Cuppy's Coffee CEO Attends Court, Confronted by Franchisees
TUSCUMBIA, Ala. – As the CEO of the virtually disintegrated franchise chain Cuppy’s Coffee stepped up the back stairways of Alabama’s Colbert County district court early Wednesday morning, angry franchise owners were staked out to spot and then confront him.
Franchise owners have not been able to reach Mr. Nabors by email or phone for a number of months.
“Where’s my money?” shouted Cuppy’s franchise owner Alicia Benefield to Cuppy’s CEO, Dale Nabors. She and her husband have lost over $170,000 in a coffee shop business that has little to show for the money. "The only way to pay our business debts is if we sell our house," said Mr. Benefield.
"We aren't going to do that. I am not going to lose my home," replied Mrs. Benefield.
With the doors to the court not yet unlocked for the 8 a.m. session, Mr. Nabors was cornered. He explained that the money meant for the franchise chain is now pretty much gone.
Ms. Benefield and her husband have been franchise owners since 2007 in Carollton, Georgia.
"I am going to make sure that justice is done with Cuppy's, as long as it takes," shouted Ms. Benefield.
Some $30 million dollars from franchise owners were invested in their shops with sometimes very little to show for their money — no equipment and no build-out.
Ms. Elinor (Pinky) Legaspi, a franchise owner in Tyrone, Georgia told her past CEO, “There are Cuppy’s Coffee shops that are making money now that they are independent. Cuppy’s could have made money from royalties on the coffee shops but you guys blew it. How does that make you feel?” Ms. Legaspi was referring to the sparse support that franchise owners received from the franchisor.
Mr. Nabors went quiet.
Ms. Legaspi says she put nearly $180,000 in the franchise investment.
A few minutes after the confrontation, the three Cuppy’s franchise owners attended Mr. Nabors hearing with Judge George E. Carpenter. The judge called Nabors to the bench and quietly asked him some questions that few of the 45 or so attendees could make out.
What was heard was only a few soundbites.
“What’s with these Florida warrants, Mr. Nabors?” asked Judge Carpenter in a slightly elevated voice that some in the courtroom could make out. The judge was speaking about an outstanding warrant for Mr. Nabors for unpaid checks. An order to extradite Mr. Nabors to Florida has been issued. “Do we need to have a Florida governor office’s [issue a] warrant to put you in shackles?” the judge said.
Mr. Nabors responded loud enough for some of the rows to hear. “There were no bad checks written in the state of Florida.”
In a short interview later outside the courthouse, Mr. Nabors explained that these checks were written in Alabama to a terminated employee who had followed the company when it moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. When the employee returned to Florida, the employee attempted to cash the bouncing paychecks in that state.
Judge Carpenter responded in a loud enough voice to be heard by those in the court, “We haven’t heard a word [from Florida]."
Mr. Nabors then walked out of the courtroom, followed by the franchise owners. A Huntsville, Alabama television crew was filming him.
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Local news coverage: Cuppy's Coffee CEO Makes Court Appearance (Alabama's Shoals Insider)
More on this story coming. Blue MauMau interviews CEO Dale Nabors and franchisees.
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