My wife and I are looking forward to the weekend so we can visit the new Floyd's. It's a shame to lose the drive thru, but better to visit the old reliable friend, than the new creep you can't trust.

maybe they should have talked it out OVER A CUP OF COFFEE

I <3 Floyd's.

DICK MOVE

It is sad to loose faith in the business ethics of King Harvest hummus. I guess I'll add them to my personal boycott list along with evil Whole Foods. Dumb, dumb, dumb, separating the utilities would have cost less than the grief.

Seriously, fuck these guys. I love floyds, and on principle - I will never, ever purchase (or accept FREE) coffee from these assholes.

Jack is such a nice good guy. I have friends who work at both his cafes and I love hanging out at both Cafes. What a crazy story. Good to see Jack had his wits about him! Can't wait to check the new Floyd's!

Jack is such a nice good guy. I have friends who work at both his cafes and I love hanging out at both Cafes. What a crazy story. Good to see Jack had his wits about him! Can't wait to check the new Floyd's!

Floyd's was the first coffee I ever had in Portland, some four years ago now, on my way to the old Jackpot! studios building a few blocks up Belmont (There's my name-dropping credfest!).

Good for them. Sounds like the new guys ain't gonna get many of their old customers.

EPIC!

It's pretty darn sad that a local biz like King Harvest would enact such shoddy business practices.

Surely they realize that there aren't a lot of locals who will buy into that sort of treatment of a really great company and locally owned shop like Floyd's!?

I really hope this works out for Jack & Chris and all the awesome people behind Floyd's. If the history, as well as the new location are any indication, they surely will triumph over this bull-hockey!

PS King Harvest hummus sucks :)

http://www.kingharvesthummus.com/contact.h…

Give them a piece of your mind, vengeful blogtowners.

What an amazing story! I wish it were a 15 minute long mini-documentary. I used to manage those apartments on the corner of 14th and Belmont and really miss Floyd's. On the other hand, I really like king harvest hummus, so now I'm torn. $7k sounds like a lot for utilities for a 500 sq ft space, especially when it's relatively inexpensive to individually meter a place. Even after permits I'm assuming it must cost significantly less than seven grand.

king harvest hummus sucks anyway. Who fucks up hummus?

NEVER buy King Hummus, ever. Bleccchhhhhhh.
Six years spent in Beirut leaves me fantasizing about the bloody mangling of all American companies that dare call their hippie glop "hummus."

Higher Taste makes a decent hummus that actually approximates the real thing.

Here's what's in King Harvest Hummus, according to the package:
INGREDIENTS: garbanzo beans, sesame seeds, lemon juice, spices, salt.
I'm not sure why people are saying it sucks. Considering that it's made locally, doesn't have carageenan (sp?) or xanthan gum or mondichoricide acetate dye #70 or 60 other random things in it like your garden variety store brand, I have to say it's good stuff. If jaden and Mark Evans have a suggestion for an alternative then I'm all ears. In the mean time, Sheridan Fruit Co. has it on sale this month.

I presume people find that it doesn't "taste good" to them, martin. That's how most of us determine whether food sucks or not.

Well, obligatory n-words, all snark aside, I'm wondering if this blog post has swayed peoples' opinions of how King Harvest brand hummus tastes. I personally like that it only has five ingredients* and that it is made locally. Perhaps those two attributes affect how it tastes to me, but I think I could take the pepsi challenge with King Harvest versus Athenos, Kroger, "Eating Well" brand, or the crap I make at home any day.

*I realize that "spices" is plural.

Oh man, I hope the dopey looking standard poodle that wears a sweater and humps everything in sight will be frequenting the new location!

nicholas' hummus (to go) comes with fresh pita bread, tastes waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy better than KH, made locally, bigger portion, and isn't run by howard durand.
theres a lot of local hummus options around here.

hummus opinions aside, floyd's will always retain their loyal customers.
i'm sure everyone in this town will just yawn (at best) at the thought of king harvest coffee.
especially after hearing about how howard durand is a big bowl of dicks.

