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Go woke, go broke

theprestige said:
Yeah, but one group of people already wasn't buying their product.
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Why wouldn't they?
I always wonder why people think sexuality somehow affects other parts of someones life.

Or is there some perfect exclusion from liking sports games with cheap beer the moment you are not a cis male?
 
theprestige said:
I mean, I doubt AB is going out of business because of this. Over time, their sales volume will start to trend up again.

I think the better long-term metric is the shift of market share to their competitors. It's not like these beer drinkers stopped drinking beer altogether. They just started drinking the competition instead. I doubt they're going to switch back any time soon. Or ever. To recover that market share, AB will probably have to compete with Coors et al for some share of new beer drinkers. 21 year olds who think that American lite beer is their jam, who could be convinced that Bud Light is the better choice. I'm not sure how AB makes that happen. More LGBTQ+ promotional events? I understand kids these days are into that sort of thing.
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Or just wait this nonsense out. Hell, in June, Coors and Miller will probably have rainbow cans. Then what will these piss water connoisseurs drink?
 
The Daily Mail reports a fact: An anti-capitalist cafe in Toronto, Canada, closes after a year. (The second link is to the cafe's own website, in case you're paranoid about the Daily Mail misreporting things.)

But I'm not sure this is a perfect fit for this thread. A hardcore anarchist, anti-capitalist enterprise seems less "go woke" and more "the lunacy of the fringe left". YMMV.
 
theprestige said:
The Daily Mail reports a fact: An anti-capitalist cafe in Toronto, Canada, closes after a year. (The second link is to the cafe's own website, in case you're paranoid about the Daily Mail misreporting things.)

But I'm not sure this is a perfect fit for this thread. A hardcore anarchist, anti-capitalist enterprise seems less "go woke" and more "the lunacy of the fringe left". YMMV.
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I do love this from his FAQ on why his product is so expensive:

Most places I've worked, which all charged what I do now, didn't make a penny for the first 2 years - not an option for someone starting a business with no funding and relying on it for their income - and even after that they live or die by their ability to sell $5-$6 croissants, merchandise, beans etc. So I picked prices that were the lowest I could afford, and that wouldn't have to be increased as soon as rent kicks in after the 6 month grace period.
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Those greedy capitalists he hates so much don't make a penny for the first two years?:D
 
Brainster said:
I do love this from his FAQ on why his product is so expensive:



Those greedy capitalists he hates so much don't make a penny for the first two years?:D
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I'm surprised you haven't heard of that one before.

The stat that I've heard is that new businesses (of the group that don't fail) tend to break even by the end of the second year, and start making a profit in the third.

The usual recommendation used to be that you need three years of operating expenses in hand before you open a business.

A very large proportion of small businesses fail in the first two years because they run out of money.

(This was the received wisdom when I was doing my first business degree.)
 
novaphile said:
I'm surprised you haven't heard of that one before.

The stat that I've heard is that new businesses (of the group that don't fail) tend to break even by the end of the second year, and start making a profit in the third.

The usual recommendation used to be that you need three years of operating expenses in hand before you open a business.

A very large proportion of small businesses fail in the first two years because they run out of money.

(This was the received wisdom when I was doing my first business degree.)
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I can't speak for him, but I think you misunderstood his point. The guy was obviously against "greedy capitalism" while unironically admitting that nobody can make a quick buck opening a new business, that it takes time.
 
I imagine there are many reasons, good and bad, for a business failing. One of them is some service, or unusual quality that justifies the price. It's not just the financial cushion that gives big businesses the edge, but also the cost of everything they buy.

Many years ago in my little town, a couple of ambitious people decided to open a market. There had been one once, but it was long gone, and we were fairly far from other good grocery markets, so they opened a small supermarket in the center of town. As expected, their prices were higher than the big chains in other towns, but they decided they would run it as if it were a supermarket, without the special services that make some small stores successful, such as delivery, unique products, monthly accounts, and so forth. Not surprisingly, they were out of business in a couple of years, in part because they could not afford to keep fresh stock, so quality went down. When they started out, it might have been worthwhile to go there for something like fresh meat, but they could not sustain it.

Around the time they were struggling, I was checking out the local dump's paper recycling trailer (often good books could be found there), and came across the master price list for products they bought from their IGA supplier. In just about every case, the wholesale price they paid was higher than the retail price at supermarkets in nearby towns. I would be nice not to have to drive a half hour for shopping every time, but there was no way they could compete.

It ended up mostly their fault that they did not apparently understand the idea of "small business. But unless they offered services or products unavailable elsewhere, they were doomed from the start. The playing field is not level.

I ran into a similar issue when the nursery school I was involved with was running a lemonade stand at Lime Rock race track. We bought large quantities of frozen lemonade, and mixed it on site. Looking for the best price, we checked out the wholesale institutional providers. But they don't worry about competition, and their price was actually significantly more than the same product in smaller cans from a supermarket. We made a deal with a local Price Chopper to order cases of the stuff, and it paid to drive 30 miles to get it.

..."Everybody knows the game is fixed...."
 
theprestige said:
The Daily Mail reports a fact: An anti-capitalist cafe in Toronto, Canada, closes after a year. (The second link is to the cafe's own website, in case you're paranoid about the Daily Mail misreporting things.)

