Discussion: Port City Java?
Their owners misuse and embezzle money, then abscond; employees report terrible work conditions and management pressures; management reports similar pressure from upper management (and so on); they’ve apparently either licensed their name or franchised themselves to create some 350 new PCJs in Asia (?!); local competitors, such as the now-closed Folks Cafe, describe arrogant, Walmart-like territory poaching…
This editor likes the coffee, however, the wireless, the investment in the awkwardly-named “Fairganic” products, the people who work there. The urban vibe, the obligatory bebop soundtrack…the smoothies. They’re a large local employer. They’re a good presence downtown. I think they give back to the community…They began here…They repel Starbucks…but maybe they are Starbucks. And maybe disliking Starbucks is 20th century.
It’s hard to know how to feel about PCJ — but fun to think aloud about them. Your thoughts?
Your comments about Port City Java are just the tip of the iceberg. This would be an interesting company to research and profile. There are only 20 US franchises remaining (7 in the Wilmington area), and 2 international. At least 47 franchisees have gone into bankruptcy, closed or debranded. This is an astonishing failure rate for franchised businesses, but is indicative of the business practices of management.
Franchising efforts in the US have failed, so they now have
franchising agreements in the Middle East? Look at the cafes under development in their locations section of the website. 4 at NCSU & one in Jordan. Things are not as wildly successful as their press releases have indicated.
Most of the court case filings against Port City Java & its related entities are available online and also give insight into management.
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Coffee Drinker Reply:
February 27th, 2009 at 9:16 am
I, too think their presence downtown and surrounding areas is a good thing. The coffee is definitely the best in town as well as the smoothies and fresh baked pastries. The Port City across from the cotton exchange is my favorite. Franchisee owned and operated, it shows in the care they put into the store and the happy, helpful employees. They always take the time to get my order right AND to smile and say good morning.
I am curious to see what happens to the founders of Port City Java. I am sure they will get what they deserve, and by the sounds of it, it won’t be pretty.
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Wow I didn’t realize that PCJ management was so sinister and corrupt. I do feel sorry for the franchise owners as I’m sure many people are now avoiding PCJ’s (as I will now start). IMO, they would be smart to drop the name and go independent. Who wants to be associated with such a disgusting company?
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Whoa Ed. The franchise owners have a contract they can’t break. They really try to give their customers a good experience and most treat their employees well. The one at Front & Grace is my favorite too. The owner is great & the staff is so nice. You can tell the care that is put into this business. My dog loves it too! Port City’s coffee is really the best in town, so please don’t take business away from the franchise owners.
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I understand your sentiment CL2, but I’m not in the habit of supporting companies with corrupt management. Considering what has transpired, I would imagine the franchises would have a strong legal footing to break their contract.
In the meantime, I’ll seek out some of the independent coffee houses in town.
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The owners of the company that caused a lot of these problems have been removed. I’m interested to see what PCJ can do without such poor leadership. I’m still a fan!
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I must admit I know both Don and Denise Reynolds. I know Don’s history better than most. Port City Java does have good coffee and a lot of good employees. The problem is one simple thing. Don Reynolds is a slicker. He has built his Brand on others backs and has ruined his empire by ruling with ” Boss Hogg” tactics. I know a lot of talented people that he bullied into submission. He and his wife were kinda like Bonnie and Clyde. I have been told the money in question is $800,000.00. I know of four local people that have been beat for twice that.
These two will burn in hell.
BH
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Amen.
Although it will be fun to think of Don in jail & we can only hope he gets screwed as much as he has screwed others with his business tactics.
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Yeah, the franchise relationship seems like the one in which the various franchisees will be protected most from all the bad stuff rolling downhill from the original owners. Hope so, anyway.
Different PCJs, like Front & Grace one and the one here near us at Monkey Junction, seem to have their own mini-vibes, seem to be able to express themselves somewhat within the fold of the familiar PCJ corporate collateral.