Kudos to Floyd's. I hope there's never an empty seat there again. Might fly in to Portland and have a cup or two and fly home in the afternoon with a satisfied smile....

"but at the same time why didn't the tenant provide evidence of their util use to clear up the matter for all concerned"

Buh? How were they supposed to do that, exactly?

3.SrIZgXIn-94wlXob+TM*mLQxO?qXv^53.CJPq8&n&9TxsQWuEHZC:YlqeLUD&S, it is impossible to measure utility usage on a tenant by tenant basis if more than one tenant shares the same meter. I'm not sure how it works in commercial situations such as this one, but in residential properties when separate meters are impractical (or when the costs of installing them outweighs the benefits), property owners and managers hire companies such as AUM to charge your utilities based on a simple formula that accounts for the square footage of your living space and how many residents are on your rental agreement.
For example (and again, Floyd's is not a residential property so this might be way off), let's say that 1502 SE Morrison is 3600 square feet and Floyd's takes up 500 square feet of that. Let's also say that for rounding purposes the monthly water bill was $1000. Since there aren't separate meters, one could divide it solely based on square footage. So by that formula, Floyd's bill should be $180 and the rest of the building should be $820.
In Ms. Mirk's story she pointed out that there was never any formula in the original rental agreement to divide the utilities, which is too bad. I'm sure a lot of heartache could have been saved if that had not been the case.
Perhaps the King Harvest guy felt that Floyd's was using more water per square foot of space than he was. Again, that should have been written up in the original agreement. I have absolutely no idea if a coffee shop uses more water than a hummus packaging place.

King Harvest hummus tastes okay, but it's lumpy. You've gotta take those chickpea skins off if you want the smooth good stuff like Nicholas, Athenos, etc. There must be a secret to getting them to come off easily. Takes me forever.

Dwight-

A food mill will make quick of the skins. It's also a super-multi-useful kitchen tool.

Martin, in a commercial building, where one part has a bunch of high powered coffee machines, and the other part doesn't, square footage doesn't work, in fact, Floyd's utilities are much more proportional to how many customers they have, (especially at the drive though,) than how big the coffee shop itself it.

Sub metering would work, but it might be expensive to install. To do it right would require a separate panel be installed for just the coffee shop, and all the circuits in that space run to it, which could easily run more than $7000 in electricians fees. (For instance, the single circuit that runs to my solar panels cost $900 to wire.) They should be able to get a good estimate with a device like the energy detective, although it would require good faith on both parties parts while they moved through the different circuits in the building, which I don't see happening here. (That said, submetering would probably be cheaper for Floyds than moving.)

Matthew D, you're totally right. I wasn't even thinking about electric, I was only accounting for water. Trying to figure out how to submeter for electric must be a totally different animal.
We should have a hummus taste test.

I don't get why Floyd's had to stick around until the end and make sure the drama happened. As the lease ran out, why didn't they just tell KH to fuck off, that they had a new lease and were moving out? I mean, camping out overnight to intercept the renovation crew was pretty cool, but sees like a bunch of wasted effort that drew the confrontation out even longer than it needed to go.

*Overheard* The lease was five years with tenant's option to renew for an additional five years. At 6 months, KH wanted to sell their business and were entertaining offers to turn the whole block into condos (KH people live in the 'Couv, btw) within Floyd's first year.

As for KH "keeping it local" - that doesn't explain the giant tubs of tahini from China that used to pile up in their back space. Anyone taking a walk to the restroom could see that.

This story is not about hummus or about utilities- it is about a landlord who attempted to break our lease numerous time throughout the first five years of our 10 year lease and then jacked us out of the second five years by not negotiating the roll-over term in good faith. His offer per square foot? $89!
He saw our business making money and he wanted to get his hands on it- that is the story.
And in response to ElGordo, we needed every single minute to get the new shop built and open Try to get a small business loan in this economy and you'll understand- we couldn't afford not to be open

Bravo, Jack. Everyone I know loves Floyd's and we will always be loyal.

