4Corners Coffee to cease operations

By ETHAN HARTLEY
Posted 11/29/18

By ETHAN HARTLEY -- Prepare to say farewell to the square donut. Due to declining revenue, the owners of 4Corners Coffee have decided to cease operations at the Airport Road location and look ahead to the next big thing...

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4Corners Coffee to cease operations

Posted

Prepare to say farewell to the square donut. Due to declining revenue, the owners of 4Corners Coffee have decided to cease operations at the Airport Road location and look ahead to the next big thing. The closure will take place effective Dec. 23.

“We thought we came up with an exciting concept, but over time we've seen that idea to not be sustainable,” said Ed Brady, the Cranston city councilman and restaurateur who co-owns the property with Jeff Quinlan and Justin Erikson, along with multiple other properties throughout the state. “We love creating brands. There's no point continuing to invest in a brand we feel isn't working.”

The brand for this venture included offering a unique food combination within the same building. Shortly after 4Corner’s grand opening in May of 2017, Pink Pig BBQ – the Jamestown joint owned by Jason Pannone – opened up in conjunction and began selling in-house smoked barbeque alongside the donuts and breakfast foods.

“The vision was to share space with two different brands to increase revenue,” Brady said, giving the example of KFC and Taco Bell joining forces to share space with significantly different offerings and doing it successfully. “One wouldn’t think fried chicken and tacos would work, but they’ve seen that become a success.”

At the onset of business, 4Corners couldn’t keep donuts on the racks for more than a couple hours. Reviews of the store have always trended at three and a half to four stars or higher, depending on the rating platform. Brady insisted during an interview Wednesday that the problem wasn’t the quality of the food. In fact, he wishes that he had the answer to what exactly caused revenue to go stagnant in the second year of operation.

“I wish I could pinpoint that or we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he said. “Year one was great, and we've seen this year to be very tough. I can’t put blame on the Warwick community. We saw in year one they came out pretty strongly.”

Brady said ownership let employees of the store know about the impending closure two months ahead of time, and gave them the opportunity to apply at other businesses within their umbrella. Brady and his partners operate multiple restaurants, including two Thirsty Beaver locations (Smithfield and Cranston) and Milk Money in Providence. Another Warwick-located restaurant, Hucks Filling Station, is in the works now and set to open next year in the spring.

“We wanted to make sure we did them [the employees] right because they've been working really hard for us,” Brady said.

Unfortunately, 4Corners joins the growing list of businesses that have occupied that space and ultimately failed to stay open, including a Taco Bell and, most recently before 4Corners, the Eggroll Cafe. However, this doesn’t mean Brady and his partners are simply going to tuck and run. They’ve already reached out to their fans and customers on Facebook to ask for ideas about what could go into the Airport Road property next.

“A lot of people have great ideas,” Brady said, adding they are already getting 20-30 emails a day from people offering their ideas on what to open next at the spot. “We're looking for passionate people that have some great ideas and hopefully we can put our money behind.”

Brady said that he was confidence that the ownership group could have the next big idea as soon as after Christmas and then get the gears turning to open up a new place within two to three months into the new year.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    when you sell one doughnut for the price of a dozen down the street, it better be a five out of four stars to stay in bidness

    Thursday, November 29, 2018 Report this

  • warwick10

    If they weren't so expensive... seriously, if they cost less, I would be buying more. I love the place/ concept...service was good and had a good selection of doughnuts but paying $26 for a dozen is excessive.

    Thursday, November 29, 2018 Report this

  • ThatGuyInRI

    Location, location, location?

    This is at least the 3rd food based business in that building to not succeed, don't know why this is but I see a trend.

    Friday, November 30, 2018 Report this

  • Cat2222

    The location is in a high traffic zone but it is ridiculously difficult to get in and out of just like Dave's across the street. I would rather go out of my way and hit a Dave's in North Kingstown then drive to my local one and struggle to cut across traffic. Never mind the hold up on the weekends with the traffic control.

    They were expensive. If they had been outstanding and expensive they may have had a chance. You had two other choices in a small radius to get donuts for far cheaper. I never tried the other food because I don't eat meat. My first thought was that it was a very odd combination.

    Starbucks should look to move into that location and get out of the little tiny end location they are in two doors down. It would help clear up the congestion that always happens with the drive through, Verizon customers and the gas station. It is a nightmare trying to dodge all the vehicles just to get a cup of coffee.

    Friday, November 30, 2018 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    starbucks? go to dunkin let a red blooded american.

    commie

    Friday, November 30, 2018 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    Plus putting pigs all over a doughnut shoppe is just bad marketing. It sends a subliminal message to people. And to the taxpayers mayer.

    Monday, December 3, 2018 Report this

  • Cat2222

    justanidiot

    Heresy! Dunkin is for the unenlightened!

    Tuesday, December 4, 2018 Report this

  • VoWarwick2017

    The prices were too high - the donuts really weren't that good, the other breakfast food was okay.

    We gave the place two chances and were disappointed both times.

    The location is rough and tends to eat food businesses (Mr. Taco, Chelos, Egg Roll place, now Donut place)... to get people to risk the traffic your product MUST be first class and reasonably priced. If Allie's Donuts moved in there would be lines out the door every morning!

    Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    I don't know if they owned the building or rented it but with taxes of $21,768 (according to Eppraisal) their overhead must have been exorbitant. A similar building in Cranston would be less. A lot less. Therein lies the problem with Warwick as I see it. Warwick keeps losing taxpayers, both residentially and commercially. Warwick keeps raising taxes. Cranston keeps gaining taxpayers, both residentially and commercially. Cranston keeps lowering taxes. Ask any business that has moved from Warwick to Cranston. I have.

