SMITHFIELD — A food truck selling only coffee from a parking lot downtown created a firestorm on Facebook.
The dust-up began with a video post from downtown director Heidi Gilmond, who invited viewers to try the coffee from the truck.
“Guys, this is such awesome coffee,” she says in the one-minute video, posted on Thursday.
Critics quickly pounced on Gilmond, faulting her for promoting a competitor to Gilded Pear, a brick-and-mortar coffee shop on Market Street.
“This is a terrible idea for downtown when there is a coffee shop downtown,” Lyndsay Bean wrote in one of her many comments on the video.
Gilmond said the coffee truck filled a niche. “By bringing in a new option for coffee in downtown, we are now able to serve people that would prefer a drive-through option or don’t have time to park and go into a restaurant,” she wrote.
Gilmond said the coffee truck posed little threat to Gilded Pear. “This is a completely different type of coffee than the Gilded Pear and complements it,” she wrote. “There’s a lot of commuter traffic that comes through downtown Smithfield that would love a great coffee option.”
“We love the Gilded Pear too,” Gilmond added. “They’re the perfect place for a great coffee, breakfast or lunch meetings. There is room for both of these businesses to be successful downtown.”
Bean was unswayed. “I still say it’s wrong when downtown already has a coffee shop,” she said.
Bean pointed to another post in which someone asked Gilmond if she would support a pizza food truck in front of Sami’s, another brick-and-mortar downtown business. “Do you get it?” she asked, adding two more question marks for emphasis.
Gloria Brindle, a former owner of Gilded Pear, didn’t buy Gilmond’s argument either. “Do you have any idea how stressful it is to try to survive, let alone thrive, in a small downtown?” she asked. “No, there is NOT room to have another business doing what you are doing just a block or two away. Common sense tells anyone that.”
Others were more accepting of Gilmond’s post and the coffee truck.
Jenni Anne thanked Gilmond for her efforts on behalf of downtown Smithfield. “No one knows the amount of heart and passion that goes answered with ridicule and strife,” she wrote. “Keep up the great work. Small business supports other small business.”
Jim Wiesner defended Gilmond and the Downtown Smithfield Development Corp., which she leads. “I’m just happy the DSDC is finally going in the right direction,” he said. “Please keep up the great work.”
Jane Austin Lee of the Cleveland community had apparently had the food truck’s coffee before. “Come back to Parkview Center in the Cleveland community,” she wrote.
“I look forward to trying it,” added Michelle Doggett Verburgt.
In all, the video post on the Historic Downtown Smithfield Facebook page drew 60 comments before Gilmond shut down the often heated back-and-forth.
“I am happy to take this conversation offline and talk with anyone who has concerns or questions about the direction of the DSDC or the Town of Smithfield’s vision for downtown,” Gilmond wrote.
That vision, she added, is to create a “vibrant and diverse downtown” that is “rich in opportunity for business and recreation.”
“Having multiple restaurants, entertainment options and retail businesses help[s] make our downtown more attractive and bring people here that will spend money and help stimulate our town economy,” Gilmond added.