In response to Jack and ElGordo's comments, Jack was absolutely right. We had no choice but to keep the old shop open until the very last moment of our lease. I got there at 6:30 saturday morning to open the new shop on its first day and I can tell you we could have used another week's worth of time to get the place running smoothly. Since we had neither the privelege nor luxury of that being the case, we opened anyway with the bare necesseties (uh, coffee) and got everything mostly smoothed out within a couple of days. We were just stuck in an unavoidable time crunch and had to adapt to it the best we could. Basically, the crew completely gutted and built out a coffee shop space within a totally unrealistic time frame, so kudos to all of them for actually getting it done!

Reading this whole blog really upset me. This is Portland people....there are coffee shops all over town! Who cares that the new Floyd's decided to move directly down the street from their old location? I mean really, is it that big of a deal? No! There are enough coffee drinkers in this town for both places. As far as all the accusations, I think people should take things at face value. None of us know what really went on between Floyd’s and King Harvest or what either one of their intentions were. Floyd’s obviously was doing their part to ensure they had a new location set up and ready to go without missing out on any days of business. I read the part in someone’s comment about the utility bill. Do the math people…it is nearly impossible for a building that size to have a $7000/month bill. So with that being said, $7000 divided by the 60 months Floyd’s says they were there comes out to $116/month and some change. Is that unreasonable? I don’t think so. Had Floyd’s really wanted to contribute their part of the utilities they would have come up with a way to make it happen! I went through the drive thru today and the girls working were very nice. I asked what happened to Floyd’s and the girl responded saying, “their lease was up so King Harvest decided to expand and take over the café.” She then explained that there was some remodeling being done to the inside but they hoped to have the whole place open in the coming days. I then asked if she knew where Floyd’s went and she said their new location was just up the street. Tomorrow I think I will visit the new Floyd’s and see what they say about the situation….This feuding coffee shop stuff seems like garbage and I really hope people get over it! Try out the new place and make both Floyd’s and King Harvest a successful business in your neighborhood. Taking sides when you don’t truly know the story is ridiculous, and commenting on somewhere you have never been before is making unfair assumptions.

Reading this whole blog really upset me. This is Portland people....there are coffee shops all over town! Who cares that the new Floyd's decided to move directly down the street from their old location? I mean really, is it that big of a deal? No! There are enough coffee drinkers in this town for both places. As far as all the accusations, I think people should take things at face value. None of us know what really went on between Floyd’s and King Harvest or what either one of their intentions were. Floyd’s obviously was doing their part to ensure they had a new location set up and ready to go without missing out on any days of business. I read the part in someone’s comment about the utility bill. Do the math people…it is nearly impossible for a building that size to have a $7000/month bill. So with that being said, $7000 divided by the 60 months Floyd’s says they were there comes out to $116/month and some change. Is that unreasonable? I don’t think so. Had Floyd’s really wanted to contribute their part of the utilities they would have come up with a way to make it happen! I went through the drive thru today and the girls working were very nice. I asked what happened to Floyd’s and the girl responded saying, “their lease was up so King Harvest decided to expand and take over the café.” She then explained that there was some remodeling being done to the inside but they hoped to have the whole place open in the coming days. I then asked if she knew where Floyd’s went and she said their new location was just up the street. Tomorrow I think I will visit the new Floyd’s and see what they say about the situation….This feuding coffee shop stuff seems like garbage and I really hope people get over it! Try out the new place and make both Floyd’s and King Harvest a successful business in your neighborhood. Taking sides when you don’t truly know the story is ridiculous, and commenting on somewhere you have never been before is making unfair assumptions.

@thinkaboutit - the $7,000 was the bill for the initial 6 months only, which is over $1,100 per month. Obviously Floyd's wouldn't dispute a monthly payment of $116. Duh...

IN any event, Floyd's should have done their part to make sure all issues were settled in their lease BEFORE they signed it. They knew they owed something for utilities and had that been a true concern to them they would have done the right thing and settled it with the landlord many years ago. Causing all this drama now seems pretty immature. Like I said before, there are plenty of coffee drinkers in this town. Tomorrow I will make my decision on which coffee shop I will be visiting on a regular basis depending on my experience at the new Floyd's...

