An Average Joe
WILMINGTON, N.C.-- (CHAINLEADER MAGAZINE) -- September 01, 2002 -- Don Reynolds strikes you as a guy who has had a lot of caffeine this morning. Well, every morning. Speaking unusually fast for a North Carolinianalbeit with the telltale twangReynolds juggles a ringing cell phone while he talks on his office phone. Later on he conducts an interview from the car while planning a new store opening for that same week.
Maybe that's why in 1995 Reynolds learned to roast coffee beans. Back then, Wilmington, N.C., had no Starbucks. No Seattle's Best Coffee. No national chain providing Tarheels with their cup of joe. And no franchise opportunities to expand such a brand to the Southeast. So, Reynolds, being the kind of guy who understands the need for a morning cup, decided to brew his own. He closed Cassidey's All American Eatery, the local restaurant he founded, and opened Port City Java, the first in what is now a trio of small, but percolating, coffee-inspired concepts. And thanks to his own foresight, these days as he handles his multitasking, he often doesn't even have to cut the car engine to get his java fix; he installed drive-thrus and is licensing and expanding an even faster double-drive-thru concept.
From the beginning, Port City was a different kind of coffeeshop. The 24-unit concept focuses on fresh-roasted coffee, mocha and cappuccino, and a sample of specialty coffee drinks, plus chai and hot chocolate. but Port City also boasts a smoothie bar, juice bar and grill station for panini sandwiches, with breads baked fresh by the company's Wild Flour Bread Co. commissary. The typical unit seats 40, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 square feet. Perhaps oddest of all for an upscale chain is the drive-thru, allowing customers to get their cup of joe on the road without heading toward a QSR, or even feeling like they are at one.
At 41, Reynolds, the company's CEO, is overseeing new concept development and existing chain growth with the help of two operating partners and two investment partners, whose names he declines to disclose. Most restaurateurs say they plan for controlled growth, dictated by market demand rather than corporate goals. Not a guy on caffeine. Of course, Reynolds and his team aren't striving for willy-nilly growth, but they're also not waiting for national chains to come in and usurp their potential market share.
Port City Java Inc. runs the chain, now with freestanding stores in North and South Carolina, Rhode Island and New Jersey, as well as through a licensing agreement in Germany and Iceland. The brand also has 24 kiosks in Matthews, N.C.-based Harris Teeter Inc. supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and North and South Carolina, with 90 total planned, adding Georgia and Florida, at minimum, to the mix. Reynolds is in talks with another grocery store chain outside of Harris Teeter's territory. Another licensing agreement launched in February with Louisville, Ky.-based Coffeeshopstuff.com is rolling out double-drive-thru coffee shopsbeverages only, no food herecalled GoJoeGo. A total of 12 are expected by year-end.
About the Port City Java® Brand
Port City Java® is located in Wilmington, NC. The Company opened its first café in March 1995, in Wilmington, NC. The Company began Roasting in October 1995 and Franchising in September 2003. Port City Java® has created a specific identity by creating an " all day approach " to sales, through its café environment. For additional information regarding Port City Java®, please email us.