But I'm not sure this is a perfect fit for this thread. A hardcore anarchist, anti-capitalist enterprise seems less "go woke" and more "the lunacy of the fringe left". YMMV.
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I'm failing to see what makes this place an anti-capitalist operation other than the self declaration of the owner and a few posters on the walls.

A sole proprietorship is a common form of business in a capitalist system. Buying coffee from independent roasters is run-of-the-mill "fair trade" ethics, which regardless of how you feel about that is not particularly anti-capitalist.

I find myself wondering how a single person can run a successful cafe, but bringing in more labor would require forming some kind of arrangement that might challenge the owner's supposed ethics.

The only relationships described here are pretty bog-standard business ones. There's a landlord hoping that a successful business eventually starts paying rents, and a guy hoping he sells enough product to customers to keep a sole proprietorship running.
 
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TurkeysGhost said:
I'm failing to see what makes this place an anti-capitalist operation other than the self declaration of the owner and a few posters on the walls.

A sole proprietorship is a common form of business in a capitalist system. Buying coffee from independent roasters is run-of-the-mill "fair trade" ethics, which regardless of how you feel about that is not particularly anti-capitalist.

I find myself wondering how a single person can run a successful cafe, but bringing in more labor would require forming some kind of arrangement that might challenge the owner's supposed ethics.
The only relationships described here are pretty bog-standard business ones. There's a landlord hoping that a successful business eventually starts paying rents, and a guy hoping he sells enough product to customers to keep a sole proprietorship running.
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Maybe that's the thrust of the "anti-capitalist" endeavour. Employing others to make profit for oneself is the epitome of capitalism but working purely for oneself isn't capitalist, at least in his view.
 
Lplus said:
Maybe that's the thrust of the "anti-capitalist" endeavour. Employing others to make profit for oneself is the epitome of capitalism but working purely for oneself isn't capitalist, at least in his view.
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Worker owned businesses exist, but that would mean the current cafe owner would be simply one part-owner among equals rather than 100% sole proprietor. That's what I was getting at.
 
TurkeysGhost said:
I'm failing to see what makes this place an anti-capitalist operation other than the self declaration of the owner and a few posters on the walls.

A sole proprietorship is a common form of business in a capitalist system. Buying coffee from independent roasters is run-of-the-mill "fair trade" ethics, which regardless of how you feel about that is not particularly anti-capitalist.

I find myself wondering how a single person can run a successful cafe, but bringing in more labor would require forming some kind of arrangement that might challenge the owner's supposed ethics.

The only relationships described here are pretty bog-standard business ones. There's a landlord hoping that a successful business eventually starts paying rents, and a guy hoping he sells enough product to customers to keep a sole proprietorship running.
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Capitalism isn't the only way of setting up a system where for profit businesses can exist and thrive. As it currently stands, with the possible exception of China, there's no capitalist economies out there.
 
Latest in the Bud Light saga:

The Wall Street Journal reports more comprehensively on the saga, including the news that AB will be buying back expired Bud Light from wholesalers. The article ends on this note about AB's damage control efforts:
Doukeris and leaders of the brewer’s North American business this month met with wholesalers in St. Louis and presented their turnaround plan.

They showed the distributors new special-edition Budweiser and Bud Light bottles highlighting the company’s 13-year sponsorship of Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships for family members of military veterans and first responders who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty. Previously, the brewer had featured Folds of Honor only on Budweiser packaging.

The executives told wholesalers that Bud Light’s market share losses had stabilized. Whitworth pledged to get it all back “and then some,” according to distributors who attended. In interviews with the Journal, several wholesalers said Bud Light sales and market share in their markets were still falling.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bud-light-boycott-sales-dylan-mulvaney-6c23bb86​

AB has already replaced the marketing director responsible for the Mulvaney stunt. And they're pivoting pretty hard back towards their traditional demographic. So I wonder, if they recover their lost sales volume by July, will we really be able to attribute it to their wokeness? Or to their rejection of wokeness?
 
theprestige said:
Latest in the Bud Light saga:

The Wall Street Journal reports more comprehensively on the saga, including the news that AB will be buying back expired Bud Light from wholesalers. The article ends on this note about AB's damage control efforts:
Doukeris and leaders of the brewer’s North American business this month met with wholesalers in St. Louis and presented their turnaround plan.

They showed the distributors new special-edition Budweiser and Bud Light bottles highlighting the company’s 13-year sponsorship of Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships for family members of military veterans and first responders who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty. Previously, the brewer had featured Folds of Honor only on Budweiser packaging.

The executives told wholesalers that Bud Light’s market share losses had stabilized. Whitworth pledged to get it all back “and then some,” according to distributors who attended. In interviews with the Journal, several wholesalers said Bud Light sales and market share in their markets were still falling.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bud-light-boycott-sales-dylan-mulvaney-6c23bb86​

AB has already replaced the marketing director responsible for the Mulvaney stunt. And they're pivoting pretty hard back towards their traditional demographic. So I wonder, if they recover their lost sales volume by July, will we really be able to attribute it to their wokeness? Or to their rejection of wokeness?
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The Mulvaney stunt, in question, was sending one promotional can to one person for a single advertisement. It's worth mentioning just how petty these people are being.

Realistically I'd just chalk this up to bad luck. Reactionaries in this country are extremely horny for outrage. They'll find a target one way or another.

Keeping your head down and waiting remains a good strategy. These freaks don't stay focused for long and old habits are hard to kill.
 
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