September 2023 Volume 22 | Issue 9
Bitter legal battle forces Roasters ownership change By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz
Inside
Parade of Homes Magazine
Business Profile
Pasco baker serves up variety of sweet comfort food Page A32
Real Estate & Construction
New extended stay hotel breaks ground in Richland Page B1
NOTEWORTHY “The key for startups is to have access to money to make it work. The more money you have, the faster you get to market, the sooner you can start making a profit.” - Dennis Walters, STARS Technology Corp.
Page A3
The former Roasters coffee shops in the Tri-Cities have changed hands twice in a little more than two years — going first to the Black Rock Coffee Bar chain and then to Wake Up Call Coffee. Customers may only have noticed the changing signs and menus, but a complicated, costly and at times tense legal battle was brewing behind the scenes. Hundreds of pages of court documents reveal the tumultuous backstory to Roasters’ final chapter and the ownership turnover that followed. It started in 2020, when leaders of the Spokane-based Wake Up Call worked out a deal with Roasters founder Wes Heyden to buy the local shops. An agreement went out for signatures that December. But Heyden didn’t sign, and by January he’d opted to sell to Black Rock instead. By spring 2021, news of the sale to Black Rock had broken and the transition was underway. So was a lawsuit, which led to an arbitration award that forced Heyden to follow through with the original multimillion-dollar deal with Wake Up Call and prompted the latest switch in ownership. Attorneys for Wake Up Call and Black Rock declined to comment on the case, which has played out in Spokane and Benton counties. Heyden said he regrets his naivety, and he wishes Wake Up Call well as it takes the Roasters mantle.
A deal to sell Wake Up Call started in 2004 and now has more than two-dozen coffee shops in Washington and Idaho. The shops have sleek decor, and some have large, London-style red telephone booths out front. The company’s philosophy centers around community. “Our coffee shops are more than just a place to grab a cup of coffee,” Wake Up Call President Christopher Arkoosh said in a May 22 statement announcing his company as the new uROASTERS, Page A5
Courtesy ATI
Dozens of elected officials and other community leaders tour ATI Inc.’s plant in Richland, which is undergoing an expansion that will increase capacity and double the workforce.
Demand for titanium drives Richland plant expansion By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz
It’s been described as a “well-kept secret.” But the ATI Inc. plant in the Horn Rapids Industrial Park that specializes in melting titanium and titanium alloys for aerospace, defense and industrial markets may not stay that way for long. It’s kicking off an expansion that will increase its capacity and double its workforce. “As ATI says, they deliver products that fly higher, burn hotter, dive deeper, stand stronger and last longer. I’m delighted that this is all happening right here in the TriCities,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-
Washington. He called the Richland plant a “very well-kept secret” during a visit on Aug. 23, noting that while people in the region may not know much about the work, it’s important. Newhouse was one of dozens of elected officials and community leaders who toured ATI’s Richland operation, donning hard hats, safety glasses and heavy boots to get a closer look at the melting process that involves a powerful electron beam hearth furnace. As part of the expansion of the plant, ATI is adding a second furnace, as well as vacuum arc remelting capability, which is a uATI, Page A4
Historically low unemployment rates provide opportunities and challenges By Laura Kostad
for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business
With high inflation, high interest rates and an overall higher cost of living, one key market figure has been trending with record lows since the Covid-19 pandemic ended: the unemployment rate. At 3.6%, the rate for the Tri-Cities area is well under the area’s typical historic range of 5% to 6%. These rates, the most recently available, are down from the previous month’s 3.5% and a full percentage point lower compared to the same time last year when unemployment reached 4.5%. The last time the area hit 4.5% was 16 years ago in July 2007, said Ajsa Suljic, a
regional labor economist with the Employment Security Department (ESD) based in Kennewick. Statewide, unemployment is 3.6%, trailing the nation’s 3.5%. It’s been 54 years since the national unemployment rate hit 3.4%, which happened earlier this year. Low unemployment rates can be a catch-22, Suljic said. “It’s a good sign that there’s less people on unemployment, but it’s a tough situation for many businesses looking to hire,” she said. For employers, fewer workers seeking jobs means a smaller applicant pool and the pressure to offer more incentives.
uEMPLOYMENT FORECAST, Page A8
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