PrintRIP 'We Are Happy to Serve You' Coffee Cups?
Photograph from valentinapowers on Flickr
In the paper cup world, this one is pretty famous, but it may soon be as endangered as the Florida manatee. Jeremiah of the blog Jeremiah's Vanishing New York recently ordered a chocolate egg cream at Ray's Candy Store, excepting it to come in the typical short blue cup with iconic Greek font, spelling out the chipper "We Are Happy to Serve You" message. But it didn't. Instead it came in a Wolfgang Puck coffee cup. Lame.
It's becoming harder and harder to find corner bodegas and street carts serving hot beverages in these cups—instead, they're being replaced with those advertising pharmaceuticals, banks, or something else you probably don't care as much about. City Room recently investigated this endangered cup species, noting that the new wave of random cups "are called 'misprints'... they are overruns, discontinued prints, leftovers from promotions, or the results of cup-using vendors who go bankrupt, leaving the manufacturer with unwanted cups."
It all started in the mid-1960s when the Sherri Cup Company of Kensington, Connecticut, designed the cup for the hundreds of Greek coffee shops operating in the city, noted Rodger Stevens in this New York Times piece in 2005. "Greek motifs continue to adorn up to 40 percent of 10-ounce cardboard cups in New York," Stevens pointed out.
But, sigh, that was the statistic in 2005. If you are nervous about the sustainability of the WAHTSY cup, you can order them in bulk here.
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8 Comments:
You know, I'm a coffee drinking, native New Yorker in my mid-30's, and I've been waiting my entire life to be handed a beverage in one of these cups!
At this point, I feel like I'd have to save the cup if I ever get one.
There are ceramic versions available, I believe.
wotstaters at 12:18PM on 07/24/09
@wotstaters: My GF interviewed the people who make the ceramic version for the magazine she was working for at the time. Somehow, in her research on the cup—and my memory is a bit fuzzy here, so this might not be true—I seem to remember her saying that most of the sales of these cups went to film and TV production studios that either filmed in NYC or whose productions were set in NYC.
I agree. It's very difficult to find one of these in the wild. Her magazine needed one—next day—for a photo shoot and we were on the lookout for them but came up short. I finally found a deli that had them and made sure to rinse out my cup and save it.
Adam Kuban at 12:51PM on 07/24/09
All good things must come to an end. And then live on in ceramic.
Beyond The Kitchen Sink at 1:35PM on 07/24/09
In my opinion they are one of the most iconic food items in Americana. The link to buy them in bulk is nice but I've longed to find a real supplier selling them in bulk. No luck so far.
hungrytraveler at 2:42PM on 07/24/09
I saw one of those cups on Nurse Jackie
bisbee at 3:34PM on 07/24/09
My mother-in-law, who works in Long Island, once begged extra cups off the vendor outside her office just so she could send me some of the coveted NYC cups. So I can vouch - from my apartment in Baltimore - that the WAHTSY cups can be found in NYC. Or could several years ago anyway. (yes, I do have the world's most wonderful MIL. Her son is pretty fantastic too...)
AliceBlue at 3:44PM on 07/24/09
@Adam: That would be interesting, if true. Although, for as many times as I can recall Andy Sipowicz having one with a suspect in the coffee room, I remember my childhood barbershop being fairly littered with those things.
At least I'm not alone in considering a paper cup a souvenir...
wotstaters at 2:29PM on 07/25/09
I love this logo, but I can't recall ever getting one of these cups... and I've lived here for years. I've seen it in t-shirt form, which is pretty funny
meem21 at 11:45AM on 07/28/09