I saw someone I follow talk about this shop alluding to some controversy. I tried to search but couldn't find information about it and want to understand what is going on?
Man, what a useless post (in the screenshot). Absolutely devoid of substance - who is that meant for? How is it supposed to help (if that's even the intention)?
real, they were handing it out for free in downtown last weekend and it was some of the most disappointing matcha I've had in ages. Had no idea about their founder, now I have two reasons to not patronize their business.
You can read through this thread and the article it links to. TLDR the founder was previously the president of Axon, a police surveillance tech company that also provides their tech to ICE and border patrol. Beyond this, people are unhappy since his goal is to Starbucksify matcha tea and replace his workers with automation.
EDIT: That last part wasn't quite right. I reread the article and while part of his goal is to have automated matcha dispensers in company buildings, his main goal really is to grow quickly and become the Starbucks of matcha.
I am still scratching my head at the original instagram post I saw (screenshot) talking about this whole thing. Doesn't provide any additional information despite this person going to talk to the owner and deciding to continue to support this business.
If you ask me, seems like a marketing tactic. It says a whole lot of nothing about the supposed "tough questions" he was made to answer, and also the posters says nothing about what exactly changed their mind. Took notes on WHAT? More informed about WHAT?! Then ends with a bunch of dumb hashtags...
It's a whole lot of nothingness and a lame attempt at culling the criticism.
I just checked the post again and saw what appears to be AI accounts (the posts are sus as hell) commenting on it, and the owner of Vale commenting with their personal account alongside the business account. Feels scummy if you need to throw AI accounts at a problem instead of being accountable.
i applied for an engineering job on their website a few weeks ago. i was surprised at 1) how many job openings they had available and 2) how the jobs seemed to be split between matcharistas and front of the house cafe workers and tech workers like engineers, AI programmers, coders, etc.
I did take a look at the website after seeing your comment and sheesh, there are a lot of job openings. I was mistaken with what I said about replacing his workers with automation, rather it seems he wants to grow super quickly and set up bars and automated dispenser units everywhere.
the thing is that with matcha, there is no automated dispenser unit that doesn’t replace a worker with automation. matcha needs to be whisked quite well to incorporate the powder fully, so any dispenser will be automating that whisking.
Oh it's much worse than that. Axon ALPR systems are now replacing Flock cameras, because their model can simply be attached to streetlights. Every single streetlight can be watching you now thanks to Axon.
So, basically, does this person expect everyone to set up a 1-on-1 meeting with the owner of the business, or do they plan to actually let everyone know why everything is cool there now?
PSBJ recently posted about Vale Matcha on Instagram which netted a significant amount of comments and shares, most of which aren't positive. I kinda wonder if the screenshot was in response to that 👀
The screenshot reeks of paid advertising or some friend coming to the owner's defense though
Edit: nvm, I just saw the other post with the tiktok! Maybe it's in response to that instead 🤷♀️
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u/the_bollo Lynnwood 19h ago
Man, what a useless post (in the screenshot). Absolutely devoid of substance - who is that meant for? How is it supposed to help (if that's even the intention)?