It's obvious that a lot of Floyd's customers have been told to visit this blog and post any damning comment about KH. I agreee with Sean B that there is enough room in Portland for plenty of coffee shops. Competition is good, but like eat.hamz said, Floyd's should have settled the terms before they signed the lease. Snakey or not, it all sounds legal and above board and Floyd's should probably learn a lesson in business dealings from this if anything good is to come out of it.

Personally I love KH's "hippietoe jam" and so do a lot of others. Jake, and anyone else who thinks there should be a hummus taste test, check it out here: http://kingharvesthummus.com/oregonian.htm. I think the reason why it tastes so good is because they slow cook their own beans and don't use that canned junk. FYI Martin, skins on also provides better nutrition, so in this case, the natural "lumpy" texture is a good thing. Besides, anything too smooth says to me, overly processed and fake.

Can't say much about KH's coffee as I haven't tried it yet, but I have tried Floyd's, when it was in its former location -- it was okay and so was the service, but I can tell you that from reading this blog, their loyal customers don't seem to have much class.

Correction to my previous post: Sean B, eat.hamz = thinkaboutit; jake = martin; martin = dwight wiggins. Sorry about the confusion, guess I read that the author was the one cited above, not below when listed oldest to newest.

BTW, kudos to Floyd's for sending that $2/hr homeless man to the KH shop corner to dance around and advertise their new location -- very resourceful.

Also, can you blame any landlord for trying to terminate any tenant's lease for not paying their bill? So Jack, in your mind maybe utilities and hummus aren't related to a 10-year lease, but not paying a utility bill can sure bugger up any landlord's warm, fuzzy, good faith intentions for further negotiations.

Howard, if you want to defend yourself you might try posting under your own name and not pretend to be some impartial third party- it doesn't smell quite as badly. We haven't asked our customers to come here and slag King Harvest- I would prefer they leave your hummus out of this and focus directly on you and your sleazy business practices. It's not like the neighborhood has forgotten how you ran out your last tenant, Dan from Java Planet... your pattern is obvious to everyone in Buckman.

It's just like pretending that you are local when you drive up with out of state plates- people notice. And they can judge your "snakeyness" for themselves.

"BTW, kudos to Floyd's for sending that $2/hr homeless man to the KH shop corner to dance around and advertise their new location -- very resourceful."

You must mean our friend Andy, who has a masters degree in English Lit and used to write speeches for the Republican Senators you probably donated to. Coming from a guy who employs children to make his hummus I guess I should take that as a complement.

Now THAT is resourceful!!!

Just to clarify, I have no affiliation with KH's business, just defending a good product when other people have slandered it for unrelated reasons. Your smeller is misaligned I guess.

As for Andy, I'm sorry about the comments if they are untrue, just a statement I heard from someone who spoke directly to your guy in the street. And I have no interest in discussing politics with you. Let's be grown-ups and stick to the issue at hand.

"anyone else who thinks there should be a hummus taste test, check it out here: http://kingharvesthummus.com/oregonian.htm. I think the reason why it tastes so good is because they slow cook their own beans and don't use that canned junk."

Couldn't have represented the product better if I were the owner of King Harvest ;0)

i visited kh today and loved it, on the other hand i thought it was very rude for having that guy "andy" under that ghetto paper cup sign thing whatever want to call it directing traffic out of KH down to there shop. Also while i was there i was watching customer park in KH parking lot and walking down to the other shop, how rude and unbuiness like.

Jack, you just can't stand to entertain the thought that someone besides Durand would defend the product just because it IS good. For all you know, I could be Barbara Durban of the Oregonian who wrote the article, one of the 7 tasters who actually participated in the test, the person who built the website and is familiar with the survey, one of thousands of readers who read that article in the Oregonian, some hippie hummus freak who loves the stuff or just someone who understands the shrewd business world and doesn't base their lease agreements on idealism and assumption.

I feel sorry that you weren't smart enough to have all your i's dotted and t's crossed, but that's reality my friend. Best of luck with the new Floyd's and try not to taint your coffee with bitterness.

Keep digging, Howard. You're doing just fine...

