How Second Cup’s promotional Piaggios narrowly avoided the scrap heap
OTTAWA — They are the marketing darlings of the Second Cup franchise, and bureaucracy nearly killed them.
The tale of the two Piaggio three-wheeled vehicles that were given life in Italy, overhauled in Ireland and then put to work in Canada appears to have come to an end after a last-second political plea spared the vehicles from the scrap yard.
The story starts in 2014 when the company was launching a new specialty drink and decided to bring in the two Italian vehicles to help with promotions and hopefully boost sales.
The company’s 2014 annual report said the little “Piaggio Apes,” originally from Italy, were customized in Ireland to convert into an espresso brewing station to promote a new drink at the coffee shop chain.