BIGGBY® COFFEE HOSTING ANNUAL FRANCHISE MEETING AND MEDIA DAY
Posted on August 7, 2018
BIGGBY® COFFEE AFM to Include Media Day and Press Conference, Barista Competitions, and Much More!
East Lansing, MI, August 7, 2018–Beginning Tuesday, August 14 BIGGBY® COFFEE will be hosting their two-day Annual Franchise Meeting for all owner/operators, baristas, and Home Office employees. This year’s Annual Franchise Meeting (AFM) is being held at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, MI. Each year the location of AFM changes to “share the love” with different cities where BIGGBY® cafes are located. This year the area of choice is the Southeast Michigan market.
Some highlight events that are being held at this year’s AFM include the first annual Media Day and Press Conference, Pull, Pour, and Present barista competition, Store and Barista of the Year awards, the Best in Show BIGGBY® Car Contest, and classes for owner/operators, managers, and baristas. “Each year AFM is an opportunity for the BIGGBY® family to get together to learn, catch up with friends, enjoy some store-to-store competition, and get ready for a great fourth quarter,” said co-CEO Bob Fish. “The Home Office team plans and hosts AFM for BIGGBY® Nation and it’s one of our proudest and most enjoyable events each year.”
This year’s Media Day and Press Conference is also an opportunity for press to join the fun for the first time ever. “We have quite a few big announcements on the horizon so we thought it would be appropriate to give the press a peek into our world…and there’s no better venue than AFM,” said VP of the Brand Sphere, Jamie Stepanian-Bennett. “We’re excited for the buzz of AFM to be felt and highlighted by the media and we know they’ll leave with stories to share and coffee in their veins.”
Each year BIGGBY® COFFEE also uses the AFM platform to bring baristas together for the Pull, Pour, and Present competition. BIGGBY® baristas were invited to submit an entry video and those who made it past preliminaries will be preparing drinks to be judged on their pours, weight, taste, and latte art for a cash prize! Last year’s Pull, Pour, and Present winner, Rebekah Thomas, was featured on marketing materials including billboards, enjoyed local fame, and shared her story with BIGGBY® fanatics through social media. Pull, Pour, and Present—and AFM for that matter!—is more than an annual BIGGBY® event, it’s a chance to have fun, make friends, and share great coffee.
BIGGBY® COFFEE, East Lansing, Mich.-based, was started with a single store on March 15, 1995. One year later, and on the cusp of opening a second location, Bob Fish and Michael McFall, on a handshake and $4,000, decided to franchise the concept. BIGGBY® COFFEE’s cultural values of Make Friends, Have Fun, B Yourself, and Share Great Coffee help coffee-lovers and the coffee-curious alike benefit from a less pretentious and fun approach to the standard gourmet cafe paradigm. Besides connoisseur-worthy drinks with pronounceable names like Teddy Bear® and Caramel Marvel®, BIGGBY® baristas provide a unique experience focused on brightening their customer’s day and supporting them in building a life they love. The “Big ‘B’” on the orange background caught on, and today BIGGBY® COFFEE has over 270 cafes open or under contract across ten states including: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, and New Jersey. In 2018, BIGGBY® launched an Area Representative Program and currently has 4 area representatives in 4 states.
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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Caitlin Carpenter at 517-898-3677 or email at ccarpenter@biggby.com.