By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
When Gary Dible leaves the grocery store with 27 gallons of milk in his cart, he often gets stopped and asked, “Why don’t you buy a cow?”
He laughs it off and uses the interaction as an opportunity to invite the jokester to visit one of his four Biggby Coffee locations.
When he talks to Bowling Green State University lecture classes about entrepreneurship, he hands out a free beverage coupon to each student figuring they can’t pass up a free drink at some point.
As owner of two Biggby Coffee shops in Bowling Green and one each in Perrysburg and Maumee, Dible knows promoting the stores and Biggby products is his number one job. That is also why he provides coffee for events like the Boy Scout Marathon and the Bowling Green Kiwanis pancake breakfasts.
Now, as he prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his first store in Bowling Green at 215 E. Wooster St., Dible happily reports he exceeded his goal of owning three stores in 10 years.
Back to the beginning
“Twelve years ago, life was grand. I loved my job and the people I worked for,” Dible said about his supply chain management job at a local manufacturing company. That was true until the company’s success led to a sale to a publicly traded company, which fired the president and created shock waves throughout the company, Dible recalled.
He started thinking about what was next for him. At 47 years old, could he work for another 19 years at the same company, or did it make sense to start a new career, he asked himself. He had always wanted to own his own business, “but with kids and a mortgage, that dream kind of faded,” he said.
He discussed with his wife Amy the idea of owning a business. The long-time Bowling Green schoolteacher supported the idea, but the educator in her urged him to “do your homework.”
Together they looked at various options, but nothing felt right until they walked into their favorite coffee shop and saw a display about owning a Biggby Coffee franchise.
“She raised eyebrows, said she was curious and again insisted I do the homework,” Dible said. He talked to six different Biggby owners from Lima, Ohio, to Big Rapids, Michigan, to see if owning a franchise was the real deal. The bottom-line message was, “This isn’t a money-printing operation, but they loved their job,” he said.
Dible estimated about 30% of the people in town had ever heard of Biggby and only 5% had ever been. At that point, he knew he had to leave his introverted ways behind.
“I needed to be the guy out in public, the one who couldn’t say no if anyone needed coffee for a fundraiser or event,” Dible said.
He had always admired longtime, successful local businessmen George Nicholson (Pagliai’s and Campus Pollyeyes) and Chip Myles (Dairy Queen and Myles Pizza). They were everywhere, supporting the schools and the community, Dible said. He believed their community involvement was a quality to emulate and a key to brand recognition.
He has maintained that mantra as he’s added a Maumee location in 2017, a Perrysburg store in 2022 at the site of the former Holiday Inn French Quarter, and in 2023 the second Bowling Green store located just inside Wood County Hospital’s front entrance.
After the Perrysburg store opened, “I was done and happy I’d reached my goal of opening three stores in less than eight years,” Dible said. He didn’t plan on the fourth store until Wood County Hospital President Stan Korducki asked him to consider operating a Biggby Coffee inside the hospital.
The previous hospital coffee shop permanently closed during the Covid pandemic, but Korducki explained there was still a need to offer coffee to staff members, patients and visitors, which was a built-in customer base, Dible conceded.
He was already busy enough, but the hospital‘s proximity to his westside home and the idea that he could share staff from the downtown store sold him on the idea.
Now, nine months in at the hospital location, he’s happy with the decision and is looking for ways to encourage westside residents that they can get their coffee fix even quicker than at a drive-thru. People can order through the app, pull up at the hospital entrance, walk in and pick up their order in just a few steps.
Decade of excellence in coffee, customer care
Marketing and promoting are constant requirements, Dible acknowledged; however, promoting excellence is easy, he said.
He’s proud of the Biggby menu which includes the obvious coffees and lattes, but also other quality menu items including teas, energy drinks, creme freeze smoothies, bagel sandwiches, muffins and macarons.
The easiest selling point for him is the customer care provided by the managers and staff of each of his stores. He teaches each of his employees “It is better to be interested than interesting,” in other words engage customers in conversation rather than talking about themselves.
“It’s part of the culture here,” Dible said. “All it takes is saying, ‘Hello. How’s your day?’”
He and his 80-member staff know that conversation can be the difference in a customer’s day that makes them happier than when they walked in and maybe bring them back again.
“Watching the kids develop has been so rewarding for me. They come in shy, not always with the best work ethic, but I tell them it is my job to go outside these walls and get as many people in here as I can,” he said. “It is their job to greet them and seal the deal by engaging them in conversation and making a drink that looks absolutely incredible and tastes incredible.”
Dible also works hard to make sure the employees enjoy their jobs because the longer they stay, the less time he must devote to interviewing, hiring and training new employees.
Every day, he stops in all of the stores to check in on the operations and the employees to ensure everything is okay at the store and in their lives. “The worst part of my job is saying goodbye to the students, especially when they’ve been here three to four years. At least I know they are going on to bigger and better things,” he said.
Anniversary celebration offer
Dible is offering a special deal to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first Biggby store in Bowling Green.
Though he recently had to raise prices after three years with increasing costs and no price increases for customers, Dible has decided to commemorate the anniversary on Monday, July 15, by selling iced coffee or brewed coffee for 10 cents a cup in the downtown store only.
At all the stores, he also offers BOGO Wednesdays, Free Shot Fridays, and a rewards card that gives one free item after 12 swipes of the card.
He also likes to remind people though the name is Biggby Coffee, “We are more than just a coffee shop. We offer mocktails, crème freeze smoothies, sandwiches that are huge, and the best customer service.”
