CUPPY’S COFFEE: Attorney Rudy Harper & Assistant Desiree (Reportedly) Resign

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• To all the ex-employees out there - get a grip. I am an ex-employee who has yet to receive a paycheck, but I am firmly aware that it is nothing compared to what the franchisees have and probably will lose. I don't have my house and retirement on the line. I can get another job and possibly recover in the near future - the franchisees will unfortunately not be so lucky. So please ex-employees, keep your ranting about your one paycheck to yourself. Yes, the nonpayment has and will likely affect you and your family, but looking for sympathy on a site that was dedicated to people who have lost ten times what we have lost is in poor taste and insulting.

  However, some fairness to the ex-employees are in order. It is easy to lump all the employees together as having been complicit in the big fail that was Cuppys. Yes we all worked here. But how many here actually knew everything that was going on? 80%? 50%? More likely less than 10%. It sounds unbelievable, but that is pretty accurate. Under Morg, every decision that had any effect on money went through him. The presidents, executive vps, vps, directors, etc, were that in name only. Even potential purchases involving just a couple of hundred dollars needed his control. Everything went through him. Everyone knew that money was coming in, and the only indication that money may not have been coming out was when the franchisees would call in concerned about progress. Under Morg, the pipeline was moving, but at a very slow pace, and the reasons Morg gave were always so believable. Maybe we were stupid for believing. It took waay too long for you guys to open, but we believed the line of crap that was being told to us to tell you. For that I apologize.

  Under Dale, it stayed the same except for one important change. Absolutely no communication. Also, there was absolutely no money going out as far as we could tell (except to pay for Amy's car and house). 3-4 people were fired every week for about 2 months, so everyone here was so on edge, especially as there was no communication except for the firings, so I know we weren't doing our job to help you guys. Even when we did get it together to do our jobs, we had no direction or communication. When we did get a hold of Dale, he would either outright lie to us (which we believed the first time), or we simply would not get a call returned. We had nothing to tell you. You guys were calling us asking for help and I had nothing, and no one had any answers. Totally unacceptable, and I understand why you would cuss us out. I get it. Dale and Amy were the only ones that had any clue what was going on and Amy basically only repeated what Dale said. Although Steve was "director" of finance, he was in the same boat. He is a convenient target for your anger because he helped bring in the money, but we fell for the same line that you did. Our fault is that we also couldn't believe it could be this bad. Once we all got together and everyone started talking about the areas that they knew about, is when we realized that Dale had totally destroyed this company. Morg had his faults, but his ability to cover up the flaws was not one of them.

  That said, we are not, and should not be, looking for your sympathy. I truly wish you luck in getting your money back. I wish I could have helped you more. I wish I knew how bad this would be so I could have warned you.

• That is really sinking to a new low, Guest. To actually accuse someone of being related to that piece of crap is immoral.

  To all the ex-employees complaining about a paycheck, I will gladly trade you.

  You take my financial issues:

  Lost cash: over $50,000 (that is over 6 months worth of paychecks)
  Rent on a dirt floor, unfinished building: $6000 / mo for 10 years
  Bank loan of $185000: $3000 / mo until paid off
  Credit cards: $300 / mo

  Lost dream of owning our own business: Priceless

  Sorry, just cant get too excited for you all. I am 43, bankrupt, and have to start over. We have lost pretty much everything to the company you worked for.

  go somewhere else for sympathy.

  Rick Noem

• "...I will ask God that your soul be spared..."
  "... I trust that the Good Lord will forgive me for he knows the task I am about to take on. God save the people you have screwed..."
  "... May God have mercy on your soul."
  "... if God has put me in the position to teach you that lesson then I will devote whatever time and energy is needed for me to fulfill this mission.You are about to suffer the consequences of not showing common decency to your fellow man."

  Guest: Is this guy serious? Isn't he one of those making the relentless calls to get franchisees to send their money in to the black hole pit of despair that is Elite manufacturing?

