Image: sxc.hu

Last week Craigslist received a letter from 18 state attorneys general demanding they shut down the adult services section. The letter cited the two girls who said they were trafficked for sex through the website. Police also routinely conduct prostitution stings through the listings and the site has come under heavy criticism from various groups for being used to advertise prostitution with underage girls.

Though it’s obviously a good idea to cut down on human sex trafficking, the censoring is a big hit to Craigslist.

The adult services section reportedly accounts for 30 percent of Craigslist’s overall revenue. That’s $36.6 million out of $122 million projected for 2010. Ouch!

Post from: EveryJoe

Escalated my blog traffic, that is.

In fact, I didn’t know anything about the caffeinated sex scandal rocking the drive-thru community until last week when I noticed a sharp spike in my readership.

Had I finally achieved the franchise rock star status I so richly deserve?

Had my stinging criticism and razor-sharp wit been suddenly recognized & celebrated by someone famous?

Sorry, but no, said Google Analytics*.  It seems everyone’s searching the term “Grab-N-Go Espresso” and FranchisePick.com ranks high for that normally marginal term.

Yep, it turned out some bikinied baristas at Grab-N-Go Espresso got busted, so to say, for peddling the grabbing along with the espresso.  And it just so happens that my high-level editorial archive includes my prestigious and ground-breaking coverage of the Sexpresso trade:

Hooters Plus Starbucks Equals The Next Big Franchise

SexPresso Coffee Marketing Steams Clothed Competitors

SEXPRESSO: Are Nude Baristas Adult Entertainers?

And with my journalistic integrity being what it is, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to try to seize a little more traffic with a quick post that used key search terms in the headline:

Sexpresso Prostitution at Grab-N-Go!

So don’t worry – in addition to the serious franchise news, advice, tips and discussions here at FranchisePick.com, you can also count on us (me) for all the latest in shameless bikini-barista traffic-hooring.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  ARE YOU A SEXPRESSO CUSTOMER?  OR AN UNDERCOVER EVERETT DETECTIVE ON A 2 MONTH STAKE-OUT?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

PICTURED:  AMBER JAMES, 24, serves another happy customer at Cowgirls espresso bar in Tukwilla, WA.  Most of the baristas say they are paid around minimum wage, but they can add as much as $200 in tips during a seven-hour shift.  Note:  Neither Amber nor Cowgirls Espresso were implicated in the Grab-N-Go scandal in Everett.  Photo credit Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

According to a story by Herald Writer Diana Hefley on Heraldnet:

EVERETT — Five baristas are accused of engaging in prostitution at an Everett bikini espresso stand following a two-month undercover police investigation into complaints that the women were selling more than coffee.

Detectives say the women were charging up to $80 to strip down and flash customers while fixing lattes and mochas.

Investigators saw the women expose their crotches, lick whipped cream off their co-workers’ private parts and pose naked for pictures inside the Grab-n-Go Espresso stand at 8015 Broadway, according to police reports obtained by The Herald on Wednesday.

Detectives also witnessed some of the women charging customers to touch their bare breasts and naked buttocks. Touching of that kind, for pay, falls under the city’s definition of prostitution.

The women, ages 18 to 24, were charged Wednesday with multiple counts of prostitution and violating the city’s adult entertainment ordinance, both misdemeanors, Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.

Yes, that’s right.  A two-month investigation.

The dedication and thoroughness of the Everett detective squad & prosecutors is surpassed only by that of the Sexpresso baristas themselves.  Rarely has the coffee industry seen such dedication to customer service and energetic in-store marketing as exhibited by the spirited baristas of Grab-N-Go Espresso:

An Everett detective took a city prosecutor to the stand to witness firsthand the activities of the baristas. During that visit, two women allegedly engaged in a “whipped cream show” in which they sprayed whipped cream on each other and licked it off.

On a second visit… the barista told him that for $20, she and the other barista would give him a show. He paid and they bared their breasts and pulled down their undergarments, police reports said…

Detectives say the women also charged customers to play “basketball” — a game in which customers were allowed to throw waded up money at the women, who caught the money in their underpants.

Investigators also witnessed women strip down and perch on the drive-thru window ledge in full view of passing cars. The five women also allowed customers, who paid extra, to grab their breasts and buttocks, police allege.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Also read:

SEXPRESSO: Are Nude Baristas Adult Entertainers?

SexPresso Coffee Marketing Steams Clothed Competitors

Hooters Plus Starbucks Equals The Next Big Franchise

Photo:  Grab-N-Go Bikini Hut in South Everett, WA  Photo credit:  Ken Lambert, copyright Seattle Times/ZumaPress.com

Post from: EveryJoe