Diedrich’in a Cup O’ Coffee

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz likes to tell his new trainees about the concept of a “third place.” Generally speaking, the first place is home, the second place is work, and the all powerful THIRD place is where we actually want to be. You know… that other place you can find me.

Diedrich’s is my third place.

Of course, since the Westheimer location closed, I rarely do more than drop in for a double espresso over ice… but here it is folks… the best coffee in town.
Yeah, so it is small, a little dirty, and if you want WiFi you have to try to steal it from another local business…
but all of that is a small price to pay for the killer blends of beans served by Diedrich.

But, speaking of Howard, guess who owns Diedrich’s as of last year? That’s right. Our favorite Seattle based company.

Don’t let it differ you too much though, Diedrich proper was bought out by Starbucks last year… but our local version is a franchise. The owner of the local franchise pays a small percentage to Starbucks in order to use the name. All of the Diedrichs in California (the only other state it existed in) were remodeled into generica purple chair venti two spenda stores… but ours remains. We are lucky.

Plus, Diedrich still exists as a roasting company.
If you don’t want your money going to Howard, buy beans online!

Watch out Rice University… a new branch will be hitting you in the next month!

Inversion Coffee and the Coffee Shop Conspiracy

Below is an extremely biased review of Inversion Coffee,

1953 Montrose Blvd
Houston, TX 77006
(713) 523-4866

Listen,
I think it is important for the public to understand the reality of this “independent” coffee shop.
I loved Inversion. Since its opening, I have often ventured into their gallery atmosphere to study, read, and drink killer Katz’s coffee. The atmosphere was exciting and playful with a Cheers type we know your name quality. I mean, they have free WiFi! That in itself is amazing and hard to come by. The staff always seemed hip, young, and knowledgeable with an Onion Creek/ Spider house type flair.
However,
The thing about Inversion is, it is modeled after Starbucks. The guys that founded this place came over from S-bucks… and were encouraged to use their Howard Schultz bred training to create a setup/business model of the same caliber.
I mean, people come to indie coffee shops to get away from the corporate conglomerate. Now that Diedrich’s is owned by our favorite Seattle based enterprise, where’s a kid supposed to go for a good cup of anti-globalization?
Not Inversion.
These guys (the owners… not management…) know nothing about and have no passion for coffee as coffee. Coffee is merely a commodity to them. As are the employees. Staff is treated as expendable.
One early morning in April, the owners came in and fired the completely qualified manager in the middle of a busy shift. This manager was NOT let-go because of inadequacies in managerial duties. Her fault was in standing up for the employees.
The “partners” who own Inversion let loyal workers go for frivolous mistakes. The store is not generating profit fast enough for them, so the obvious solution is to cut the hours of the already understaffed store.
And this, my friends is why this week when you walk into Inversion Coffee, you will see an all new staff. Your favorite coffee rebels have left the building, and left the partners to figure out how to make the first lattes of their lives.
Perhaps these capitalists have learned their lesson. Perhaps they will respect their new employees. Perhaps after being temporarily forced into the blue collar eight hour shifts of a barista for a few days these white collars now understand the value of a happy staff.
Perhaps. Maybe.
But as for me, I’m a barista. I don’t make enough money to put it in the pockets of guys like that.