Coffee Battle Brewing Between Starbucks & Cuban Bakery
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PINECREST (CBSMiami) -- There is a war of sorts. It's the kind of war that pits neighbor against neighbor. It's one that could have cultural implications.
It's the war of the Joe.
A customer admits, "I'm a Cuban coffee drinker and not a Starbucks drinker."
The battleground is a shopping center on the corner of SW 67th Avenue and Dixie Highway.
Starbucks, a 19-year tenant in the shopping center asked newcomer, Pinecrest Bakery, to stop selling Cuban coffee.
Efrain Valdes is the owner of Pinecrest Bakery. He says it started in 2013 when he signed his first lease with a clause that said the bakery could sell coffee as long as it added up to 10 percent of gross sales.
A year and $300,000 later, when the store opened, Valdes says the landlord added more specific restrictions to the lease that said the bakery could not sell or give away, "gourmet, brand-identified brewed coffee, tea, espresso, cappuccino, cafecito, cortadito, coladas, or café con leche."
Valdes says, "We deemed it not to be fair but we signed the lease because if we would not have, we would have had to close our door."
Valdes took the matter to court but lost. He couldn't sell Cuban coffee. In 2015, the shopping center was sold, and with a new landlord, Valdes began selling Cuban coffee again. But Starbucks got a whiff of it and sent them a notice.
"You're in breach of your contract you can't do that," says Valdes.
Once again he moved his espresso machine out -- no more Cuban coffee -- but was allowed to sell American coffee.
Customer Steve Suarez says, "I think it's silly. This is the United States of America. It's a free market."
The bakery sits on one side of the shopping center and Starbucks sits on the other side. While Starbucks is trying to monopolize coffee sales at one shopping center, ironically, next door sits Dunkin Donuts, one of its largest competitors. The question now becomes why is the Dunkin Donuts not in the middle of the conflict?
As it turns out it is on a different property.
Valdes says legally they can't do anything. The bakery took the matter to social media.
Customers began writing reviews on Starbucks Facebook page. Even the Starbucks customers whom CBS4's Silva Harapetian spoke to say the matter was "silly."
Chip Moloney says, "I think if they're not allowed to serve Cuban coffee, Starbucks should not be allowed to serve food."
Valdes says, "What Starbucks is doing is messing with tradition and that's a big problem."
Starbucks has issued a statement saying in part "we're actively working in partnership with the landlord and our neighboring businesses to understand concerns and quickly resolve any misunderstanding, with the goal of all parties resuming their beverage business as usual."