Easter Egg Hunt with The Kids of Cuppy’s School

Today the company is closed to celebrate Good Friday. It’s been a very intense week. Several stores are getting ready to ship and a couple of cafes are in the finishing construction stage. It’s good to have an extra day off to get ready for the upcoming months.

The children who attend Cuppy’s School had their easter egg hunt at the park nearby. They were all scrambing around to find their share of eggs. The younger ones were so cute. The smiles and excitement filled the park and I was glad I could watch them. My child is a teenager and she believes she’s too old to be egg hunting. I’ll post pictures as soon as they’re ready.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Recycle Your Coffee Grounds

I was going about my usual morning routine here at work and a google alert popped on my screen about how this scientist is turning spent coffee grounds into diesel fuel. I’m thinking this is great stuff! Imagine how much coffee the US goes through in a single day? That got me to thinking and I wonder what else you could do with spent coffee grounds. Below is somethings you can do with your spent coffee grounds. Enjoy.

Coffee grounds are a great addition to any compost pile. Just throw them into your compost bin, filter and all.  For some reason, ants hate coffee grounds.

If you want to get rid of ants in your yard just sprinkle coffee grounds on their anthills and around your lawn. Put coffee grounds around anything that you don’t want ants to get to. If you put the grounds around the base of your house you won’t have ants getting inside.  

Coffee grounds make a great dye for fabric. Put used coffee grounds into a bin of warm water. Add as many coffee grounds as you like for your preferred shade of brown. Soak your fabric in the water until it has absorbed the dye to your desired shade. Wash the fabric by itself in cold water.  

If you have plants that like high acidity add some coffee grounds to the soil. Coffee grounds will add acidity and nitrogen to the soil and your plants will thrive. Roses and azaleas especially enjoy an occasional dose of coffee grounds. Replace the grounds after heavy rains.  

Coffee grounds make great mulch for your garden. Just cover the soil with coffee grounds and the moisture will stay in the soil and the weeds won’t sprout.  

Put used coffee grounds on a cookie sheet and dry them out in the oven at low heat. Put the dried coffee grounds in a dish inside your refrigerator to absorb odors. Put dried coffee grounds into sachet packets and keep them inside your gym shoes to absorb odors.  

Make some fun play dough for your kids out of those old coffee grounds. Just mix a couple of cups of dried coffee grounds with a half a cup of salt and 1 to 2 cups of corn meal. Add in enough warm water to get the dough to the consistency you like. Kids will like the different texture and they can model it just like clay.  

Use coffee grounds as a safe and natural abrasive for scrubbing any surface. You can clean greasy pans by scrubbing them with some wet coffee grounds and a cloth. The grounds will get rid of any greasy odor too.

Try using coffee grounds as a gentle exfoliant for your face as well.  

Rid your pets of fleas with old coffee grounds. Shampoo your dog or cat as usual and when they are wet rub their fur down thoroughly with coffee grounds. Massage the coffee grounds all the way to their skin and work them in. Rinse the coffee grounds away and your pet’s fur will be soft and clean and the fleas will disappear.

Make your own parchment with used coffee grounds. Put some coffee grounds in a flat pan of water and dip a white piece of paper into it. Remove the paper carefully and let it dry and you will have something that looks very much like parchment.

Amy Hiller Promoted to VP Operations with Cuppy’s

Amy Hiller has been a real pleasure to work with. I am so proud they promoted her to vice president of operations here at Cuppy’s. I can’t think of anyone else so dedicated to seeing our franchisees get open and succeed. Go Amy!!!

Amy Hiller has been with Cuppy’s Coffee since its conception in June of 2006. She began in the customer service department as a customer service representative and has since worked her way up. Before being promoted to Operations, Amy was promoted to director of customer service, then director of franchise support. Cuppy’s franchise support department consists of the business development, training and customer service departments.

