Tampa, FL-based Thompson Group has added another brand to its mix. The parent company of cigar merchant Thomspon & Co., gifts and décor title Casual Living, and bedding book Linen Source recently launched Café Belmondo, a Website selling a variety of gourmet coffee.
“It’s essentially a ‘coffee club’ at this point,” says Thompson Group’s vice president of marketing, Steve Cobden. “Right now we are putting together offers through our Website and our phone center and are busy testing different combinations.” For $19.95 new members can get four half-pound bags of high-end Arabica coffees and receive additional orders every six weeks for $5.95-$8.45 per half-pound bag plus $5.95 for shipping and handling. Club members also receive a complimentary travel coffee maker for trying the club.
“We are currently testing other gift possibilities,” Cobden says “and we hope to show the coffee enthusiast that this program is the real deal — a chance to get a variety of hand-roasted coffees that are at the top of the specialty market.”
Cobden couldn’t say whether the Website would eventually foster a print catalog .