CUPPY’S COFFEE: Lawsuits Filed v. Cuppy’s, Elite Manufacturing

51 thoughts on “CUPPY’S COFFEE: Lawsuits Filed v. Cuppy’s, Elite Manufacturing”

• Now that is FUNNY!!!!

  Robert “Zak” Knox is the stepson of Robert “Morg” Morgan.

  Dale fired him for misrepresentation on the phone, and he is now suing for lost commissions.

  JavaGal

• Is there any relation between Michael Harper, attorney listed in that case, and Rudy Harper? Doesn’t a Rudy Harper work for Dale as an attorney?

• Robert “Zak” Knox is the stepson of Robert “Morg” Morgan. Dale fired him for misrepresentation on the phone, and he is now suing for lost commissions.

  Are you serious? Have any idea how much he says he is owed?

  Does that mean that Dale continued to have salespeople working the phone after he purchased the company? Didn’t he say he ceased all franchise sales activity to concentrate on getting the stores open?

  > Who is RICHARD KYLE?

  > Yes, Rudy Harper is an attorney who works in-house for Cuppy’s Coffee in Ft. Walton Beach.

• Zak Knox is an idiot!!! What a dumbass! You can ask any sales person from Cuppy’s/Medina and they will tell everyone that the company policy was “If you are no longer an employee of the company, you loose any and all back end commissions.” And yes Zak is/was Morg’s step son but that is the ONLY reason he even had a job there.

• Rudy Harper is a fine young man and attorney who has also been screwed by Dale Nabors.

• Rudy Harper is a fine young man and attorney who has also been screwed by Dale Nabors.
  Rudy Harper has gotten quite an education and exposure to a wide variety of ways the law can be successfully breached.
  Hopefully his next job will be with a company that is not DOING the breaching.

• But isn’t Rudy moving to AL? So how is he being screwed?

• no he isn’t moving

• “Rudy Harper is a fine young man and attorney who has also been screwed by Dale Nabors.”

  Any fine young man who knows right from wrong and doesn’t stand up for what is fair and right is no longer a ‘fine young man’.

• Well, it’s not over yet.

  If Rudy Harper IS a fine young man and he’s been screwed by Dale Nabors, he could prove to be a very important young man when the shite hits the fan.

  Prior to Dale, these employees worked for a master illusionist who had them convinced that they were building the finest company in Florida and franchising’s biggest success story. They fooled hundreds of people – yourself included. When your paycheck and that of your family members (they all seem to be related) are dependent on the company, there’s a lot of incentive to rationalize… especially if you think you can improve things.

  Any Cuppy’s employees or franchisees who want to share how that worked confidentially can email me at unhappyfranchisee[at]gmail.com

• Java Gal, or should I say Amy, Lucky you Zak the dumbass is now going to file a defamation suit against you. And he is sorry that sexual favors will not buy him off the same way they have payed your dues up until now @ Cuppys.

  “Dale fired him for misrepresentation on the phone, and he is now suing for lost commissions.”

  Actually the technical reason on the paperwork that he didn’t sign said he was fired for unproffesional behavior. The unproffesional behavior was him asking for his paycheck which was 2 weeks late.

  “Zak Knox is an idiot!!! What a dumbass! You can ask any sales person from Cuppy’s/Medina and they will tell everyone that the company policy was “If you are no longer an employee of the company, you loose any and all back end commissions.” And yes Zak is/was Morg’s step son but that is the ONLY reason he even had a job there.”

  he was friends and still is friends with most all of the salespeople that Dale @#$!ed in the @$$. including me and the vice president of FD who is a fishing buddy. In fact the only one that doesn’t like him is the monkey truckdriver who had his face surgicaly attatched to Dales @$$! They fired him for no reason because Dale had all of us sales people sign a paper that said if we were fired we wouldn’t be able to get our commisions, and then he systematically fired everyone of us for no reason. And as far as being Morgs stepson being the reason he worked there, of course, it was a family business. @ least he didn’t perform filatio on Rob Folk for a job (congrats Amy!)

  In closing I am soooo sorry to any and all franchisees that Dale and Amy have done this to you!!!!

  Another Screwed Employee

• Wow. What happened to the big happy Cuppy’s family?

  Can we save the personal attacks for Morg Morgan and others who are down the road enjoying the spoils of fraud?

  I did get a chuckle out of Another Screwed Employee’s reference to “back end commissions” Unfortunately, it’s the franchisees’ backends that were involved.

