“Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?”
– Obi-Wan Kenobi

This certainly came to mind when I encountered the following yesterday evening on my day off, at, of all places, a Papa John’s right down the street from where I live:

Allow me to elaborate as to what’s wrong with this setting. Caribou Coffee’s main investor is Arcapita Bank, based in Bahrain. Once upon a time, Caribou’s web site had the following in its investor relations page, which has now disappeared down the memory hole there, but thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can read for yourself why I will NEVER go there!

Arcapita, whose investors are located primarily in the Middle East , makes its investments in a manner consistent with the body of Islamic principles known as Shari’ah. Consequently, we operate our business in a manner consistent with Shari’ah principles and will continue to do so as long as Arcapita is a significant shareholder.
In particular, we must comply with Shari’ah principles regarding money that we borrow from other parties. For example, our lease financing arrangement, under which we have obtained financing to fund our operations and expand our business, is structured in a manner that complies with Shari’ah principles. The structure of this lease financing arrangement is described in the prospectus relating to our initial public offering. Also, a Shari’ah-compliant company is prohibited from dealing in the areas of alcohol, gambling, pornography, pork and pork-related products.

Imagine that.
Papa John’s sells pork in their pizza products! Specifically, pepperoni, ham, and Italian sausage! Therefore, Caribou Coffee is violating their investors’ taboos! Who’s gonna get the ax? And is Papa John’s aware of this? Inquiring Minds Want To Know!