Recent comments in /f/RhodeIsland

OutlandishnessNo7283 OP t1_jclrmfy wrote

Reply to comment by ihavebigboobiezz in Looking for a Place to Open a Coffee Shop by OutlandishnessNo7283

Great tips/ideas, thanks for taking the time to list them! I've worked at restaurants but never a café, so your knowledge is very helpful.

We definitely plan on having all of the plant-based milks/creams on hand. The suggestion about decaf and sugar alternatives is a great idea, we'll probably also have some assortment of homemade infused syrups as well as agave/honey and your basic simple syrup. It's crazy how many places either don't know what simple syrup is, or don't leave it out for customer's and make you ask for it!

Also love your idea about listing ingredients and allergies. My friend has a gluten intolerance and my mother has Celiac's, so it's very important to us to make that info available and to avoid cross-contamination at all costs.

It will be very obvious what drink sizes and what milks/syrups are available. And there will certainly be no wobbly tables!

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Beezlegrunk OP t1_jclp6ho wrote

Reply to comment by RIDG86 in The failure of Providence’s Fane tower is a lesson in politics and reality by Beezlegrunk

>I disagree with your take, but we are both entitled to our opinions.

"Entitled" seems too strong a word — maybe we both just "have" opinions? I think the "every opinion is equally valid" idea is not borne out by real-world experience ...

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>I did look up the Globe RI staff and found that Lylah M. Alphonse is ¨the Rhode Island Editor for the Boston Globe, where she leads a team covering and exploring the Ocean State.¨ I dont see anyone with the bureau chief title, but i suspect that role is probably played by the editor.

That's well observed — I'll adjust McGowan's title commensurately, which actually makes me feel slightly better, though I still don't understand why he has so much sports coverage in the daily e-mail newsletter. That you don't seem to notice that is odd.

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>people find issue with journalistic objectivity when they feel slighted by a perceived subjective aspect of an article.

Calling a concern "silly" reveals one's bias, but it was more his admission that he deliberately ignored questions about Fane tower's financing because he dismissed them as rivalry — that's pretty weak sauce. I think he did it because he supported the tower or more downtown development in general. It was at least worth looking into ...

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>the reason no one did in-depth coverage on financing, or lack thereof, is because that info is not public.

So no reporters have ever covered stories in which all the information wasn't public? Please. It's a reporter's job to seek out that information, and in the absence of being able to do so, reporting the lack of information as a critical issue that brings the subject itself into question. Silence on the issue only really served one side: Fane.

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>I suspect that maybe its a slight to call someone a sports journalist?

There's different kinds of sports reporting — some of which includes never really looking beyond the surface of issues, and always taking team pronouncements as gospel, in the name of supporting the home team and not pissing off fans. That's not journalism, though, it's boosterism / fanboy-ishness. We see similar things with business reporting that never really questions corporate pronouncements or motives. Then it's suddenly a surprise when we find out a company has been lying all along.

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>I do not see Mcgowan going on and on about sports or covering it in depth

Read the daily newsletter and you'll see what I mean. Even the Fane tower column has a bunch of sports references in it. I think he sees every issue as some sort of competitive contest and his job as a reporter is to 'handicap' the eventual outcome — i.e, "The odds are against person X achieving outcome Y" — likes it's a pre-game report or post-game analysis. What we don't see are a lot of incisive questions or insightful reporting based on going behind the obvious public facade that everyone can see. It's generally pretty shallow ...

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ihavebigboobiezz t1_jcloc6p wrote

Reply to comment by OutlandishnessNo7283 in Looking for a Place to Open a Coffee Shop by OutlandishnessNo7283

I’m gonna follow you’re account and watch like a hawk.

Recommendations I have, make sure you have decaf options. You would be surprised the amount of people that come into a café asking for it.

Even if you don’t want to spend the money on decaf beans for coffee advertise for decaf espresso to make americanos. That’s what we did at my café, the majority of people cannot taste the difference between a decaf Americano and a decaf coffee lol.

Also, it might do you some good to offer coconut milk. I don’t know if maybe it’s just a Newport thing, but a lot of people come in asking for coconut milk I have noticed and the request for this particular type of alternative milk has only been growing over the past year.

Sugar free options or options that aren’t overly sweet. I get a lot of people who come in and complain that it’s very hard for them to go to “New Age” coffee shops because it’s very hard for them to find drinks that they actually enjoy that are not overly sweet.

It might make your brand look more health-conscious if you take the time to put if a product has dairy, nuts, if it’s OK for vegans to eat, etc. etc. The only reason why I’m even suggesting this is because customers do this thing where they never say anything about their dietary restrictions or allergies. I can’t tell you how many times I make drinks that have dairy in them for vegans and the person in question just never said anything. Or the amount of times people with dairy allergies don’t actually say anything so I can’t account for a cross-contamination.

If you can, try to look for an area where tourists/locals are going to be walking around so people going don’t just have to drive there. The amount of people that are going to come inside purely because they want to window shops is very high and since so many people in Coffee they’re probably going to buy something.

Source for recommendations - have been a barista for 5+ years and these are commons things I’ve noticed :)

Good luck!!

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hurricanetruther t1_jclhict wrote

Reply to comment by Jack__Squat in Traditional road tests may be a thing of the past in Rhode Island… Thoughts? by hochimingles

Hey I gotta take back what I had said, at least partially. Last year I needed an appointment for a registration--couldn't find one. Had to try to game it like getting a COVID vaccine when they were first out.

Went now to see and there are tons available, though not necessarily where I want to go. State is small at least.

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rhodyjourno OP t1_jclem17 wrote

Reply to INVESTIGATION: Mike Mota and the art of the Virtual Con by rhodyjourno

BACKSTORY: From Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket and Skyline at Waterplace in Providence to Alex and Ani, ripping off the city and state of Rhode Island. This is the story of Michael Mota -- whose secret behind his success is tireless networking, great timing, and some smoke and mirrors.

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My colleague Amanda Milkovits has been working on this story for the last year. Read a snippet below.

Michael A. Mota leaned back in a black leather chair in his second-floor office, next to a framed poster of him surrounded by actors famed for portraying Hollywood mobsters, and talked confidently about his business plans.
He spun tales about the value of the cryptocurrency he launched, his popular conventions aimed at fans of mob movies and “The Sopranos,” his connections with celebrities and power players, and the successes of his convention and entertainment company, VirtualCons.
In press releases and online, he calls himself “Dr. Mota,” referring to an honorary doctorate he received last fall, and says he was a vice president at Alex and Ani, the once high-flying jewelry company. He says unnamed overseas investors and others want to sink millions into his plans “because I am a smart guy, just so you know.”

And he has emerged as a key player in two of Rhode Island’s most prominent properties where his boasts are no less grand — and the results so far underwhelming at best.
As CEO of Skyline at Waterplace, a shimmering event venue in downtown Providence, Mota once proposed building an amphitheater and ornate Bellagio-style fountains in the mucky tidal river.
And Mota claims his company, Bayport International Holdings, has a $50 million to $90 million redevelopment plan for the former Memorial Hospital property in Pawtucket, which will help solve the state’s housing crisis along the way.
There’s just one problem: Mota’s tales of success are largely fictional, a Globe investigation shows.
Skyline hadn’t paid its rent to the city of Providence for months, city officials say, and there’s no record that Mota made renovations that were promised in exchange for avoiding rent for nearly three years.
Bayport International Holdings is a defunct company. Its stock is worthless, industry analysts say.

Mota’s doctorate comes from a diploma mill that provides honorary degrees for a price, the Globe’s research found. His work at Alex and Ani has been exaggerated — the company’s founder told the Globe he never served as its vice president.
The list goes on.
“Don’t trust him,” said Rhode Island filmmaker David Bettencourt, who worked directly with Mota at a marketing company that was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alex and Ani. “You can’t listen to anything he says.”

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READ MORE IN THE GLOBE: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/17/metro/mike-mota-art-virtual-con/

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