  Does Zak – I mean Zak’s fishing buddy (wink wink, nudge nudge) really expect sympathy because he didn’t get his cut for scamming money out of franchise investors?

  Maybe stepdaddy will buy him a new BMW to make him feel better. He might have to dip into one of the offshore accounts where he keeps his “back end” commissions. Might as well enjoy it now just in case he ends up bunking with Uncle Roy some day soon.

  Imagine how Zak’ll feel about Dale when he’s spilling the beans about Morg, Ben, Doug and Lou to Federal investigators.

• Thank you Screwed Employee. I haven’t laughed so hard in weeks. When any man insists on “filatio”, make him spell it correctly before it gets any.

  BTW, if there is anyplace to look for money, look in South Africa. Didn’t stepdaddy live there for a while? Didn’t Cuppy’s start franchising there as well?

• “filatio” isn’t that some kind of Italian dish? Sounds delicious. Or a mild whitefish, like Tilapia? Perhaps imported from South Africa?

  That was a good laugh.

  South Africa would make sense, especially given Screwed Employee’s racial sensitivity and stepdaddy’s broken moral compass.

  Doesn’t it seem strange that South Africa would need to import a coffee concept from the U.S. when much of the best coffee comes from Africa? They certainly weren’t relying on the crack manufacturing capabilities of Angola, IN were they?

  They even have their own Angola. What were they importing? The logo? They can’t get goofy enough logos in Africa?

• “Filatio” is a coffee drink with a foamy head that originated in Fort Walton Beach, FL. You have to know how to handle the equipment to make it correctly.

• BTW, SE’s reference to the Monkey Truckdriver wasn’t a racial comment but, I believe, a comment on TP’s mental capacity. Probably an insult to monkeys.

• Being somewhat knowledgeable (spelling is correct Mr. Prozac, so don’t get your bowels in an uproar) about this situation…first Dale Nabors didn’t terminate Zak (Dale Nabors doesn’t have the balls to fire anyone other than women). Zak was terminated by the Director of Human Resouces. Reason being, he told Amy Hiller and Kellie Burgess he wanted his paycheck. Amy and Kellie ran to Dale Nabors and told him that Zak was “disrepectful to them and them being high ranking brown nosers..errrrrrr company officers I mean. There’s people that just happen to be in the immediate area when this conversation took place that will testify that Zak wasn’t “out of place” at all for wanting his paycheck that Dale Nabors wouldn’t pay him. (Dale has used this same tactic on quite a few Cuppy’s employees) That’s why you happen to see where Zak had filed charges against Dale Nabors for not paying him. That is not paying him for monies that Dale Nabors had already collected and probably used as a partial downpayment on the old 7-11 or grocery store building that he’s buying to run his Cuppy business out of in Muscle Shoals, Alabamy. Now, as for stepdaddy buying him a BMW I don’t think so. Dale Nabors stole this company on ” a song & a dance.” Dale only wanted to know, ” how much beez the monthly payment Mr. Morg? He never paid a penny of his own money, he agreed to make payments and did for two whole months. Now he’s a few payments behind because relocating those 10 people to Muscle Shoals was his top priority. And of course securing the old 7-11 place so they would have a place to work. Now, I am sure ol’ Zak won’t feel too bad when Dale spills the beans about anyone…because there is over 50 pissed off employees that will put Dale Nabors’ spineless, yellow ass in the bean pot and serve him right up to the FEDS.

• BTW, SE’s reference to the Monkey Truckdriver wasn’t a racial comment but, I believe, a comment on TP’s mental capacity. Probably an insult to monkeys.
  Monkey Truckdriver wasn’t racial? Was the truck driver referred to black? If it wasn’t racial, SE better brush up on his ethnic slang. He sounds like he’s already been living in Alabammy, home of the late great racist George Wallace, god rest his schoolhouse-door blocking soul.

  I don’t know who TP is, but I don’t think it’s an insult to monkeys. A monkey that can drive a truck across Alabammy’s pretty impressive.

  Why does everybody think “Dale Nabors stole this company.”? This company was a bomb about to explode. Morg Morgan lit the fuse, friends. Dale wasn’t smart enough to steal it, he was dumb enough to take it.

  Don’t you employees realize that Dale Nabors did ya’ll a big favor making you clear the room before the big boom? You get to get on with your lives. It’s he and Morg that get to keep looking over their shoulders for the Federalis. They’re the ones whose legacy will be taking part in one of the most blatant frauds in franchising. They both get to go beddy bye knowing hundreds of families hate their guts.

