Ignored At Middletown Ohio Biggby Coffee

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024, I arrived in Middletown, OH from Louisville, KY, for an event to cover for one of my websites. As I neared my [highway] exit, I started seeing signs for Biggby Coffee. I was so pleased to see the coffee chain that I frequented as a law student at Thomas M. Cooley Law School that I made a point to stop by. The shop located at 3593 South Dixie Hwy. happens to be the only real coffee shop in Middletown. I’ll explain more on that later in the article. Once I pulled into parking lot and got my computer bag, camcorder bag, and GoPro case out of the trunk, I walked in ready to find somewhere comfy to sit with a cup of Biggy’s Best.

Upon entering no one greeted me. No good morning, no nothing; however, I was floored by how beautiful the shop was. It felt very new, very well-maintained, and had private meeting rooms behind glass doors just like some of the bigger Biggby’s I remember in Michigan. One feature this shop had that I’d never seen before were walled off booths with a really cool ledge-like desk, and individual outlets above desk (not below it in the dark or on the floor as come shops like to do). They looked absolutely perfect for a grad student or career professional who liked working in public. What a genius idea! I set my stuff on the table of these booths and got in line to order.

There were two people ahead of me and since I was in no rush I took the chance to appreciate all of the work that been put into this really cool shop. I will admit I was very excited to sit in the booth and surf the web for a good 30 minutes. I loved how they had the menu set up above the registers and the general vibe of the shop. Everything looked freshly-painted, modern, yet very homey. This would be a great place to study, I thought to myself.

Back in the day, I spent many a night studying till the sun came up at the original Biggby Coffee founded by Bob Fish in East Lansing. Back in those days it was a 24hr location and we’d study all day for exams and/or writing briefs. Whether you were at MSU Law or Cooley Law that original Biggby was our home away from home.

Anyways, once the two people in front of me had ordered, the cashier disappeared. This is where my customer experience took a nose dive.

The cashier who helped the two people ahead of me left and now I was just standing there. She didn’t tell me she’d be right back, in fact, she didn’t say anything at all to me. Once the two people ahead of me had been served, it was as if no one else was in line. That’s first time I felt like a ghost, like I just didn’t matter.

Now mind you – I have never been to this Biggby in my life. I don’t know any of these people. So I’m standing there wondering why I don’t get a good morning and why I can’t even order. After about twenty seconds I’m now looking straight at the blonde-haired drive thru cashier to see if maybe she’ll say “we’ll be right with you” or maybe she’ll say “good morning,” but she just looks at me with a “what are you doing here kind of look” that made me feel very awkward. Another twenty or so seconds pass, now I’m looking at the ladies opposite the drive thru cashier who are making drinks in assembly line type fashion. Eventually they both look over at me with that same “what are you doing here expression.” Neither of the two ladies making drinks say one word to me, either. By this point I’d been standing there for about a minute. Then I look back at the blonde-haired drive thru employee, looking like I’m displeased to which I get the same initial look back and not a word said. Another twenty or so seconds pass and I decide to look back at the two girls making the drinks again. Same initial look, not a word said by either. At this point about 90 seconds or more, total, had elapsed and the main cashier was still gone so I went to the booth and sat down. And when I left the counter it was blatantly obvious I was bummed out that I didn’t get service. I just sat down in that booth. And let me tell you it was beyond comfortable, the lighting was great, the plugs worked, but I had no coffee and felt like a loser.

All of a sudden a customer walked in and the cashier miraculously re-emerged. The cashier greeted the customer, the customer grinned and replied, then she placed her order and then she paid. I saw these lovely interactions between the cashier and a string of customers who walked in over the next 34 minutes. No one ever came to my booth to ask me if I wanted something or to apologize for me standing up there for like a moron. They knew I was sitting there and they didn’t care just like they didn’t care when I was standing up there. Right before I had to head out, I wanted to change from my sweats to a pair shorts so I went to my rental to get them. When I walked back in – no said good morning, no one said anything. They said good morning to everyone else, served everyone else, but it’s as if I was a ghost. That or I just wasn’t the kind of customer they wanted in there. Maybe this is how homeless people feel or maybe this is how people felt at lunch counters during different eras of our history.

