It’s like something out of a movie: Handsome, blue-eyed leading man chases a dream to own his own business, takes on a corporate monolith…and wins! Yes indeed, if they ever make a film out of the tale of the coffee industry’s newest titan, we would suggest Patrick Dempsey as…Patrick Dempsey.
That’s right, the “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” star has won his bid to purchase Tully’s – the super-yummy but financially-distressed coffee chain that was being auctioned off as part of bankruptcy proceedings.
“We met the green monster, looked her in the eye, and…SHE BLINKED!” Dempsey tweeted last night, calling out coffee titan Starbucks while launching a shot across its bow. “We got it! Thank you Seattle!”
Soon after, the clearly-enthused new owner followed it up with this tweet: “Heading to Clyde Hill Tully’s now to meet employees and our customers. Very exciting.”
Dempsey reportedly paid a whopping $9.15 million for the coffee chain – which is almost as much as a Venti latte costs as Starbucks these days. But if McDreamy is serious about taking down the so-called “green monster,” he has a lot of work to do – Starbucks has more than 17,000 locations around the world, while Tully’s has 47.
Founded in 1992 in Seattle by Tom Tully O’Keefe, the founder retired in 2010 and the company filed for bankruptcy this past October. At one point, the company had more than 200 locations from Washington to Los Angeles, to Idaho, South Korea and Japan, but many of those stores seem to have closed since then.
Dempsey and his group, Global Baristas, beat a bid from Starbucks. In a statement, the son-to-be-47-year-old star said he is “thrilled” and “even more excited about saving Tully’s Coffee and its hundreds of jobs.”
Good luck to Patrick, the coffee is great so you’re already off on the right foot – here’s hoping your investment turns out better than Danny Glover’s french fries, Kenny Rogers’ chicken and your “Sweet Home Alabama” co-star Josh Lucas’ healthy fast food restaurants.
“Tully’s is a great company with committed employees, and with its base in Seattle, one of the world’s greatest cities, I’m confident we will be able to successfully build the brand and help grow the economy,” continued the actor, who got his start in teen movies like “Meatballs III” and “Can’t Buy Me Love” in the mid-Eighties. “Seattle has been very good to me over my career, and I am honored to have the privilege to own Tully’s and work closely with the company’s employees.”