  He should have no problem getting a good telemarketing job for Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, etc. As a matter of fact, he could do great selling Green Prosperity Prayer Hankies:
  The Green Prosperity Prayer Hankie Will Make You RICH!
  http://www.franchisepick.com/the-green-prosperity-hankie-will-make-you-rich/

  Maybe Reverend Stewart will finance a Prayer Hankie franchise for him!

• jp:
  Thanks for a rational, well-considered comment.

• JP: Well said! I believe we all realize that all the employees are not bad people. There were several people who tried to be helpful throughout the process. The company was run by crooks and weasels who have to live with themselves. It is a shame that Dale has a family. I would hate to see my children looking up to a man like that for direction!

• I must say... You have balls sir.
  I am in shock that you would complain about missing 1 or 2 checks from this company. You worked for the company, you were well aware of what this company was doing yet you want the very franchisees that you helped rip off to feel sorry for you? I am an ex employee. I had nothing to do with the money that was coming in from franchisees but I knew deep down that something was fishy with the company. I just didn't have any proof. You on the other hand do have proof yet you withheld that from the proper authorities. I am appald that I even worked for the company, I am even more appald that there were so many crocks that worked for this company, not just Morg or Dale but employees as well. As you have just proven some of the employees fall into the same catagory as Dale and Morg. Yes Morg and Dale wanted everyone to believe that everything was all hunky dory and that is what they sold to franchisees and employees but as I said before I knew something was fishy. If you are one of the employees that truley believed that everything was on the up and up then you are a very nieve person (and there was a lot of nieve employees there). If you are one of the employees that has proof of what was happening to the franchisee, then you deserve to be in jail right along side Morg and Dale.
  For the franchisee, I hope to god that you all get your money back and I am very sorry for being a part of such a crocked company. Keep fighting. I have heard that there is another employee that has written proof of fraud. Hopefully Dale and Morg will be in jail very shortly.

  As for jp, I agree with a lot of what you said, however I believe that you can add Robin Donlan and Frankie to the few that new what was going on. While I worked at the company, I was always told that money was coming in. I did NOT believe it. I talked to the franchisees every day. I tried to help as much as I could with what I was told. If I had proof of what I always felt, I would have happily given that to the franchisee and would have told them to run.

• Rick - Well said. We have SO FAR lost $200,000 in this fiasco, it may go higher depending on attorney fees, rent on the lease, etc.

  Unfortunately, we have no sympathy for the employees. They didn't speak up until they found out that they were not one of the "chosen" going to Alabama, and to add insult to injury, didn't even receive their last paycheck. There was never a hint in any of our numerous frantic calls that there was a problem. The franchisees had to get together and compare notes to realize the horrible truth.

  I'm sure they didn't know everything that was going on, but they had to realize that nothing good was happening. The frantic and then angry calls and e-mails, not one shop being opened, numerous franchisees paying rent on empty spaces!!!

  Yes, we fell for it also, but we weren't there to see that there were dozens of us in the same boat. Some sort of warning bell had to be triggered in their minds...

• Rick Noem - I am very sorry regarding your losses, dont get me wrong, I am a fellow franchisee and licensee (never converted one license from JJ).

  6000 a month for rent????? who talked you into that location? I was crunching numbers for 3-4 hours a day for MONTHS and was only making money at less than 2100 a month rent IF i sold 140 cups a day.

• Guest: We were doing a bakery/cafe featuring Cuppy's Coffee...We have prime retail space in the new downtown Fort Collins, CO. It is hard to find any retail space in this area for less than $30 a square foot (2013 square feet). Coffee was only a small part of what we would have done daily. We have a hospital across the street, new medical offices, 300 real estate agents above us..new shopping and library..we were set...Thanks Cuppys!

• Has anyone been hearing this rumor that Brian Hayes and Morg Morgan are cooking up some kind of a plan to take over the company?

  Any other company I would laugh this off... Cuppy's? anything is possible.