Cafe serves up coffee with conservative flavor (Latte-swilling liberals welcome, too, owner says)

Chicago Tribune ^ | 7/31/08 | Stacy St. Clair

[redstates4ever]

From the moment customers enter the front door, the Conservative Cafe is serving up caffeinated doctrine.

Ann Coulter books sit stacked by the fireplace, and a picture of Ronald Reagan hangs on the wall. Fox News plays on all the televisions, and stock market quotes scroll along an electronic ticker above the cash register.

Behind the counter, owner Dave Beckham smiles proudly in a khaki T-shirt that reads "Zip It, Hippie." The shirt is for sale at the Crown Point, Ind., cafe, along with ones that say "Peace through Superior Firepower."

"It's a change from the traditional liberal bastion coffeehouses," Beckham says. "No one is going to bad-mouth America in here."

[redstates4ever]

Just awesome.

Here's the web address of the coffee shop's website, and some pics from there:

http://www.conservativecafe.com/

owner Dave Beckham:

[redstates4ever]

Cafe serves up coffee with conservative flavor *lets’ hear it for the un-Starbucks PING*

[Radl]

To think this guy was once making millions kicking a soccer ball and now serving coffee. His wife must have been spending like no tomorrow.

[reagan_fanatic]

He could also be doing it because he wants to.

[Gorzaloon]

"His other options are conservative, moderate and liberal—the latter of which Beckham describes as a "Colombian decaf with no substance.""

Coffee on keyboard alert!

[redstates4ever]

Check out the downloadable menu on their website - it shows their different “strengths” of coffee, from weak decaf liberal to hard-right full caffeine. :-)

[longtermmemmory]

now if only they could go into airports and give starbucks a run for their burned coffee.

[mewzilla]

Oh, what an oasis. Please tell me one’s coming to Upstate NY :)

[DustyMoment]

It is an amazing day in America when a coffee shop that supports a political ideology gets press in the Chicago Trib.

This is likely to be the first significant vestige of the balkanization of America. Up to this point in our history, our balkanization has been limited to ethnic groups claiming geographical areas of a metropolitan area. We could live with that. But, now, we are seeing the beginnings of the political divide that has been opened up and is becoming a yawning chasm.

Geographical separation we can overcome. Political divides are more polarizing, more hurtful and tend to be more permanent. I pray to God that, in 100 years or so, people aren’t wondering what happened to the United States of America. By then, we may have divided into the United States of East America, and the United States of West America with one being for liberals and the other for conservatives.

It is heartbreaking to contemplate that this may be our future and I blame the political elites for it. They are creating this partisan political chasm and should be held accountable for it.

Re-elect NO ONE!!!

[mewzilla]

I have one word for Mr. Beckham: Franchise :)

[Northern Yankee]

My kinda place.

Let's go get a cup! ; )

[sauropod]

I’m wondering how long until this establishment is desecrated by Those That Can’t Bear Contrary Opinions.

[Prov1322]

I’ll buy the franchise rights to open up the SouthEast...! (with locations on every corner of Atlanta!)

[Dr. Sivana]

Hey, this man has the money to execute my idea. I was going to name it “The Hard Right Cafe” and there’d be different tables named after different conservatives. Of course Rush Limbaugh would be available during his show.

I’m not so sure I’d want the Colombian coffee to be the liberal stuff, even though it’s decaf. The liberal stuff would either be “Fair Trade Third World Blend decaf” (grown in rain forest regions) (Mostly Brazilian, with some Indonesian and Papua New Guinea thrown in), There is also the Terrorist Special (Indonesian Sumatra). Conservatives might try the Franco Roast.

The most conservative way to have it would be straight black with no additives, though consumerists could go with Coffeemate and artifiacial sweetener(can we get cyclamates?). Traditional minded conservatives would get white sugar/honey with whole milk or half-half.

[pgkdan]

Oh man...you gotta love this guy!!! He should franchise these all over Red State America.

[PurpleMan]

Either your business is coffee or politics. What business plan would ostracize 50% of the consumers?

Prediction:

It’ll fail miserably.

[Tainan]

Relax Dusty. Its called..."A Business Plan."


Find a market and serve it.

[Patrick1]

Rush alienates “50%” of his audience and he is doing just fine. We should not take this so seriously it is just coffee. The man is opening a niche cafe, good for him. Seems some Americans still have the balls to go out and stake their claim. Despite the whiners on Free Republic.