  Why aren’t you guys happy you’re out of Morg Morgan’s fraud business?

• Warning, warning, this posting is slightly off topic:

  Minor point, Fran (nice androgenous name there) but I just checked my Sex for Dummies book by none other than Dr. Ruth Westheimer herself and my Magic of Sex by Miriam Stoppard, MD and “filatio” is definately not in either of those books. It is neither in Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century by The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (oops, Ms. Prozac to you!) or the Havard’s Guide to Women’s Health by Carlson, Eisenstat and Ziporyn. Stop relying on Google for your sexual health information and consult your doctor. That itch probably isn’t related to your laundry detergent.

  Now this is an offer that is sure to increase revenue for Cuppy’s owners: How about offering half price filatio’s ? Or maybe as the admin pointed out this is a dish better served at San Geleto Cafes?

• Admin – I like truckdrivers, I have been friends with truckdrivers, and they have a sense of humor:

  Q: What do you get when you cross a truckdriver with a gorilla?
  A. A retarded gorilla.

  TP is Troy P., who I have personally met and never told me he was employed by Cuppy’s when we discussed his drive-through business.

• I know I am going to regret encouraging someone whose Prozac has NOT kicked in (despite her name) to continue the tilapia theme, but she’s not that far off with the service that could save Cuppy’s. While half price filafels might be illegal (outside AL), Sexpresso is not.
  You might feel different about Dale if you saw him working Speedo Saturday:

  SEXPRESSO: Are Nude Baristas Adult Entertainers?

  SexPresso Coffee Marketing Steams Clothed Competitors

  Hooters Plus Starbucks Equals The Next Big Franchise

  I’m sure you’ll all point out that all the good looking employees were fired by Dale, who only kept the disfigured and hideous brown-nosers.

  With the hot studs working the drive-thru Speedo Saturday, we’ll finally know why they call it Cuppy’s

• Prozac said “a comment on TP’s mental capacity. Probably an insult to monkeys”

  My wife and I also met TP, and I will stand with Prozac that this IS an insult to monkeys.

  Not much going on upstairs.

• Admin, no worries, I am almost over this. But people looking for a fish dish similar should look for a different yet still difficult to spell word.

• Hi Pro………just brought out several of my ol’ Webster New World Dictionaries and I be damn if I could fine the word “definately” that you use in your first paragraph anywhere… Matter of fact I went on line to dictionary.com and you guessed it… still no “definately.” What are you doing reading Harvard “anything?” Perhaps you should pull that foot out of your mouth and try spell checking before you embarass yourself again.

  As for Mr. Admin, TP was Troy Ponto, a white boy from Wisconsin that has the Bachelor’s in Truck Driving. He was or is or was a salesperson at Cuppy’s and doubled as a reference. When his cell phone rang he would run out the back door and talk to potential franchisees and tell them how great business was at his Cuppy’s drive thru. Now you have to understand…he was in a town of 1500 people with a median income of $21,000. Now don’t you know this drive thru was just knocking back those $5.00 cups of coffee like nobodys business. His drive thru was going broke, that’s why he came wanting a sales job, when he couldn’t sell he became a reference. He made more money being a reference than he did selling coffee or selling coffee franchises. I am sure there wasn’t any thing racial meant by calling him a Monkey Truckdriver. As for the monkey part, yes, l am sure a monkey would be pissed and be insulted to the comparison

• Rick, when you met TP, what was he like? Did he seem excited about his business? He was talking as if all is well, but he looked a little sheepish to me. My partner joked he acted as if he had been pithed (which is what they do to frogs so high school students can dissect them but keep the froggies alive while they do it). I was thinking, wow, this is great, this guy came all the way to Cuppy’s to meet us and now I realize he just walked down the hall.

• Fran, I apologize for my typo, please forgive me, please.

• He came to speak to our cuppy’s college class. He sat there trying, and trying, and trying to think of things we needed to do to be successful. He was having an awful time with his memory that day.

  It was funny, the marketing dept spoke a lot about getting out and marketing your store, to make sure you work FOR your store, not IN your store. I asked Troy how much time he spent marketing his store. He hemmed and hawed, and finally admitted that HE does not do any of that. His manager is SUPPOSED to be doing some of it, but he was not sure.

  I made up my mind right there that I would not listen to another thing he said. You can tell he is just a mouthpiece of the corp. He seemed like he really had no grasp of running a business.

  I sur hoep my spel check caght everything!