Like Coffee Lover 2 I hope these places thrive in some…purged (?), renewed form.
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And this from the Star News:
Schnitzler named CEO of Port City Java
Port City Java has promoted Steve Schnitzler, a longtime employee, to head the company’s operations, according to a statement the company released Monday. Schnitzler is this man you may have seen around one or another of the stores:
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OK. Let’s see. Honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Executive chef of the now closed Front Street Brewery, Port City Java cafe manager, part owner with the now ousted Don Reynolds of the failed Wildflower Bread Co. restaurant, stockholder along with Don Reynolds in the company that owns Port City Java, long time operations manager for the Port City Java company stores (see editor’s initial comment above on working conditions), now in charge of franchise stores also.
Was instrumental in the creation of a franchise model with a 70% failure rate. I am impressed with this man’s accomplishments!
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Interested Reply:
March 11th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I have worked for this company for the past three + years. I started working in the cafes as a Barista and was promoted through several positions and departments within the company since then. Currently, I work in the corporate office directly with our new CEO, Steve. I’m very interested in your perspective but would like to comment on a few things that have been posted so far.
First of all, I’m not sure what terrible working conditions you’re referring to at all. I love my job and the company very much. Most managers or office staff were home grown, working in the cafes as Baristas and hand picked by Steve to be promoted. We don’t have any licensees or agreements in Asia. I’m also unaware of any territory poaching tactics you’ve mentioned. We haven’t even opened any new cafes in the Wilmington area in awhile. Steve is a fantastic employer, leader and person. He knows most of the Guests that come into our cafes. You’ll have to stop and chat with him if you see him in the cafes sometime to find out for yourself.
The company isn’t about Don or Denise Reynolds. It never was. We’re about taking care of the Guests in our cafes, the Baristas that work for us and the franchisees that work hard to have a business of their own. Negative posts like this don’t hurt Don. They hurt the people that really matter which is really why I wanted to share my opinion as well.
Oh, and Front Street Brewery isn’t closed
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Editor Reply:
March 14th, 2009 at 5:26 am
Interested – I heard about the Asia franchising plans more than four years ago now, from a guy who worked for PCJ and was in fact doing a lot of marketing work for them. The absence of any outlets there now isn’t for lack of trying. Certainly, PCJ has tried to build out in any direction it can, including Asia, and simply haven’t succeeded. You can still find these old business directory things about PCJ franchise opportunities abroad. It’s beginning to sound like PCJ has tried LOTS of things over its span.
I’m sorry if the overall tenor of this post sounds negative — I didn’t mean it as a kill piece. I like a lot of things about the company, as I said — I’d be hard pressed without them!
It occured to me that PCJ has a long shadow in the area, and that there’s been some recent, genuinely ugly news about its founders, but that there’s relatively little discussion about the company. Real curiosity motivated this post.
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Contrary to Interested’s assertions, Port City Java was always the Don and Denise Reynolds show. As the majority stockholder Don, aka Boss Hogg, ruled. The minority stockholders and financial backers are local businessmen John Sutton, Alex Thorpe & H. David Swain, Investors Management Corp (IMC) of Raleigh, and the above-mentioned Steve Schnitzler. There are a whole lot of related companies in this Port City Java group.
The company does have good coffee and some good, though overworked and tired-looking, employees.They are a good company for Wilmington but should have stayed there and not bankrupted so many good people by selling a faulty franchise model. Unfortunately the bad karma from the ruin of so many good people will follow this company. According to their website they are still selling franchises claiming they have a “proven concept.” Ha! Steve Schnitzler has publically claimed credit for developing the franchise model. They were a couple of country hicks who talked a good story and got financial backing, and took advantage of those people too.
Will the company survive in this economic climate, and survive the pending lawsuits from outsiders and among the stockholders? It’s hard to tell.
I have mixed feelings. Don & Denise Reynolds deserve anything bad that comes their way, but not necessarily so for the other people involved.
