Florence Snyder
At Tallahassee Community College (TCC), they’re serving up a venti cup of corporate welfare with a side order of unnecessary and possibly illegal confidentiality.
The school is shelling out $500K in “unrestricted funds” to peddle coffee — more specifically, Starbucks coffee — at its downtown “Center for Innovation” located just spitting distance from the state Capitol.
TCC’s stated goals include providing students with “hands-on entrepreneurial experience.” You’d think that Starbucks never hired college kids — or high school kids — without a subsidy from their mommies, daddies and college presidents.
TCC began brewing this exercise in innovation and job creation in 2015 when it tried, and failed, to persuade three local coffeehouse proprietors that there was a pony of a business plan inside its under-trafficked downtown location.
The bean counters and bean roasters at Redeye, Lucky Goat and Catalina Café saw only a pile of horse feathers. In an impressive exercise in graciousness, diplomacy and understatement, Lucky Goat’s Ben Pautsch told the Democrat, “The timing and economics didn’t make sense for us as a local business.”
Maybe it would have made sense if the local coffee guys had the kind of high-powered negotiators available to multi-billion dollar players like Starbucks. The Colossus of Caffeine talked TCC into a “confidential nondisclosure agreement” which precludes release of details of its discussion with Starbucks. That’s just as well for House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s blood pressure, considering what the parties are not embarrassed to disclose. In addition to picking up the $488,000 construction tab, TCC paid a $30,000 licensing fee and will be giving Starbucks 7 percent a month off the top once the place opens.
For regular people, a handcrafted mocha choca latte ya ya Creole Lady Marmalade skinny Frappuccino is a very occasional luxury, if that. For TCC trustees, it’s a good reason to raid the stash of “non-restricted money which can be used for non-instructional services.”
Tallahassee is full of local businesses that could use a $500K transfusion. TCC is full of teachers who could use a raise, and students who could use gas money. What TCC trustees could use is better judgment about how they spend the slush funds.
3 comments
James
January 12, 2017 at 1:41 pm
This is an interested article, but someone should point out that there are two Starbucks located on campus at Florida State University. One is located inside Strozier Library and the other is located on Woodward Avenue. It would be nice to know whether Starbucks paid for the build out on either of those locations.
Not James
January 12, 2017 at 5:31 pm
All information for FSU is public information. I have not checked myself but it should be available.
James
January 15, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Neither FSU nor FAMU paid a dime to host a Starbucks according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The question is why would TCC pay out over half a million dollars to Starbucks to put a shop in a historically low traffic location. Local coffee makers declined to be a part of this–but then again, they weren’t offered the big bucks. A full scale investigation should be launched into this asinine business decision–and while you are at it–look at the Oyster Farming scam which is full of developers and attorneys and has precious few actual fisher-people. Also–this deal is the opposite of “entrepreneurship.” Someone needs to give Jim Murdaugh and company a dictionary.
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