Sarah Mirk's shoddy reporting won't influence the intelligent reader; her biased-- soap operatic and hyperbolic-- account of the "border war" on 15th and Morrison relies far too much on the word of Jack, and not enough on the facts. Facts: Floyd's lease was up. Floyd's refused to renegotiate the lease. Floyd's-- in five years-- never paid utilities. Per the agreement between KH and Floyd's, Floyd's had the option of a) installing a meter to determine its utilities OR b) paying KH a portion/ percentage of utilities for the building. Floyd's did neither.

Sarah Mirk's shoddy reporting won't influence the intelligent reader; her biased-- soap operatic and hyperbolic-- account of the "border war" on 15th and Morrison relies far too much on the word of Jack, and not enough on the facts. Facts: Floyd's lease was up. Floyd's refused to renegotiate the lease. Floyd's-- in five years-- never paid utilities. Per the agreement between KH and Floyd's, Floyd's had the option of a) installing a meter to determine its utilities OR b) paying KH a portion/ percentage of utilities for the building. Floyd's did neither.

Wow, Sarah. No direct quotes from Durund or any information from or about King Harvest's take on this? I emptathize with Floyd's but this is a slanderous piece, shining attention on an "epic battle" just down the street from my home that is anything but (unless balloons are epic to you). The staff at the new shop has nothing to do with the childish manner in which the two businesses parted ways and in my experience with them yesterday they were incredibly nice. Floyd's should focus on their products, move on. King Harvest should do the same. What happened to the aura of co-operative-happy hipsters who jump at any attempt to support local businesses? Make your own decision without a piece of crappy journalism being shoved down your throat.

in response to emilyb:

I don't recall signing a lease with you, Emily, yet you seem so... well acquainted with its terms. As I have a copy and you are fictitious perhaps I should just post the whole lease so you can point out the part where it says we are supposed to install a use meter or suffer our landlord's warped sense of proportion- like a utility bill that is 4/5's of our rent?

Suffice to say, you- like your claims of factiness- are fiction.


Funny how your post went out twice... just like thinkaboutit's.
Maybe you should get that Mac worked on.

Just out of interest Jack, how much of the utility bill did you pay?

And why are you slamming Apple now? That's not very cool is it?

Most of you probably think because you drink stumptown that makes you an aficianado when actually it makes you a psuedo pretentious a-hole just below the real a-hole that tote their little white cups with the green siren and pay way to much of their yearly income on COFFEE. I prefer roasting my own beans grinding them and pressing my own coffee, YEAH RIGHT. Do you know why hitler drank coffee. It made him really agressive. Do you want to be like Hitler? Well do you?

jack, do i see a greed business owner that doesnt want to pay for the utility bill hmm last time i did math if i multiplyed 5 year lease by 12 months that equals 60 months now divide 60 months into 7000 dollars that would be lets see here... about 116.66 a month in utility costs, which i believe is a fair price for a 500 sq foot piece of building. stop being a cheap skate and run your shop right. i know its all competition and business is business just act your age :) KH ALL THE WAY! Great Coffee, and Great Employee. Keep up the great shop Howard and its employees

wow ugliness is happening here.
just for the record
brian moodhe danced outside 15th and morrison
andy was outside the downtown cafe
and why does it matter
they had a job!

It's all very dramatic! I think we have the makings of a "reality" TV show here! I can't offer a fair and balanced perspective, like FOX, cuz I LIKE Cris and Jack and DO NOT like Howard. I've know them better and longer but the difference is this, Cris & Jack deal with people openly and on the level. Howard does not. In my humble but admittedly biased opinion. I'm just glad that, being good neighbors, Floyd's was able to find an almost ready-made space, half-a-block away!!!! AND!!!! (Not counting whats going on here) DRAMA FREE!!!! with more room to "stay put"!!!! So all-in-all, I will close with "GOOD MOVE FLOYD"S and, as Patroclus said to Thersites in Shakespears "Troilus and Cressida","GOOD RIDDANCE" of .....the HOWARD!!!! And remember, Republicans need love too!!! Cuz if they don't get it, they just might EVICT US ALL and take the lost revenue as a write off!!!!!(they're still pissed about the election)

Cris here from Floyd's...
Now that the dust has settled a bit and it's been a week since our move I just want to say how grateful I am to have had this opportunity to keep Floyd's in the neighborhood. Big Thanks to Woody and Mitch, owners of Crush, and to Sid, who connected us with them.
The new space just feels wonderful. We've had such a positive response from our customers that it's really gratifying, and a relief that our business will continue and thrive.