Cuppy’s College Graduation

In a few minutes, I’ll be attending another graduation of franchisees who’ve attended the mandatory training class. I’m amazed everytime this event happens. The pride I feel overwhelms me with these people graduating. They’ve been thru hell from city planning and contractors to finding the right location. And in a few more weeks they’ll be open. Another Cuppy’s Coffee opening. I’m so very proud to be apart of their dreams. I know everyone here is a well.

Congratulations Cuppy’s Coffee College graduates!

Cuppy’s Coffee & Medina Enterprises: Helping Our Children

I’ve been meaning to write something here about Cuppy’s Coffee and Medina Enterprises donating to a local children’s charity. It seemed only natural that a monthly contribution to the Children in Crisis charity was a natural fit for Medina. Our school and daycare at corporate office has made working here so much easier and beneficial to families, so when the news was announced that Medina and Cuppy’s donated to this worthy cause made me even more proud to be part of such a loving and caring company.

Here is a little more on the charity:

Our Vision

Children In Crisis, Inc. will build and operate The Children’s Neighborhood, a premier residential neighborhood to provide safe, stable housing and shelter for abused and neglected children in our community.

Our Mission

Providing Homes…Establishing Hope

Our Goal

Build and operate a neighborhood in our community for abused and neglected children that will:

• provide a stable and nurturing placement option for children
• satisfy emotional, physical, and special needs of children
• offer home options, minimizing disruption of re-placements
• prevent separation of siblings
• eliminate extensive transportation
• provide long term care, if needed
• involve the whole community in care, support, and nurturing

To learn more about the charity visit their website at http://childrenincrisisfl.org/index.html Won’t you join us in helping our children in their time of need and assistance.

Cuppy’s Coffee Valentine Love

St Valentine Love from Cuppy’s Coffee, Smoothies & More Staff

I love my Career here at Cuppy’s Coffee Smoothies & More, because it is not a job it is a home away from home. I love waking up and seeing the beach from my windows.  That is only made possible by the wonderful career that I hold at Cuppy’s Coffee Smoothies & More. I love getting start in the morning by having a great Cup of Cuppy’s Coffee.

When I get to work I feel like I never left home. I walk throw the door the great smell of Cuppy’s Coffee has already been started by one of my family member in the office. When I walk to my office I get greeted by my home away from home family. Every morning you can expect a great Cup of Cuppy’s coffee and Smiles from your fellow co- workers.

I always Love coming in because whether I am up on the highest mountain or having a really hard day, the love that this company shows it workers is one that words itself could not express. I would have it no other way then my family at Cuppy’s Coffee Smoothies & More.  I LOVE CUPPY”S, HOW ABOUT YOU?

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Every morning I thank the lord above for the precious life he has blessed me with.  My loving husband, Mark who worships me even when I don’t deserve to be worshiped!  My two precious doggies Swoop and Bimini that cuddle with me every night and are so excited to see me when I get home.  My cozy home that even though it is small, is the best place in the world to be.  Seeing the beautiful ocean every day and having the option of feeling sand between my toes feels pretty good too.  Waking up every morning and looking forward to working with Cuppy’s franchisees and coming home at the end of the day, exhausted from helping so many people.  My career is fulfilling and rewarding and my life is as well.  Whether its Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas, my response remains the same… Life is good.  So to be in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Life is love and I love life.  XOXOXO

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I love the fact that I can walk right outside my office and have a breath taking view of the bay.  The sunsets here are absolutely gorgeous.  I also love the fact that in FWB flip flops and tank tops are standard dress attire.  We have such an array of things to do here.  From the awesome night life, to the beach, wonderful restaurants and GREAT shopping!  I think my favorite part of living in this area is the wide array of people in this area.  With all of the military bases around here, we get people all over the world living in FWB.  It is so fun to talk to different people and find out where they are from and what brought them to this part of the world.  Different back grounds and home towns makes for interesting conversation with almost anyone your run into around here. 

