, it has been great for the Muddy Cup, our web site has been going strong for more than 6 years. This month we had over 88,000 hits with over 3000 unique users every month, not bad for a coffee house. Our web site has been a work in progress but it is really coming into its own. Check out the new video page kind of like our own muddy cup “youtube”. 8/8/07     I am always amazed at how many people read my blog and comment on it weither in response to something I said or to point out all my typo's and mispelled words, I am working on proof reading just so you know.     Star sighting of the week at the Poughkeepsie Muddy Cup none other then Senator Chuck Schumer of NY, he was quoted as saying that he loves the Muddy Cup. A special thanks goes out to Nancy Cozean, Mayor of Poughkeepsie for bringing him by.     Also we are redoing the Muddy Cup TV page and adding more video's check out the short video from enation the band that performed at the new paltz muddy cup featuring  Jonathan and randy jackson.  thanks for the shout out guy's.     well thats all from now, there are alot of interesting things in the works and some new announcements coming up so stay tuned. Jim ----------------------------------------------- 7/28/07     These days I am on the road so much that I don't get time to blog to much, maybe I should just do frequent  shorter blogs. I tend to get interupted  frequently while I am workiing at a store, I don't mind  I love talking with customers.     TOPIC:   Musicains, I love musicians, I love live music,  I love music, I love  the fact that I can provide venues for musicains to share their  art with and audience.  Running  a venue is a tough business there is alot of over head, there are days, weeks or months where its slow, guess who has to pull money out of their pocket and pay the bills. Ofcourse I don't mind you just save up for a rainy day and hope it doesn't rain to much. My point - I can't always offer a musician money to play.     First of all I want to thank all the musicians that have played for me over the years both at the muddy cup's and at the various bars  and night clubs I have owned, I have  developed many relationships and have made many friends.  At the  New Paltz  store today we have several musicians playing, one of them is Bobby Zapp who was one of the first musicians  to ever play at  a muddy cup, the one in Staten Island, he now lives in New Platz, talk about full circle. Thanks Bobby.     By the way if your interested in playing at a muddy cup just click on the link that says special events it will take you to a myspace page for that store that has a calendar and a contact for booking that store, we get so may requests that we are trying to get our selves organized so bare with us. Jim ----------------------------------------------- 7/11/07       Maybe today while I am sitting here in our new paltz, NY store where we finally have the airconditioning working, thank god since we are in the middle of a heat wave. So now it is very comfortable in here. Just got back from a week off spent the july 4th week in province -town Cape cod, my first week away in over two years, it was very peaceful there, I want to open a Muddy Cup There maybe I will open a muddy cup in all the resort areas of the US, that way I will be forced to take a vacation.  LOL        Ok our first star sighting in new paltz, as you all know I love watching Smallville, so last week  Allison Mack  www.allisonmack.com   who plays Chloe Sullivan stopped in to the Muddy Cup, the staff alex and bill were so thrilled, come see us again. Well thats all for now have a few weeks of normal work schedule before we start on the Schnectady NY. store. later Jimmy ----------------------------------------------- 6/25/07 Well there done Poughke, epsie opened last month and new paltz open a couple of weeks ago, check out the pictures on the web site. I have to say that we are getting better at what we do with each new muddy cup. As you know from visiting the stores or looking at the pictures online we take great pride in our designs, which are meant to complement and restore old spaces. the communities have embraced both new stores and we have begun to book events and music at both poughkeepsie and new paltz, so stop in and check it out. One last note regarding the new paltz controversy, now that we are open i think everyone has realized that we are not a threat to 60 main, infact there business has increased since we opened and we have been colaberating on a monthly fundraiser, so as I said before together we can do great things. well our lastest celeberty siting at the hudson Muddy Cup is: Mary stuart Masterson who hanging out at the muddy cup today, not revealing my age to much but I sort of came of age with her (in a non-sexual way ofcourse). thanks for visiting mary see ya soon. www.mary-stuart-masterson.com     Ofcourse i am still waiting for uma to return, uma if you are reading this will do a video clip for our website? please, it would be so cool. ----------------------------------------------- 5/1/07       Hey everyone,  well thigs are still crazy just trying to get the New Paltz and Poughkeepsie stores construction finished and open. It has been a wild spring so it will be great to get these projects finished before summer kicks into high gear. We also just finished expanding the beacon, NY. store which doubled in size and we are now working on the expanding the outdoor patio area, it is the place to be in the summer.       