I love the Buckman community and am just glad we're still here.

Thanks!

yeah dude, and you also have a floyd's in old town, so not like you didn't have an alternative to making money. why doesn't everyone just let it go? and i've seen jack and cris around floyd's but i've just seen cute chicks around the new place, no howard guy. is he a barista too? you gotta admit this is pretty shitty and one-sided journalism, even for the mercury. this is like the first piece i've seen taken so seriously out of the merc since they killed that sheep.

So Jack and Cris, the owners of Floyds are willing to come on here, using real names and present all the facts from their point of view. Exactly the right thing to do when embroiled in a public dispute, imo. Where is Howard Durban or anybody else who represents King Harvest?

Oh, and cargo.joe? You're a moron if you think it isnt obvious that you're affiliated with King Harvest ("Just to clarify, I have no affiliation with KH's business"). Where does it mention in that article that there were seven taste testers? Doesn't somebody from King Harvest have enough sack to get on here and present their official response? Cowardly posting annonymous offtopic information ("Look how good our hummus tastes! See? That means we arent shisty bastards trying to steal Floyds business!")

Oh and just to be clear, Im a customer at Floyds, I live a block and a half away, but am absolutely not affiliated with Floyds other than thats where I buy my coffee.

phluxoahu: third paragraph, fourth sentence of the article -- if you actually read it -- will tell you there are seven taste testers. Just because I can read an article from end to end and actually be able to comprehend what it says, doesn't mean I have a vested business interest in KH.

Oh shit. I did miss that, even after re-reading the article a couple of times looking for it specifically, and then hastily jumped to some conclusions. My bad. Apologies for mistakenly calling you out. Apparently there's going to be an article in the Mercury on this tomorrow... looking forward to seeing if any KH folks actually presented any of their side of the story.

Lies lies lies. You know Floyds regulars are posting these comments. I'd sue Flyolds for slander, I know..theyu asked me to post negatives about KH.

Just bought coffee at Floyds..they offered me a free cup of coffee if I vuisited this blog to post a negative about kh. Word will get around that Floyds is unethical in the way they do business and that will be the end of Floyds..

Damn kellie23, you got jacked. They offered me TWO free cups to visit this blog and post something negative about KH. They said they'd throw in a free biscotti if I put trash in my recycling bin too.

I WAS PROPOSITIONED BY A HOMELESS BARISTA NAMED JONES TO WRITE BAD THINGS HERE ABOUT KING FLOYD. FUCK THAT GUY. AND FUCK HIS FALAFEL RECIPE TOO.

You know, there is more to this story. BEFORE Floyd's there was a (even smaller) coffee shop in the same space owned by friends of mine, Dan & Kelly. When their lease was up, Durand refused to renew on any terms and kicked them out. They lost everything because they couldn't find another drivethru location. Durand prompty re-leased the space to Floyd's (sound familiar?). Dan & Kelly had been operating a successful drivethru there for YEARS. Floyd's stepped in, took over the space and all of the loyal customers that Dan & Kelly worked so hard to acquire (a sh*tty move on Jack's part). So if you want my opinion, Durand is an huge ass-hat and pretty much a nightmare landlord. But Jack at Floyd's isn't any better. He profited from Durand's scheming, acquired a set of customers that he didn't pay for, and profited from two good people losing their business. He shouldn't be surprised to find that Durand treated him the same as he did Dan & Kelly. What goes around comes around, at least this time.

Long live Floyd's - an d long live Chris, Jack and their many employees.

I've been a Floyd's customer since they opened at the drive-through location, and I will continue to be a Floyd's customer.