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I love my career with Medina! There are many reasons for this but the main reason is that I am able to assist in helping our franchisees realize their dreams. This is more rewarding than any plaque or pay check could ever give me. I am fulfilled with what I do every day!

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This area is so small and it has been hard to find a position that offers stability and the opportunity for so much growth! I love knowing that I can grow with this company and stay here in beautiful Florida where most of my family is! Everyday I come to office and it’s filled with people to love to have a good time while working hard! It’s truly a pleasure to work here and be a part of making other people’s dreams come true!

It’s a Leap Year

There I am just working away when I notice the calendar by my desk. The month of February seemed off and as I looked it dawned on me that this year, 2008, is a leap year. I hadn’t thought about that since high school.

Now that I’m working full time at Cuppy’s Coffee, raising a family and enjoying my life one extra day in the year is needed. Another day to show my love for my family, country, God and my job. Every year needs to be a leap year. Happy Leap Year everyone!

The War Hits Home at Cuppy’s

Today several of my co-worker’s, here at Cuppy’s, husbands and wives are deploying to Iraq. The mood is melancholy. My heart is going out to these friends and coworkers and their families. This being a military town we’ve always been very supportive of our troops and all the military members and familes around the world. But for some reason today we all feel like a part of us is being put in harms way. Not like the whole Cuppy’s/Java Jo’z/Medina articles on the internet out there, this is deeper.

This past Christmas, we sent coffee and smoothies to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanastan. Just a little taste of home for these brave souls. The thank you letter they sent touched everyone here to our souls. Now today we’re being touched again.

Today as we go about our lives, remember that others are putting their very life on the line so that we can live in freedom and participate in the very declaration of our independence…the right to exist in peace.

McDonalds and Starbucks…Will it Go The Distance?

My alerts made me aware of this blog on the McDonald-Starbuck duel about to go down. This blog not only informed, but entertained. I’ve copied a part and linked to the blog for the rest of the story. I hope the author doesn’t mind. Enjoy!

“Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to today’s main event. This bout scheduled for 5yrs-a billion dollar payoff will determine the titan of specialty coffee. In this corner, weighed down by grease and saturated fat the challenger… the friar of the fry-olators, the big boy of burgers and the reigning champion of cheese!  Wearing white trunks with yellow arches…the Mighty Mickey D!””And in this corner, defending his title as Spartan of Specialty, KO’er of Coffee startups, and the Undisputed Champion of the World in Mass Production. Wearing green trunks with mermaid stitching…let’s hear it for Starbucks the Starry Eyed!”…read the rest of the story here.

Blog Attacks

The internet is the instrument of choice. Information and/or disinformation is its ammunition. The latest and greatest to the losers and snoozers, the words published online now are the shots heard around the world quicker than you can say Cuppy’s Coffee Cool Cats Collide with Coalition.

As an employee, this may seem biased but for reasonalble and open minded individuals you may want to pay attention. Blog Attacks on Cuppy’s and Medina have had their toll, not only on the company but on those who have opened their doors and are doing business selling coffee.

For those who have nothing better to do than be negative, I say its time to get over yourself and move on. As I understand it and has been published several times on the web, Medina bought the assets of Java Jo’z. These licensees were given the opportunity to convert to a franchise under the name Cuppy’s Coffee. A majority of them signed on as franchisees and are now open or soon will be open. For those who, for whatever reason, decided to stay Java Jo’z, Cuppy’s and Medina are still offfering our services to get them open. Since Medina and Cuppy’s inception, several Java Jo’z locations have opened around the country.

Although Medina had no financial obligation to help these Java Jo’z owners, it was the right thing to do. And for that I believe, and any rational person out there will agree, that this shows the character and dedication of Morg Morgan and his staff.

The truth is that some people are afraid of success and will do anything to sabotage success from happening. Success also is a benchmark, something to achieve and a majority of people strive everyday to reach it. And to the later, I say “Keep dreaming and I’ll meet you on Success Row”.