• Who’s the Secret service agent who’s supposed to squeal on Troy Ponto? What’s that story?

• o rik, I don mind ur bad speling. Jus don insist min not korekt wen it is. Tipos ok tho Tim for my prozak wich I by from cheep intertube farmacy in florida. Nic men this farmasists.

• On a serious note, Rick, that is exactly what he was like when we met him. He really didn’t have much to say except how much he pays people.

  Fran, seriously, thanks for the insight. Confirms what we all suspected, that Dale is probably struggling right now because Morg didn’t leave much in the bank. There were postings on another website that he didn’t pay a software supplier for FranSynergy either, that rent was overdue on the FWB offices and they were being kicked out. But it doesn’t make what he has done or how he treated people right.

• A Guest wrote: Morg never signed any docs and neither die Dale. As the BIG DOGS… they expected their management to do this.
  Is this true?
  The owners of this company never signed any agreements?
  Does this tell you anything, employees?
  Those who defend Morg should realize his true accomplishment: He is the Teflon Franchisor. He stays in the background then slides away leaving others in the spotlight.
  Even stepsonny must see that by now.

• The backend commissions that were still owed to sale people were for stores that had already opened their doors. Morg and Dale cheated the sales people out of these and some waited years to see their people open.

• The backend commissions that were still owed to sale people were for stores that had already opened their doors. Morg and Dale cheated the sales people out of these and some waited years to see their people open.
  Let me understand this: Commissions weren’t paid until stores opened? And it sometimes took 22 months for a store to open? And salespeople lost their claim to the commission if they left the company – for any reason?
  So, it occurs to me that Cuppy’s had a financial dis-incentive to get stores open, correct, because they had all these people to pay – subcontractors, salespeople, etc. – but weren’t collecting royalties anyway. And they already had most of the money they were going to get – except the final loan payout. Correct?

  Also, it was in Dale’s best interest to clear out the staff who were due commissions. What would the average commission be? Multiply that by 160 open stores and that could be a good chunk of change.

  It would be interesting to hear from an HR expert or lawyer to know whether that’s legal to withhold commissions if a person is layed off – and not fired for cause. I guess Zak’s lawsuit might answer that.

• Sales people got 1/2 of their commission when the down payment was made and the backend when the stores actually opened for business.
  Many sales people were owed which is the main reason the sales people held on even after the takeover by Dale. They knew they had owners close to opening or in the construction phase and had waiting so long a little while more didn’t matter.

• I am still chuckling over the double meaning of “back-end” commissions. Why wouldn’t sales people be paid when the sale was made? The sales people had no control over when owners opened, so why was their take-home pay dependent on that? What kind of saleperson would sign up for such a commission scheme? (Nevermind, I just answered my own question).

• Why wouldn’t sales people be paid when the sale was made? The sales people had no control over when owners opened, so why was their take-home pay dependent on that? What kind of saleperson would sign up for such a commission scheme?
  From what I understand there were as many as 11 salepeople on staff, many of them very young and inexperienced. Let’s say each commission was $6000-$7000 and they got half upfront and half when it opened. The second part of the payments would minimize turnover, since salespeople would hang on for their “backend” commissions.
  If Dale Nabors owed $3000-$4000 commissions for the 160 unopened stores, he would have wiped away half a million in future commissions by firing the sales staff.

• It is funny to hear this because when I asked for my refund money back the
  first thing they took from my 20% was the $7,000 that they took to pay commisson for the sales person so they said on the invoice that I got from Elite
  but wait if Elite and Cuppys are not the same why woould Elite pay any commission to a Cuppys sales person WOW is this a scam or what…

• Vc…. If you were requesting a refund and that’s what they told you than that was a lie. The sales person rec’d 1/2 commision when zee paid their 20% down but if a zee requested a refund that upfront 1/2 commission was charged back to the sales person so technically, NO commissions were paid.

• VC:
  There’s no doubt these were the same company. All the money simply went in – and out – of the same pot.

• Guest wrote: The sales person rec’d 1/2 commision when zee paid their 20% down but if a zee requested a refund that upfront 1/2 commission was charged back to the sales person…
  Would the upfront 1/2 commission be charged back to the salesperson even before a settlement was reached and/or the refund repaid? Many of these were not repaid, and many had fees and franchise fees deducted.