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All you need to do is search L’Heureux Enterprises Inc on google to truly see how PCJ treated its franchises!!!
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Good morning,
I think something needs to clarified. Port City Java hasn’t always been this bad. People very close to me helped launch the franchise many years ago. JR has done an excellent PR job erasing their hard work from the public. I think the true credit with the success of the franchise can be contributed to their roster of original employees, Steve, Frank, Casey and Charlotte. When they opened their original location at 7 N. Front St. people put in countless man hours seeking to guarantee success.
The actions of JR and Denise (who thinks Peruvian coffee comes from somewhere called ‘Peruvia,’” should not reflect on those who used to, and continue to want to see the brand do well.
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Good Day All,
Wow, some interesting post here. It is quite obvious where the problem is. Being someone close to the situation I would say the post are ” dead on”. The coffee has always been good at PCJ. The employees are also great. Management starts at the top and in the case of Port City Java the top guy was a piece of work. The Wilmington community should embrace the business as they do employ a lot of people and have done some good things.
The bottom line is that Don Reynolds has 8-10 lawsuits against him. He has been involved with dozens of others. The Master of wordsmithing and threatening emails. Don spent half his time beating up his computer punching people in the nose. Weird dude I must say. Don knew the model was broken but was so caught up in ruling a fake empire he forgot about all of the money others were losing by owning a PCJ. The man burnt every bridge in the coffee industry as well as in Wilmington.
Look for him to re-surface pushing BBQ or used cars. He will be back just in another town with a new veil of secrecy.
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Interesting post. While Don may have been at the top and is now gone, he was not the only one in Port City Java who knew that the model was broken and people were losing money. The rest of the management staff knew too and are still there. How about the current COO? He is a stockholder and has been with the company many years. How about the franchising director who knew and continued to sell franchises? How about the franchise field consultant who knew and continued to tell business owners that the model worked? How about the other owners of Port City Java? There are people escaping blame here for allowing this to go on for so long. Do these people ever think about the fine business owners who lost everything? Do they sleep well at night?
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Yet one more franchised cafe to bite the dust. 4th & Chesnut is closing. Not the company “consolidating” as reported by the media – another franchise has not been able to make it. Also, there are not cafes in 3 other countries – just 2. There is one in Jordan and one in Costa Rica. Also, a Port City Java in Cary closed recently too.
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Old Dog has it spot on. Don is a strange bird. Hopefully the only place he’ll be resurfacing is trading cigarettes for favors in jail!
The Chestnut store was a corporate owned location. The assets and staff are being moved to a new location in Brunswick Forest. The company will also be hiring additional staff when that cafe opens. Why shouldn’t PCJ close that cafe? It’s in one of the worst neighborhoods in Wilmington. Name me another retail/restaurant that’s doing well on the north side right now…..come on? I’m waiting……..???
The model isn’t broken. Most cafes do very well when operated by people who have proper funding, experience and are willing to commit to actually RUNNING a business. The Franchising Director, Greg George, who sold franchises to people without proper funding or experience hasn’t been with the company in years. He moved on to ruin Barbecutie and is now working for some Barbershop franchise (V’s barbershop I think.) Anyway, you can follow that company to see how it does with his influence.
Not sure why everyone keeps attacking Steve Schnitzler either. He’s the one that filed the lawsuit against Don and had him removed from the company. He’s the old that was stolen from and is working to make things right.
Did you people get your business degrees from some bogus online program? You may want to check into refunds because you’re still idiots.
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Old Dog Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Wow, did not know so many folks had such hard feelings here. The bottom line is PCJ has a good brand that is good close to home. The company should have never offered franchises once they knew there were Branding issues outside of the Wilmington market which could not have been known for several years after they started franchising . Steve is good for PCJ and has paid his dues.He will put PCJ on the right path. There seems to be a whole lot of blame going around and finger pointing when reality is there was only one man making decisions for this company. There is only one man who has multiple lawsuits against him and is no longer around to face the music. Blaming management, partners , staff
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Not a great endorsement for PCJ to call franchisees and other interested, critical readers idiots, Local Fan, or to misread the comments above as being attacks on Steve Schnitzler, who hasn’t as far as I can see been implicated or criticized at all here. Did you want to discuss this stuff or just flame?
