Blowing the top off topless coffee-shop plans

In the current Shmuck of the Week, Joe Tone weighs in on Dan Kennedy, the University of Colorado sophomore who wants to open a topless coffee shop in a campus conference room that would only be open one day a week -- but somehow could cover the costs of topless...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 12, 2009

Audio By Carbonatix

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In the current Shmuck of the Week, Joe Tone weighs in on Dan Kennedy, the University of Colorado sophomore who wants to open a topless coffee shop in a campus conference room that would only be open one day a week -- but somehow could cover the costs of topless waitresses paid up to $80 an hour.

As Tone points out, it sounds like a very bad business plan. And it didn't work when a similar venture, Debbie Does Donuts, opened outside of Fort Collins more than a decade ago. That topless joint had the added benefit of doughnuts, and it only lasted a few months.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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