Kingston and Catskill, our new stores that opened this winter are doing great with an incrediable entertainment schedule thanks to John in Catskill and Nikki in Kingston.      Star siting this week was Parker Posey www.parkerposey.org  very cool actress if you didn't already know was spotted enjoying the Hudson Muddy Cup this last week. Thanks  Parker  dont forget to say hi next time your in. Thats all for now we will have more news soon, there are exciting things in the works so stay tuned Jim ----------------------------------------------- 3/3/07  let's update Hudson - it's been a quiet winter in hudson but at least the Muddy Cup has been busy, everytime I walk into that store it feels like a well worn comfortable shoe, and of course it is where Tippy the cat lives. Albany - wow what a winter we really have gotten alot of support from the faculty and students from St. Rose after the whole starbucks controversey.  Oh and a shout out to Josh and tom for running the best open mic in albany and thanks to everyone who brought can food items in for the regional food bank food drive it was a great success. Catskill - As you all know this store opened in january and the people of catskill have really responded, it seems that the Muddy cup on main st. is a hit. John Pinder who runs the open mic is doing a great job and on its third week it is packed every monday night. Thanks john for taking the job of booking the events. Kingston - I must admit that the muddy cup in kingston looks amazing, somthing about the open space just feels right, its a little less traditonal then our other stores but still feels more that comfortable   check out the wood stock times this week for a great review on our design     Woodstock Times       Look for the feature article in this sunday's Daily Freeman, kingston's daily news paper with story and photos of the store. It seems kingston has been waiting alongtime for a real coffee house to hang out at. Beacon - We have almost completed our expansion, soon we will break through the wall and unvail our our new addition. we will have two meeting rooms for groups to meet and we will be able to have more events and music throughout the summer. Thsi spring we will also be landscaping the other side of our outdoor area and adding more outdoor seating. April 1st will be our one year aniversery. I know everyone has been asking when will the Poughkeepsie muddy cup open? construction is now being completed and we are shooting to open at the end of april. The new paltz store is now under construction, What an amazing space this is going to be, we are restoring the space back to its original condition with exposed brick walls and stripping out the original hardwood floors. I feel that this Muddy cup will have to very special since there are high  expectations. I also want to thank all the people from new paltz who have sent emails of in support of us opening on main st. we look forward to opening and being a part of the new paltz community. we wish good things to all, and we thank our staff for doing such a great job Jim/Brian Hello  2/4/07 Well its official I am now head of the "evil empire" never thought in a million years when I built the first muddy cup coffee house on staten island that I would be labeled an evil empire. One nasty email I got actually compared me to Walmart are these people freakin crazy, are we still in high school, grow up people its time to enter the real world, besides who doesn't like the muddy cup! On a lighter note last weeks Muddy Cup star sighting was Uma Thurman www.umathurmanonline.com  she was so nice and yes absolutely beautiful, thanks for stopping by the Muddy Cup Coffee House in hudson NY.  we are all great fans, see ya soon. Jim 2/17/07       Hello everyone, I am sitting here reading another article in a newspaper in new paltz NY. last weeks article about the Muddy Cup Coffee House coming to New Paltz was in the SUNY New Paltz student paper, this weeks article was in the New platz Times.      As I sit here reading these articles the interesting thing about them is that not one reporter from these publications ever contacted me for my side of the story or so much as a comment.  It seems is that I am refered to as some unkown entity out there somewhere.        Well here I am, Jim with the help of my partner brian I have built and designed each muddy cup over the last six years, often working 7days a week and struggling finaicially to grow a company that we could be proud of, hiring great staff some of who are still working with us today. We are not a franchise or a "commercial coffee chain" we just happen to own more than one store, each store being unique and a part of the community inwhich it is located.        I will never let anyone whether it is 60 main or bias local publications ever, and i mean ever make me feel bad about working hard, creating a space that people enjoy, giving employment to and working along side great staff. and folowing the american dream.         I know that the majority of the citizens and students of new Paltz are not about building walls, excluding those who dont think as they do and creating a culture of hate. The last time in history this was done (1945) (correction the berlin wall was built in 1961)it was followed by many years of hardship and dispear for its citizens. I promise to brush up on my history but you get the point.          New Paltz !  dont let a sub culture speak for you, work together , because togther we can do great things. Jim