While changing – the bathroom was really nice too by the way – I debated speaking to the manager. What I really wanted was the Franchisee(s)’ contact info. Anything would have sufficed – a phone number, a fax #, an email – anything. When I came out and got my stuff, I asked to speak to a manager. I had to ask a few times because the employee just looked at me blankly. Maybe I really was a ghost. At first I thought that the manager may have been one of the five or six employees who ignored me, but she wasn’t. The manager emerged from the back and this had been the first time I’d seen her. When I asked her for the owner’s contact info, she asked if there was anything she could do for me. I said no. And the reason I said no is because the manager(s) trained the staff who ignored me so what was she going to do? Write up six people? She trained them and would likely not do anything. When the manager pressed me up a bit, I was quick to let her know that I didn’t want anything. The few times I complain it’s not for a free gift card. I didn’t say all that, but I make very good money as a full-time attorney and part-time writer, and I would never accept handouts. But even if I was a pauper, I still wouldn’t complain for freebies. If I decide to complain it’s based on principle and it’s because I feel as if I’ve been wronged. And I was wronged at this coffee shop for no apparent reason. I told the manager I was highly offended by the way her staff treated me. She seemed to care, but she likely did nothing. She trained these employees after all.

The manager told me the owners’ last name was Bunch, but that she wasn’t allowed to give me their contact info. Instead she asked if she could take down mine. I obliged. The problem is she kept reading my back my information wrong. And I’m pretty sure, despite numerous corrections, she still took my information down incorrectly. I let the manager know that the owners could call me and that I also maintain a travel website (among many others) and that I’d be documenting my experience for an article giving an honest review. That being said if I’m going to write a review, I want to be sure the owners see it. After a quick Google search I found the franchisees of Store 1025 to be Scott Bunch and Molli Bunch, who also own S&M Global Investments, an LLC out of Springboro, OH. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate any contact info, but if they Google themselves I’m sure they’ll be a lot more likely to find this review that I’ve included them in it as the owners. Everything I found is public record, but back to the review.

I do want to include that the manager seemed to mean well, but I explained to her that during my 34 minutes of sitting there, I started brainstorming why I had been ignored. That happens when you’re the odd person out. I saw a couple dozen great customer/staff interactions and everyone got their delicious drinks and I was sitting there with nothing.

I pulled up in a nice car, parked correctly, I was well groomed and I was dressed like everyone else. The staff were pretty homogenous and so was the customer-base that came in when I was there. I didn’t see too much diversity, but that couldn’t be why I was ignored. I mean I am Hispanic, but how would they know that. I didn’t come in with an attitude, in fact, I came in ecstatic that I stumbled across a Biggby. I was dressed fine. I just don’t understand why I got treated the way that I did. Also as an attorney, it’s my job to question and analyze everything and for the love of God I couldn’t figure out what I was treated the way that I was. It was hurtful and offensive.

Anyways, I just left, and that was that. No breakfast to start the day and a bad experience.

After the morning event, I had four hours to kill. I couldn’t go back to that Biggby after the treatment I received in the morning so I figured there’d be another coffee shop in Middletown. One closes at 2PM and the other is a Starbucks in a Kroger. So I decided to drive 9 miles to Panera. They were extremely nice there, but their WIFI was down and my Hotspot was having issues connecting within their building. This unfortunately happens. So I came back to the Starbucks in the Kroger, only they don’t have outlets. I was about to leave, when a very nice Kroger associate told me about the Bistro seating area tney have, and that’s where I decided to come to. The WIFI is great, I’m staring down a hallway at a unisex bathroom and there’s a fly that seems to like passing by me every 30-60 seconds. I can hear a toilet flush every so often in the distance. I’ve been here for about twenty minutes and provided I can get someone to watch my things I’ll walk the hundred feet to the Starbucks kiosk and order. I’ll come back to check my things, wait a few minutes, walk back over and get my drink and hopefully come back to my table with all my belongs in place. From there I’ll enjoy my coffee, dodge the fly, hear the toilets, charge my devices and get back to the evening portion of the event I’m covering. Tonight I’ll be at the Crowne Plaza in Columbus and I’ll hopefully forget this morning’s bad experience.

To Scott Bunch and Molli Bunch of S&M Global Investments this pretty much sums up the letter I would have sent you and it’s also my review of your Biggby Coffee shop (Store 1025).

If you’re on the highway and see signs for Biggby Coffee in Middletown and you’re dying for a cup of Joe, go to the next exit. Go to a McDonald’s or a gas station. Or take your chances. Store 1025 is a beautiful shop, with a great layout, super comfortable seating and horrible customer service (at least for yours truly; for everyone else it seemed great). That said, I’d much rather share a table with a fly in front of two Kroger restrooms than go back to that Biggby Coffee. And if I hadn’t frequented the chain in Michigan for eight years and visited all the shops in Kentucky, I’d probably never step foot in another Biggby Coffee in my life after this morning’s experience, but I’ll just never visit either of the two shops they own.