Patrick Dempsey wants to buy Tully's Coffee company
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Patrick Dempsey says he wants to rescue a Seattle coffee house chain and more than 500 jobs.
The "Grey's Anatomy" star said Wednesday he's leading a group attempting to buy Tully's Coffee. The Seattle-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.
Dempsey said he's excited about the chance to help hundreds of workers and give back to Seattle.
"I’ve always loved this city, and with the purchase of Tully’s Coffee, I plan to spend a lot of time in Seattle and at the stores connecting with the community and growing the Tully’s brand," he wrote in a news release. "It looks like Seattle may be my home away from home in the very near future.”
The actor has a strong TV tie to the city: He plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy," the ABC drama set at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital.
Tully's has 47 company-run stores in Washington and California, as well as five franchised stores and 58 licensed locations in the U.S.
Any sale would have to be approved by a judge. A bankruptcy court hearing is set for Jan. 11 in Seattle.
The "Grey's Anatomy" star said Wednesday he's leading a group attempting to buy Tully's Coffee. The Seattle-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.
Dempsey said he's excited about the chance to help hundreds of workers and give back to Seattle.
"I’ve always loved this city, and with the purchase of Tully’s Coffee, I plan to spend a lot of time in Seattle and at the stores connecting with the community and growing the Tully’s brand," he wrote in a news release. "It looks like Seattle may be my home away from home in the very near future.”
The actor has a strong TV tie to the city: He plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy," the ABC drama set at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital.
Tully's has 47 company-run stores in Washington and California, as well as five franchised stores and 58 licensed locations in the U.S.
Any sale would have to be approved by a judge. A bankruptcy court hearing is set for Jan. 11 in Seattle.
Dempsey is going to fail if the reason he's going into business is to "help workers and give back to Seattle". Â Nice as those sentiments are, and I have no doubt his heart is good, if he puts "helping workers" ahead of "making the business profitable" it's going to lose all his money and the business will be back in bankruptcy. Â Businesses help people as a result of being successful. Â Sometimes being successful means cutting jobs or closing stores that aren't making money. Â Are people going to vilify him and call him a "greedy rich guy" who doesn't care about people? Â Will he actually DO what's necessary for the business' health? Â Will his workers unionize and force him into business decisions that will hurt the company's viability? Â If his business model is to make a superior product at a competitive price, people will buy it. Â I hope he can pull it off in this day of unions and government soaking businesses, "free" health care, and endless regulations. Â I wish him not luck, but wisdom and fortitude. Â
Will someone please step up and save jobs at Folgers and Lipton
I might be living under a rock here, but am I the only one here who knows him more for being a race car driver than for being an actor?
Good for him - if he can help save 500 jobs, that's a good thing.
I can see it now, Tully's product placement in every "Grey's Anatomy" episode. Thanks for saving the jobs Pat.Â
I can see lot's of female customers in the future.
@Komo Dragon ....and maybe some sick ones. Maybe a helipad at each location!
Ooooh, Mc Dreamy does Mc Coffee... Well, why not, love Tully's because it's simply good coffee, rather than the alternative that is all about selling an "experience" to the trendy rather than good coffee. Cheers Mr. Dempsey!
@B747-8i Mc Coffee! LOL!!!
That sounds pretty cool...Â
I do wish him luck, seems like it's all Starbucks® and the lurid "booby barista barns" milking the coffee craze 'round these parts.  Â
Now Baristas.tv has competition for Tully's, someone there has to be slamming a drink right now in frustration: http://baristastv.com/content/baristas-offers-acquire-tullysÂ
It's a good thing. Tully's breakfast blend is my indulgence of choice.
Two words, Patrick: Â Planet Hollywood. Â
 @Opus8no5 Yep- looks cool on paper, till they start printing financial statements.
I love Tulley's since 1970,way before StarBucks !
 @scychan Your facts may be wrong about when Tully's was founded, but they do make a much better product than Charbucks.
@Smashquail In your opinion. I much prefer the taste of Starbucks and would have to say that in my experience, Tully's has a habit of buring their coffee (at least at my local store).
@scychan - Tully's (not Tulleys) opened their first store in 1992, Starbucks in 1971!
@TheREALtruth That was the Real Truth!
 @lakeview Oh yeah? Peet's aint got nothing on Juan Valdez!
@northwestsurfer  And Peet's Coffee and Tea, which is an institution in the Bay Area California, predated them all.  Peet not only taught the founders of Starbucks how to roast, but sold Starbucks beans directly at the beginning.Â
I have always thought Tully's coffee is much better than Starbucks. I would support Tully's over the corporate monster Starbucks anyday.Â
@HallandOates To bad the general public doesn't feel the same. If they did, Tully's would not be in this position.
Wonderful! I hope it works out well for everyone. Â Tully's coffee tastes much better than Starbucks, IMHO.
Really Patick, not the smartest business move here..
How do you figure?
 @Windowseat I'm sure he's been waiting in front of his monitor, hitting the "refresh" key just hoping that you would offer him your business advice.
Whew! You really helped him dodge a bullet there!!!
If it was just an average Joe doing this, would he get the same attention?
 @Just my say Yes, if any one person, actor or not, had the money to make a legitimate offer to buy the entire Tully's chain, they would be writing a news article about it. It's big local news. That it's an recognized actor performing in a tv show that happens to be based here just dictates what kind of spin the story gets
 @Just my say An "average Joe," by definition, wouldn't have the money.
 @Fooey Patooey! You don't know that. Not every average Joe is the same.
 @Just my say You need to consult a good dictionary.
 @LippRipper  @Fooey Patooey! I am consider a average Joe, but a close family member is consider extremely wealthy. If I wanted to make a business deal like this, the money would be very easy for me to get.  Not all average Joe are the same.
 @Just my say  @Fooey Patooey! Well if Joe had the money, that wouldn't make him average.
no
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Well that's a very heartwarming story, but turning around a chain of coffee shops into profitability is not something you just go and do without a really good plan and people to execute, along with a top notch restaurant person at the top, as CEO. I don't know, maybe he has an excellent management team and sufficient capital to give it a realistic chance, but this could turn out to be yet another failed business by someone who really has no expertise or intangibles to offer, other than his "Mcsteamy looks", as DT would have it... Rrrrawrrrr hahahaha.
 @Scoondog I'm hoping the group he's leading includes people with experience and knowledge to make this all go down smoothly.
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Rrrrawrrrr  .. he could rename it McSteamy's.  Â
Maybe it will help Tully's go back to making good coffee? Â I don't know what they've done in the last year or so to their coffee, but I actually prefer Starbucks now (it used to be the other way around).
Â
Rather have him buy Starbcucks. Gotta be a better human being than Shultz.
 @Zoso I'm thinking it might be a tad more expensive to purchase the Starbucks corporation than it would Tully's, but you're correct that just about anyone would be an improvement over Shultz.Â
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Never heard of him but whatever
 @Larry*X*K You have never heard of him? Do you live under a rock or something?
 @Ethan Allen No, I just don't watch mindless TV soap operas or sitcoms or whatever the hell they are called
 @Ethan Allen  @Larry*X*K I never heard of him until I read the article. Some of us have better things to do that watch TV. Like trolling the internet... oh wait!
Awesome!