BREW NEWS
CHAIN OWNER CHARGED WITH FRAUD Mich. man accused of Ponzi scheme Federal authorities have brought
fraud charges against a Michigan coff ee shop owner, saying the fi nancing for his plan to expand his chain of shops amounted to a Ponzi scheme. David Many was arraigned in
raised money from his former in-laws, a would-be investor and people looking to franchise a coff ee shop from him. Some of that money was repaid, but most of it Many spent on himself, federal authorities charge. Th e charges carry a potential prison
August on charges of mail and wire fraud and obstruction of justice. Th e charges stem from allegations that Many used more than $2 million in funds he raised for the expansion to fi nance a lavish lifestyle that included a Mercedes, an expensive home and visits to strip clubs. Many has been in federal custody since he was arrested in Kansas on July 6, allegedly in the act of trying to fl ee to Canada. Many opened a shop, called
CornerStone Coff ee, in Grand Rapids in late 2005. It was severely damaged seven months later in a fi re determined to be arson, for which no one was charged. Many opened three more shops,
in Lansing and East Lansing, by 2007 before running out of money. He had
with 367 shops—a number that doubled over the last fi ve years. As in the U.S., many owners of
sentence of 20 years for each of four fraud counts and 10 years for a count of obstruction of justice.
KOREAN COFFEE GROWTH EXPLODES Location restrictions for new shops eyed Coff ee and
coff eehouses have become so popular in South Korea that the government is thinking of restricting how close to an existing shop a new one can open. According to Reuters, since 2006
independent coff eehouses credit Starbucks for setting the stage. "I am very grateful to Starbucks," one of them told Reuters. "Koreans were previously used to spending 300 won [27 cents] for a cup of coff ee, but Starbucks has made them willing to pay nearly 5,000 won [$4.42], whether they like it or not." Local authorities are debating
whether to restrict how close new shops can open to competitors.
GERMAN COURT NIXES NESTLE PATENT Rules Nespresso pods are not proprietary Nestle does not have the right to
the number of coff ee shops in South Korea has grown tenfold, to 12,381. Th e value of the overall Korean coff ee market now stands at 2.48 trillion won (about $2.2 billion). South Korea is now the third-largest market for Starbucks, behind the U.S. and Japan,
OCTOBER 6-7 Northwest Tea Festival, Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, Seattle, Wash., www.neteafestival.com
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
10-12 National Coffee Assn. Coffee Summit 2012, Philadelphia, www.ncausa.org
21-27 SCAA Coffee Science Origin Trip to Brasilia, Brazil, http://tinyurl.com/scaabrazil
17-20 Golden Bean Roaster Competition and Conference, Caloundra, Australia, www.cafeculture.com/golden-bean-info
25-27 TriestEspresso Expo, Trieste, Italy, www.triestespresso.it 27-28 Technical Maintenance and Repair Workshop, Midwest Barista School, Holland, Mich., http://tinyurl.com/grootclass
NOVEMBER 1-2 LXXV Congreso annual de ASOEXPORT, Cartagena, Colombia, www.asoexport.org
7-11 Sintercafe 26th Edition, San José, Costa Rica, www.sintercafe.com 11-16 24th ASIC Int'l Conference on Coffee Science, San José, Costa Rica, www.asic2012costarica.org
3-4 Coffee & Tea Festival, Bally's, Atlantic City, N.J., www.coffeeandteafestival.com
stop others from making coff ee-fi lled pods that fi t its Nespresso machine, a German judge has ruled. Th e ruling came in a patent dispute
in which Nestle sought a preliminary injunction against the knockoff capsules. Pods that fi t the Nespresso machine are marketed by, among others, D.E. Master Blenders 1753, the new international- coff ee spinoff of the former Sara Lee Corp. Th e ruling arose in a suit Nestle brought against Ethical Coff ee and Betron, two other European marketers. Nestle has tried to control the
Nespresso market by aggressively defending its patents. But the Dusseldorf regional court ruled that the capsules are not a "special feature" of the system. Nestle has vowed to appeal the ruling or seek an alternative legal strategy.
CASH FROM STARBUCKS TRASH? Researchers study 'biorefi ning' café waste Starbucks is cooperating with a
Hong Kong research team that is trying to use biotechnology to turn used coff ee grounds and stale baked goods into valuable chemicals. Starbucks Hong Kong has off ered assistance and money to Th e Climate
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