Costa Coffee, one of the largest roasters, wholesalers and retailers in the United Kingdom, opened a new café in Aberystwyth, Wales yesterday and managed to do it in the worst possible way. With your indulgence, I'd like to offer up a brief rant of just where this company went wrong.

Mistake #1: Opening the café on high street without planning permission from the Ceredigion County Council.

Mistake #2: Ignoring a letter from Aberystwyth Town Council requesting that they provide bilingual signs.

Mistake #3: Believing they could get away with such obviously thoughtless and disrespectful actions in the land of the proud and passionate Welsh--not that it would be more acceptable anywhere else, mind you.

After centuries of repression and abuse, the Welsh people have worked long and hard to safeguard their distinct heritage, and even with all their dedication only about a fifth of the population can speak their native tongue. In a time when the world is experiencing an epidemic of cultural and linguistic extinction, it is truly unconscionable for any company to ignore those cherished things that give people a solid sense of identity.

For Costa Coffee, this is not merely a public relations crisis, this is a cultural and social faux pas of the highest magnitude. People are no longer willing to put up with bad corporate behavior just to get a business to come their town. And claiming ignorance of the existing local cultural and governmental environment can longer be used as an excuse.

If Costa Coffee cannot comply with local government stipulations or the simple requests of the general populace, who are their potential customers after all, they deserve to have their shutters closed and their shingle removed.

Carry on.

Link (via Coffee Talk)

Post originally published by Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee.