THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 6, 1995 TAG: 9504060373
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
First Colony Coffee & Tea Co., a family-owned business in Norfolk since 1902, has been bought by an investment group led by the former chairman of Chock Full O'Nuts, the company announced Wednesday.
The sale includes First Colony's retail coffee shops - in Norfolk's Ghent section, at Old Dominion University and Hilltop Shopping Center in Virginia Beach - as well as its specialty coffee roasting operations, the mainstay of the company.
Joseph A. Breslin, who formerly ran Chock Full O'Nuts, will take over as president and CEO of First Colony. An investment group headed by Breslin and Colombia's largest coffee producing cooperative bought 90 percent of First Colony.
Brothers Gill and Tom Brockenbrough had co-owned the business. Gill Brockenbrough plans to retire, but Tom Brockenbrough will continue with the company as a minority-interest owner.
Tom Brockenbrough said he didn't regret selling the family business.
``You know, I really don't,'' he said. ``There's a time to move along. We've been doing it for 93 years.''
First Colony is the offspring of James D. Gill Coffee & Tea Co., founded in 1902 by the Brockenbroughs' great-grandfather.
Breslin was not available Wednesday to comment on his plans for the company. He was informing workers about the change in ownership.
None of First Colony's 100 employees should lose their jobs as a result of the ownership change, Brockenbrough said. The company will likely have to hire more people as it expands.
First Colony has increasingly felt pressure to capitalize on the gourmet coffee trend that has swept eastward across the country.The company has been a major player in coffee roasting, but a non-entity in the national coffee shop boom.
Two years ago First Colony laid out its plans to franchise its coffee shops across the country. Tom Brockenbrough said the company will move forward with that plan, but will focus on opening retail shops in Virginia, North Carolina and possibly the suburban Washington area.
The influx of new capital from the investment group will also allow First Colony to own and operate its own coffee shops, a change from its plan two years ago to expand through franchising, Brockenbrough said.
By becoming partners with the Colombian coffee cooperative, First Colony assures itself of a supplier for the highest quality beans it roasts.
``We already buy superior quality Colombian coffees,'' Brockenbrough said, ``but they're very difficult to come by. This way, we will have a consistent supply of the very highest quality coffees.'' by CNB