Why?

Good people, good coffee. Wait, I need to rephrase that: Great people, great coffee. I'm a nearly 7-day-a-week customer - I could only wish for more days in the week!

Fight the good fight, Jack & Chris. We're behind you all the way.

In response to steadyhand:

It is true that Dan of Java Planet was unfairly disposessed of his business by Howard, and that we benefited from taking over his space. We did not know the whole story, however: we were told by Howard that Dan had refused to accept a rent increase to just over $800 a month and his lease had expired, so Howard moved him out. What we were not told was that Howard had made a handshake deal with Dan some 6 months prior to give him a 5 year roll-over, and then renegged.

Had we known that we wouldn't have rented the place.

Believe me, that we suffered the same fate was not lost on us- it was a bad karma deal and we walked into it... but it wasn't malicious on our part- we just didn't know the whole story, or Howard, yet. Sorry Dan.

In response to this whole blog.... Jack, you have failed to even mention the 3rd party that got you into your 1st Floyd's location at 1502 SE Morrison in the first place....(you know, the baker-that was going to bake your pastry for the coffee shop, had the great business plan, was going to manage the kitchen,incorporate everything that was made at 1502 into the coffee shop...Yeah, the guy that Howard actually had the deal with in the first place to manage HIS building. He, NOT HOWARD, was the one that unfairly disposessed of Dan and Kelly, whom were renting month-to-month by this time. (This baker had the new tenants.... that was Floyds.) I wonder if Howard would have went through with things had he known at the time this baker was living with you,Jack? At any rate, kudos to the baker for helping your first location become successful enough for you to open a 2nd and 3rd location. Did you dispose of him after you got your shop going like you wanted it and he then flaked out?
This whole blog is extremely one sided, littered with made up figures, and staged to look like it's something so much more than just an everyday bad tenant/landlord relationship; seems to me, a real desparate attempt on Floyd's part to get even with a landlord that wouldn't give them everything they wanted after Howard "inherited" them as tenants.
I've been friends with Howard for the last 7 years, saw Dan and Kelly in operation (as Java Planet), met the baker, watched Jack and Cris move in, worked for King Harvest for a year before deciding to buy into it 3 years ago. I bought into it because I believed in the products that King Harvest makes. Simple fresh foods. I love the food, operation, and I wanted to see it live on in Portland. It was my plan all along to expand the coffee shop, not Howards.... (he was ready to turn the building into condos-remember.)
So, just for the record, that was MY crew that showed up at midnight on the last day of April, MY equipment that was going to be installed, and my plans that were ready to be underway as soon as you were out of the way. I witnessed all the events on the 30th and your final move on May 1st. I was at the shop each morning thereafter and watched as your vendors and customers were shocked that you gave them no notice that you were moving down the street, when I knew many months in advance.
Jack and Cris, be thankful for the 5 years you had at 1502, I do believe you made the best of your time there. Howard is one of the most generous people I have ever met, but he's no fool. Had I been in your shoes the last few years at 1502 and acknowledged owing utilities, and valued my coffee shop business... I would have paid something! Anything, to show I valued what I had. I'll say again, you made the best of your 5 years. Luckily, you're still able to have your neighborhood crowd and I do believe there's room for 2 coffee shops on Morrison. Most have found that the King Harvest Coffee shop is very different indeed.

Continuing to march, Twyla Beckner

King Harvest is not so different after all-- I met Karen the other day-- Karen, the short-lived, now former King Harvest manager--and according to her, she was let go by you, TWYLA, once you got your shop up and running, after you used her and the other empoloyees to learn about coffee--something you have no experience in at all. Anyway, it's time small businesses get back to acting like small businesses. Leave the bitter behind on Morrison and go to Tiny's-- Those dudes might have attitude, but at least they're straight with you!

Doing a little re-papering- er- reminiscing on the 2nd anniversary of the war? Maybe King Harvest should get back to what they do best- making cheap hummus- and stop pretending to be a coffee joint. You could do really well with a drive thru taco joint in Buckman, you know... just sayin.

Keep Portland Local!