‘Cause that is interesting and promising news that Schnitzler brought the suit – -great inside scoop!
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If you’re going to be “interested” enough in the story to write about it, get your facts straight and actually FOLLOW the story. Seems like our citizen reporters are just reading negativity into the headlines.
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Ian Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 7:35 am
I posted this piece as a query precisely because I didn’t know the facts, Local Fan, but wanted to. I am interested and ignorant here.
There may be rumors in this thread, and there’s obvious partisanship on both sides, but I think on the whole this _discussion_ has been completely enlightening.
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Enlightening, indeed. As a whole, I think this is the worst blog about “Wilmington Life” that could ever possibly exist. It terrifies me to think bloggers like you are why our newspapers are failing. You have nothing nice to say about any business in town and you say it without really knowing the facts.
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LF, you are completely wrong about that (re: nothing nice). I also think you’re conflating posts and comments about them. But then maybe you don’t “FOLLOW” things up or “get the facts” as much as you exhort others to. If you read the Grove Project, I think you would find it every bit as full of praise as of censure.
But it sounds like you’ve got much more important and positive things to follow, so don’t let us keep you.
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I’m going to start my own blog called the Drove Project and it will be about all about yuppies complaining about pointless stuff and pretending to be intelligent tastemakers. It will be awesome. How about you guys do something that actually benefits our community like volunteering your time somewhere instead of blogging about OH MY GOD I CAN’T WAIT FOR TRADER JOE’S EITHER!!!
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You know what, Local Fan, I am trying to be civil here but you keep making an ass out of yourself.
I believe that you are not a “Local Fan” at all but a friend of PCJ, remote from Wilmington, to whom a buddy and marketing pro at PCJ has complained about this site. Is this good PCJ community outreach — suppressing earnest discussion? How can you not see that with your “inside scoop” about “corporate owned locations, assets, and staff” you’re representing PCJ in this discussion?
You are sliming the Grove Project for entirely personal reasons but then acting sanctimonious about journalism and news. That’s ridiculous. Do you think, as you suggest above, that newspapers are in the business of “saying nice things” about local businesses — and that our failure to do so about PCJ puts us somehow beneath them? We do a different thing than newspapers do.
And you — hiding behind a screen name, with a personal stake and disingenuous motives — have no right either to your cowardly insults or your high horse.
I was willing to discuss this as much as you wanted — that’s what we’re doing here: getting all sides but keeping it civil. And intelligent. But you obviously can’t do that, despite your journalistic pretensions. Screw you.
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Old Dog Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 9:02 am
I agree that LF has a bone to pick and either in cahoots with Don Reynolds or is simply bored and trying to pick a fight. This discussion was kinda cool until LH started slinging mud.
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Not sure what you’re talking about. Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone that works for PCJ currently other than Steve and a few baristas. Isn’t anonymous blogging sooo much fun?
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With everything being said here, what is important is that we look to the future. Don Reynolds is gone from their company. I read in a recent news article that their new COO is suspending franchise fees for new and current franchisees for a few years to give them another avenue for their businesses to prosper.That seems like a step in the right direction. It has only been a few months since Mr. Reynolds was driven away. If he was truly the problem, than the future will enlighten us. Many good things and concepts have been ruined by bad people. If their company has the drive and ambition, then with this supposed roadblock removed, nothing should stop them. I have worked in a similar situation, for crooks basically, and it’s hard when your livelihood, and the livelihood of others, depends on the actions of a crooked people. In the end, the only people that pay for their misdeeds are the employees when the business fails, and when people like some above, cry “boycott”. If you think you are standing up for people that invested their time and money in the company by not buying their product, your logic fails, and you are hurting no one but the local business owners and their employees. If this had happened at the business I worked so hard to make succeed, the only repercussion would have been an exposed crook with a slapped wrist and my starving children. Luckily, our service was needed, and later helped many people. If you don’t like their product, don’t patronize their business. That’s the American business model. But to do so out of some social high moral ground centered around the failings of someone who has been, as it seems, forcefully removed and no longer leading the company, is ridiculous.