Now I'm going to get a cup of JFG and swing over to his site and order a coffee mug.

[ken21]

amen.

i never understood how a company known for its coffee, served such crap.

then, i read it is a marketing ploy—

coffee tastes bad,

so people buy expensive lattes and cappuccino’s

[FreeAtlanta]

He needs his wi-fi to start up on FreeRepublic :-)

[Verbosus]

Sounds like someone needs their morning coffee.

[posterchild]

Will make a point to check it out next time I roadtrip up that way for http://pierogifest.net

Having Investors Business Daily on his newsstand would be a plus, as would streaming Rush from his 24/7 site (if user agreement allows). Except for specific events I’d expect that the TVs would be more of an annoyance than an attraction.

[sneakers]

I can’t believe some of the negative comments on here!

I’ve sent the guy an e-mail and subscribed to his newsletter. I’ve wished him the best of luck and great success, and I’ve asked him to open one in my town! lol!

Oh, and thanks for the excellent post red!

[redstates4ever]

Good for you. I’m ordering a mug, too!

[DustyMoment]

Find a market and serve it.

Chicago!!??

[MeanWestTexan]

“What business plan would ostracize 50% of the consumers?”

Democrats don’t tip. Conservative businessmen tip 30%.

(former bartender)

[hoagy62]

I admire the guy. Opening a place like that in Chicago takes some chutzpah.

That being said, you want to REALLY impress me?

Open one up in DOWNTOWN SEATTLE. Ten times more liberal than Chicago. AND...more known for coffee.

[martin_fierro]

I like the mug!

[posterchild]

Crown Point, IN is about 50 miles from downtown Chicago on the outer edge of it’s sprawl.

[Hyzenthlay]

Well, not necessarily - Tim Horton’s is a donut/coffee chain, and it was started by a former hockey player, and it’s really successful in Canada and parts of the US that are near Canada. I LOVE their Maple Creme donuts... Yum!

[Hyzenthlay]

Well, not necessarily - Tim Horton’s is a donut/coffee chain, and it was started by a former hockey player, and it’s really successful in Canada and parts of the US that are near Canada. I LOVE their Maple Creme donuts... Yum!

[Mr. K]

i have never been toi a starbucks- but I would make it a point to go there!

[thefactor]

if one of these opened in NYC (good luck) it might be enough to make me start drinking coffee.

[thefactor]

just ordered a Zip It Hippie shirt. can’t wait to wear it around union square in manhattan.

[sneakers]

"Traditional minded conservatives would get white sugar/honey with whole milk or half-half."

Now THAT's what I'm talkin' about! Yeah!

[CT-Freeper]

LOL...not the same Beckham, I'm afraid.

[redstates4ever]

[Doctor Raoul]

Casual Male XL certainly excludes more than half of American, the 51% that’s female. And within males, it’s not even all males.

But we’ll see...

[Borges]

The Tribune Editorial Bopard tends conservative. They endorced President Bush in 2000 and 2004.

[Borges]

This cafe is in Crown Point, Indiana.

[wastedyears]

If I’m ever in that town, that guy is getting my money.

[wastedyears]

Agreed

Definitely good to branch out this kind of thing.

Now if only they started serving beer...

[wastedyears]

Here’s a good idea: like the 50’s-styled diners with the old jukeboxes at the tables, have small AM radios, or even just speakers with options for Rush, Sean, Savage, Drudge...

Oh man, this just keeps getting better. =)

[2nd amendment mama]

Democrats don’t tip. Conservative businessmen tip 30%. (former bartender)

How right you are!!! The dems tip $1 and think they did you a favor and the Conservatives tip generously and thank you for waiting on them. (Former bar owner/bartender too.)

[seoul62]

Coffee House, latte service by David Beckham - very nice, oh - let me stop - wrong Beckham./Just Asking - seoul62.......

[seoul62]

What is the actual website for this cafe? When I typed conservativecafe.com, nothing comes up./Just Asking - seoul62.......

[thefactor]

http://www.conservativecafe.com/

i went there and ordered a shirt.

[SkyDancer]

What’s your nearest airport? If I’m ever flying out your way ....

Jane

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I was just looking at their menu, they already do serve beer!

[sneakers]

http://www.conservativecafe.com/

I just copied and pasted into the address line on my browser.