GROUNDED
BY JESSICA PARKS
Brooklyn’s namesake roasting
company fi led for Chapter
11 Bankruptcy on Oct. 21, but
its founder said the company
is only adjusting its operations
and has no plans to go
anywhere.
“In other words, like many
other businesses at this point,
we defi nitely wound up in the
hospital, but we are walking
out and not headed towards the
cemetery,” said Jim Munson.
“New York City needs a great
local Brooklyn Roasting Company
and we have every intention
of fulfi lling that potential.”
Brooklyn Roasting Company
— founded in 2009 by
Munson, a former partner
at The Brooklyn Brewery —
plans to close two of its retail
locations at 25 Jay Street in
Dumbo and 50 W. 23rd St. in
the Flatiron District while
reorganizing to focus on its
wholesale business.
All remaining coffee shops
will stay open, Munson told
amNewYork, including the
Clinton Hill location at 200
Flushing Ave., the Brooklyn
Navy Yard location in Building
92 at 63 Flushing Ave., the
Downtown Brooklyn location
at 45 Washington St., and the
Williamsburg pop-up inside
the Brooklyn Denim store on
Wythe Avenue.
“These are all doing good
business, and our customers
won’t be disappointed,”
Munson said.
The board of the popular
coffee shop blamed their upcoming
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COURIER L 20 IFE, OCT. 30-NOV. 5, 2020
closure on a series of
misfortune events beginning
with a failed 2018 deal to be purchased
by an investment group
that included the former CEO
of Dunkin Donuts for $22 million,
which investors eventually
backed out of, according to
court documents.
The company’s failure to cut
costs while ramping up staff in
anticipation of a closed deal left
them in a poor fi nancial condition
to start off 2019 — with 2018
being the fi rst year the company
did not have any growth
since its founding and reported
$1.4 million in losses.
On top of their losses, a
lender was seeking repayment
of a $2.1 million loan that the
company could not pay.
A managing partner at
Brooklyn Roasting Company
agreed to lend the company
the funds needed to pay the
loan, which allowed the coffee
makers to make considerable
gains into 2020— but it apparently
Brooklyn Roasting Company fi led for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 21
and plans to close its two cafe locations. Photo by Linda Rosier
wasn’t enough to keep
the company afl oat during the
COVID-19 pandemic, according
to court documents.
With the state-mandated
shutdowns, Brooklyn Roasting
Company’s revenue stream
from its cafes completely dried
up, and company has only seen
small returns after opening
with limited take-out.
Now, without the burden of
its two closed locations, Brooklyn
Roasting Company is hopeful
its wholesale sector will
once again prosper, the documents
said. The coffee makers
will keep their management
team and the production site at
Brooklyn Navy Yard.
“BRC believes that if it is
relieved of the rent obligations
of its shuttered cafés and is
able to focus on its wholesale
business, it will remain a viable
and healthy business with
an opportunity to grow again
over time,” court documents
stated. “Its production facility,
core management team, and
good reputation in New York
remain intact.”
Brooklyn Roasting Company fi les
bankruptcy, plans to close two cafes
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