• when I requested the refund they try to charge me the franchise fee I was actually
  going to get back $10,989.00 from $35,900 but I was able for fight that fee and they did’nt charge me but they kept $10,000 commission fee and some other
  like work hours $2,000 , $500 legal assistan fee, $625 another legal fee,$6,785 commission fee . If they kept $10,000 from 70 of us that is $700,000 we all know that they kept more money from everyone so we are talking MILLIONS plus all they unpaid refunds. Wow easy MONEY……… No wait SMAAAMmmmmm. OHHH wait and they didnt pay their workers commission where did all this money gooooo?????

• OHHH wait and they didnt pay their workers commission where did all this money gooooo?????
  Don’t forget that they never paid SBT $1.3 million for work they collected on but never paid out. Wait… double that, since they mark that work up.

• You may want to update this. There are a couple of new ones out there.

• For those of you who have had to file bankruptcy as a result of losing your money to Cuppy’s Coffee make sure you mention the scheme to the bankruptcy court trustee. We had our 341 meeting today and the trustee was very interested in forwarding on our case to the powers that be. He was particularly interested when we mentioned that it was the funds from an SBA loan that was used for our down payment to Cuppy’s. I realize there may not be assets to seize but I believe he was leaning toward criminal charges.

• how do I get on the list for moneys owed?

• Jeannette,

  Unfortunately, there are a large number of lawsuits already filed against the company and there are already default judgements. What that means is that these franchisees will have the sheriff seize the company’s assets (basically a couple of filing cabinets and computer monitors), sell those assets at auction and pay off the judgements. Since there are already such a large number of claims against the company, and since the company has no money, those franchisees that have not filed a lawsuit will be out of luck.

• Several people post as “Guest” here. However, one in particular (the one who just addressed Jeannette) has posted 20 comments since the beginning of October. Although he/she claims not to have worked for the company, the comments almost all say the same thing: There’s no money. No assets. Don’t sue. Give up and go away.
  Some of the comments defend Dale in a sort of calculatedly offhand way.

  Guest: I’m just curious as to how you have such an intimate knowledge of company finances & Dale’s assets & Morg’s condo if you’re just an outside observer?
  And why are you working so hard to dissuade people from pursuing legal action?
  Who is this masked… person?
  
  Here are a few excerpts from this outside observer left in the past month:

  – I don’t work for the company and never have. I’m just realist and don’t want the pissed off franchisees giving bad advice to everyone else…
  – Sorry to burst your bubble folks, but no one is going to jail over this.
  – …filing a civil suit is just a waste of time and money
  – I’m sorry to say to all of the Cuppy’s victims that you will NOT be getting re-paid. The company has NO money
  – Rick, he couldn’t give the deposits back because he had/has no money
  – There is really nothing that can be done, with the exception of bringing a claim… However, it would be a waste of time.
  – Well, I guess this is the end of an era… Good luck tracking down the crooks now.
  – Medina/Elite/Cuppy’s has NO money, so if you’re waiting for a refund, you will NOT be paid.
  – Folks, you’re not getting your refunds. The company is broke.
  – He doesn’t have money hidden somewhere….When Morg left the company was broke…He spent his last dime moving the company to Alabama. There is NO money to pay refunds or employees.
  – Sorry folks, but there are no assets left to attach. Dale has NO assets personally. He doesn’t even own a house (he rents).
  – there isn’t much furniture left to sell off in Alabama.
  – since the company has no money, those franchisees that have not filed a lawsuit will be out of luck.
  – Krista, first, if this store was opened then it likely took place during Morg’s era long before Dale got involved.
  – Dale was NOT aware when he purchased the company that Brian was both President of Elite and an owner of SBT. When Dale became aware of the conflict, he fired Brian as President of Elite

  How does he/she/it know Dale rents? Or that Morg’s Jag is, like, 5 yrs old?
  Does he/she/it know where the authentic Coach handbags are hidden?
  Buried under the summer house in Maine (also undoubtedly rented)?
  Can anyone figure out the motives of this enigmatic stranger?
  Could it be Richard Quick, Esq.?

• Sounds like Amy Hiller. She is still working for Dale.

• please if there is a list, let me aslso know

• Here’s what I propose:

  Post your Cuppy’s Coffee or Java Jo’z story here, factually and in interview form:

  http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/2008/08/cuppys-coffee-overview/

  We’ve got 8 posted and one coming soon.

  Once there are at least ten, we start a serious email campaign to get some attention brought to bear on this situation.

  Just because you might not get your money back doesn’t mean you’ve got to go away quietly. At least get your story told so they don’t get away with this all together.

  Franchisees & Depositers: If interested, email unhappyfranchisee[at]gmail.com for the interview questionaire.