The parent company of Seattle’s Tully’s Coffee Shops, TC Global Inc., filed for bankruptcy reorganization Wednesday in an attempt restart the company as a profitable business.
The company said it plans to close unprofitable locations and renegotiate contracts that have kept it in the red.
Tully, founded two decades ago, has five Tacoma area shops, one in the old Bostwick Hotel downtown, one in the Total Renal Care building at South 15th Street and Pacific Avenue, one in the Stadium District, another in a Safeway on South 56th Street and in a Gig Harbor Fred Meyer. It recently closed its store in Tacoma’s Old Town.
Throughout the Northwest and West, the company operates 57-company-owned stores, nine of which it intends to close by next week.
“The company will continue to have a formidable presence in the Puget Sound area,” said Tully’s Chief Executive Scott Pearson, “focusing on our core mission of serving the highest-quality coffee in a warm and comfortable environment with outstanding customer service.”
The company has struggled to compete with Seattle giant Starbucks and with independent coffee shops throughout its 20 years of existence. It has been profitable only two yeas in the last decade when it sold significant pieces of its business in Japan and to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
Green Mountain bought Tully’s wholesale and online coffee business in 2009. Tully’s will continue to source its coffee through Green Mountain.
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