This is the Muddy Cup blog , we are so excited about doing our own blog.
Subjects will include, coffee, business, people, anti starbucks comments and much more. If anyone has any comments that they would like me to add, feel free to to contact me at contact@muddycup.com

Jim/Brian

9-03-05

Sorry we have not blogged for awhile we have been very busy working on the new store! announcing the opening of the new Muddy Cup Coffee House in Albany New York, 30 Min north of the Hudson Location. It has been three months of construction but we are finally open. The space is very unique it is located at 1038 Madison Ave in Albany New York.

The great thing about this location is that it is located in front of and is a part of the Madison Movie theater, a movie theater built in 1929 and was vacant for many years and recently has been renovated and reopened. Our space is 2000' with 25 foot ceilings and a balcony, it is truly an amazing space and goes perfectly with our unique Muddy Cup store design. We will have pictures on the web site soon for all to see.

Jimmy/Brian

Hello Muddy Cuppers as we expand into other communitees we find more and more customers visiting the web site and reading our blog. Our blog is simply a personal view of coffee house culture, current events and issues that might come up from time to time. I love getting e-mails from different communitees. We find out how different we all are but at the same time how we have so much in common and how the Muddy Cup plays a role in the social fabric of a neighborhood.

Remember we all need a place to go other than you house where you can feel a part of the community meet other people and become involved. I can't believe the first muddy cup on Staten Island is going on 5 years most of the time it has been a great experience.

One of the great joys for us is having customers from one neighborhood visit another muddy cup in another neighborhood and even going out of there way to seek us out rather than going somewhere else. I hope it is because of the atmosphere and quality product. Remember these spaces are about the neighborhood and the people that come to the Muddy Cup it should never be about Me (Jim) Brian or Joe we work hard at creating a cool space, it is always up to the customers to make it the warm and inviting and enjoyable.

Well thats all for now, I was trying to define what we do its hard to explain sometimes. Starbucks is starbucks the Muddy Cup is alittle harder to define. But keep in mind its a business also.

Don't forget if you have a comments send them to me at contact@muddycup.com I respond to all e-mails.

Take care, talk soon

Jim/Brian

11/10/05
The Art work of Frank Faulkner including an original sculpture designed for the Muddy Cup are on display at the Muddy Cup coffee House in Hudson.

11/26/05
Famous people at the Muddy Cup: We thought it was pretty cool when they filmed the TV show "The Education of Max Bickford" at the Muddy cup our first year that the Staten Island Store was open. We got to hang out with Richard Dreyfus all day.
Since that day we have had alot of cool people show up at one of our stores and hang out. Musicains that have played like, Marshall Crenshaw,
Graham Parker
and BJ Thomas

of "Rain drops keep fallin on my head" fame these were great concerts and we appreciate these guys taking the time to play at the muddy cup hopefully more cool acts to come, stay tuned.

Jim/Brian

12-07-05
Holidays are here, have been busy decorating the coffee houses for christmas, we are know for decorating and our real christmas trees at our stores everything came out beautiful this year. Its starting to snow a little in the northeast its great my favorite time of year, no better place to hangout than sitting in the Muddy Cup and watching the snow fall.
We are palnning on adding icecream to the Hudson and Albany stores this spring we have people even now coming in asking for icecream, brrrrrrrr.
Good news we are presently working on a possible new location, Can't tell you where or when yet but I will as soon as I can. I can tell you that it would be the largest coffee house in the country if everything works out. Talk you soon.
For those of you in the coffee business or thinking about it checkout:
www.coffeeforums.com

Jim/Brian

12/29/05

Hope everyone has a good holiday, will fill everyone in on all the latest happens in Jan 06.

Jim/brian

1/12/06

Well it looks like the Muddy Cup family is growing again, hopefully we will be announcing a new Muddy Cup Location soon, stay tuned.