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Agreed, Anxac. As I’ve said, I love that PCJ is here. If they’ve resected the bad thing(s) from the body and are now going to flourish, that’s good news.
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“If you don’t like their product, don’t patronize their business. That’s the American business model. But to do so out of some social high moral ground centered around the failings of someone who has been, as it seems, forcefully removed and no longer leading the company, is ridiculous.”
Sorry, but my high ground doesn’t support a company whose founder was a crocked SOB. Just face it, the PCJ name is, and forever will be, tainted.
And when you consider how many independent coffee shops are in Wilmington, I’d rather give my money to the ones who have a founder who have a sense of morality.
FL, sorry if it offends you that some now chose not to patronize PCJ. It’s a free country and I much prefer to reward the good guys with my limited funds.
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Anxac Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 6:32 am
God bless America. Try Cuppies. I hear its fantastic. Can’t beat a $1.50 latte.
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Anyone see that PCJ and Reynolds have settled?
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Well, all of this is very interesting.
As a former franchisee I can tell you that the Reynolds duo are two of the most arrogant, slickest, and ignorant (that goes for denise) people we ever met. These people were the cause of the bankruptcy of so many franchisees, hard working men and women who were sucked in as we were by the slick presentation and the lies and misstatements by Reynolds and company. These two were at the heart of the failures of these businesses from Georgia to California. t
We pray that these two end up in jail … soon.
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This is all very interesting.
As a former corporate employee they have ruined my life. Laid off. All around the time these charges against the Reynolds came to light. Coincidence?
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LF – I’m convinced is a PCJ corporate employee.
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LF – before you go defending the Reynolds or PCJ, research the more than 60% of franchises who failed in the last 4 years; the slime was not with the Reynolds’ only – other people with inside knowledge covered up for them. The PCJ name indeed is sufficiently sullied.
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well, from what I can tell Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds have walked away unscathed after taking their partners money. I am sure that other franchisees fail with other companies all over the place and especially in a tough economy. From what I can tell this post is about Mr. and Mrs Reynolds being run out of town over taking company funds. The coffee has always been good at PCJ and from what I can tell the company is successful at a local level. Mr. Reynolds is probably feeling the pain from giving up his baby to stay out of prison. Good Luck PCJ
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PCJ is doing a great thing this week with its work on Full Belly Week, a collaboration with The Full Belly Project on awareness, on giving, and perhaps eventually on direct, responsible sourcing of their beans from folks in Malawi who are benefiting from and taking part in some of the innovation around Fully Belly Project’s great works.
As encore’s article says, many PCJ employees are being trained on the project, on the methods that FBP uses. And PCJ is giving 10% of its profits to the project from sales today, its most profitable day of the week. The Full Belly Project is also getting lots of people involved in the ideas, in innovative new projects.
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Port City Java in court over rent for headquarters building (Star News, April 21st 2010).
As it happens, I’m going for the first time to that PCJ in front of the HQ for a meeting today.
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I’ve been enjoying the Grace Street Port City Java recently — I started going there when the Front & Market PCJ was suffering from the Front Street project which I think has now done such a nice thing with the first block of N Front. — wider walkways, planter boxes, more benches, more outdoor seating for restaurants. I’ve also been enjoying the PCJ on Market, near the cemetary (23rd?).
But that Java Dog downtown! I went in to work a little on my laptop last week, worked in the loft upstairs, got to meet the actual Java(-colored) dog that lives there, see the great, truly local bustle. That’s a nice coffee shop.
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