Jim/Brian

3-8-06

A New Muddy Cup is presently under construction and will likely open sometime in April, I am not going to disclose the location yet but will post pictures as soon as it is finished. This new store will be a little smaller than the other stores but the location is great and only an hour from Manhattan it will be a great place for our loyal customers to visit. stay tuned

Also just so you know there are two more locations in the works, this is our year to grow. can you believe it has been five years since we opened the original Muddy Cup, time flys when your working hard.

remember any comments you can e-mail us at:

contact@muddycup.com Jim/Brian

6/4/06

What a spring, again I am sorry about not updating my blog as often as I would like. As most of you know we recently opened the beacon, NY Muddy Cup. Beacon is a great town in upstate NY and is only one hour north of Manhattan. beacon is going through a economic revival and has become a really cool town. The Dia Museum is in beacon which is the largest Modern art Museum in the world. The location we got for the Muddy cup is right on the corner of main st and route 9D We are the first store you come to when you walk up to main st from the hudson river. I have spent most of the last month here since it has been so busy. I invite all our Muddy cup fans to visit beacon and check out the town, its a great day trip.

Look for some new stuff on the muddy cup web site including muddy cup TV - there will be video of news reports, how to shows, interviews and funny coffee commercials and much more.

In the news : Jim was recently interviewed on Channel 9 news in albany where they did a story about the Muddy Cup there, We will have the video on the site soon. We also did a press conference two weeks ago announcing a new Muddy Cup Cafe in upstate NY, Yes we are expanding again I will update you on the new locations soon.

drink lots of "great coffee"

Jim/Bri

2/2/07

lets do some updating:

 The new Muddy Cup Just opened in Catskill New York,  the place came out great check out the pictures on the web site.

 Feb 2nd the new Muddy Cup in kingston opened, there will be pictures on the site by this week, this muddy cup has a bit of a different look. I think it came out pretty cool. We are having a grand opening party on feb 9th and we will be video taping the party so stay tuned to muddy cup TV for high lights.

Coming soon the Poughkeepsie Muddy Cup is now on track for completion after some construction delays it is looking like an opening date around april 1st.

The schenectedy Muddy Cup Cafe as you know has been under construction for about ayera now we actually have been waiting for the proctors theater to finish their construction phase. We are due to open June 1st of this year.

The beacon muddy cup has proven to be a big success and embraced by the beacon community and thus we have decide to expand, construction is under way and the muddy cup will double in size and we will also be expanding our famous outdoor patio area.

We also are working on another new location in the hudson valley, I will fill you on the details later.

Jim

Head of th evil empire   (I will explain later)

Hello  2/4/07

Well its official I am now head of the "evil empire" never thought in a million years when I built the first muddy cup coffee house on staten island that I would be labeled an evil empire. One nasty email I got actually compared me to Walmart are these people freakin crazy, are we still in high school, grow up people its time to enter the real world, besides who doesn't like the muddy cup!

On a lighter note last weeks Muddy Cup star sighting was Uma Thurman
www.umathurmanonline.com  she was so nice and yes absolutely beautiful, thanks for stopping by the Muddy Cup Coffee House in hudson NY.  we are all great fans, see ya soon.

Jim

2/17/07

      Hello everyone, I am sitting here reading another article in a newspaper in new paltz NY. last weeks article about the Muddy Cup Coffee House coming to New Paltz was in the SUNY New Paltz student paper, this weeks article was in the New platz Times.

     As I sit here reading these articles the interesting thing about them is that not one reporter from these publications ever contacted me for my side of the story or so much as a comment.  It seems is that I am refered to as some unkown entity out there somewhere.

       Well here I am, Jim with the help of my partner brian I have built and designed each muddy cup over the last six years, often working 7days a week and struggling finaicially to grow a company that we could be proud of, hiring great staff some of who are still working with us today. We are not a franchise or a "commercial coffee chain" we just happen to own more than one store, each store being unique and a part of the community inwhich it is located.

       I will never let anyone whether it is 60 main or bias local publications ever, and i mean ever make me feel bad about working hard, creating a space that people enjoy, giving employment to and working along side great staff. and folowing the american dream.

        I know that the majority of the citizens and students of new Paltz are not about building walls, excluding those who dont think as they do and creating a culture of hate. The last time in history this was done (1945) it was followed by many years of hardship and dispear for its citizens.

         New Paltz !  dont let a sub culture speak for you, work together , because togther we can do great things.

Jim