    And please don't listen to Mark Carruolo (AKA CrickeeRaven) when he points out that the tax rate is higher in Cranston. It is, but that is only one of the three determining factors to taxes. The others are the "assessed value" and the percent-of-assessed-value the cities/towns use to calculate the total tax. All the consumer cares about is that "total tax". And they are lower in Cranston. Much lower. Bottom line.

    Merry Christmas everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    I'm going to be pro-active. Before Mark Carruolo chimes in with data to deceive you, I looked up the Honeydew Donut shop at 548 Reservoir Ave. near the Park Ave. intersection. MUCH better location. Much better traffic flow and speed-of-traffic. Plenty of parking. Taxes $9,531 a year. That's $12,237 LESS than this donut shop on Airport Rd. That, dear taxpayers, is a HUGE difference in the overhead. Warwick needs to "Cut Taxes - Cut Spending". This is a perfect example of why. There are two schools of thought. Raise taxes on the remaining taxpayers, which is why Warwick lost 5,800 taxpayers over the last 10 years (according to the U.S. Census) OR "Cut Taxes - Cut Spending" and attract some taxpayers BACK to Warwick (Legal Seafoods relocated to Cranston for the same reason) which will lower the tax needs on ALL Warwick taxpayers. It doesn't matter who said that, it makes sense. New Mayor Solomon needs to understand this. I think he does, at least better than his predecessor. Warwick needs more tax revenue. Increasing taxes every year hasn't worked this century. Increasing the number of taxpayers WILL.

    Merry Christmas everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    While all of the other commenters on this page are making valid points, leave it to the two-time election reject to add another set of false and delusional statements.

    "I don't know if they owned the building or rented it but with taxes of $21,768..."

    First, whatever "Eppraisal" is, it is not the official city tax assessor website.

    This is: http://gis.vgsi.com/warwickri/Search.aspx

    Entering 63 Airport Road provides the following information:

    The building was purchased in August, 2001 by Beef Hearth Inc., which still owns the property.

    Its property valuation in 2017 was $717,000.

    Multiplying $717,000 by the city's commercial tax rate of $30.36 and dividing by $1,000 equals $21,768.23 --which is the exact method used by the website he cites.

    "A similar building in Cranston would be less. A lot less."

    This is a flat-out lie -- and this is how one knows it is a lie:

    Using that formula and multiplying the same assessed value [the meaning of "a similar building"] by Cranston's commercial tax rate of $34.41 and dividing by $1,000 equals $24,671.97, meaning taxes in Cranston would be $2,903.74 more -- not less.

    Here is the source for that information: http://www.municipalfinance.ri.gov/documents/data/taxrates/2017-Tax-Rates-12-31-16-FINAL.pdf

    Cranston taxes commercial property at 100 percent of assessed value. The document linked above proves that, since there would be a footnote indicating otherwise, but there is not.

    As a result, the method above is an accurate and factually honest way to compare commercial taxes in Warwick and Cranston.

    The two-time election reject's desperate attempt to fool readers has thus, once again, failed.

    "Mark Carruolo (AKA CrickeeRaven)"

    This is also a lie. The two-time election reject should end his cowardly behavior on this website and contact Mr. Carruolo directly. If he already had, the two-time election reject would be able to say so, directly.

    Since he has not directly and plainly said that he has contacted Mr. Carruolo [which would prove his accusation to be as false as his other statements on this page], readers may conclude that the two-time election reject has not, and is simply engaging in more juvenile and disgraceful behavior.

    "All the consumer cares about is that "total tax". And they are lower in Cranston. Much lower. Bottom line."

    As proven above, this is a lie. Similarly assessed commercial properties in Warwick pay lower taxes than in Cranston.

    The only "bottom line" is that the two-time election reject has been caught, yet again, in making false and misleading statements and failing to provide the barest shred of data to support anything he says.

    Honest, taxpaying voters will celebrate their winter holidays, happy to know that we kept the two-time election reject out of office yet again in 2018 by overwhelmingly rejecting his candidacy.

    Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    Without direct links to the information he claims to have found, the two-time election reject is simply making more false statements. With two minutes of research, the actual information in fact, again, proves him to be lying.

    His comparison between a Warwick property assessed at $717,000 and a Cranston property assessed at $298,200 is the height of dishonesty.

    Here is the Cranston tax assessor page for 548 Reservoir Ave.: http://gis.vgsi.com/cranstonri/Parcel.aspx?Pid=7485

    Of course a property with less than half the assessed value would be taxed less -- this does nothing, in the end, to prove whatever point he was trying to make amid his inane babble and continued lies.

    "Legal Seafoods relocated to Cranston for the same reason..."

    This is a lie. In a prior article, the owner of Legal Sea Foods cited a new building and new location for his decision to relocate -- not taxes. The two-time election reject is inventing quotes from others that have no basis in fact.

    "Warwick lost 5,800 taxpayers over the last 10 years"

    This is a total and complete lie that has been debunked many times.

    Here is an article that fully examines this lie by the two-time election reject and provides the factual information that he seems to think will go away if he ignores it:

    https://warwickpost.com/numbers-game-corrente-claims-of-lost-businesses-dont-add-up/

    As readers will see from the dateline of that article, it was published on Sept. 9, 2016 -- meaning the two-time election reject has continued to repeat this claim for two years after it was thoroughly proven false.

    Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Report this

  • CrickeeRaven

    Apologies to honest, taxpaying, non-election-losing readers, as in my haste to disprove one of the two-time election reject's lies [about residents], I provided information disproving another of his lies [about businesses.]

    What I meant to show is that his claim of losing "5,800 taxpayers over 10 years" is false.

    Here is how you will know it is false:

    This link provides U.S. Census data showing that Warwick's population changed from 85,085 in 2007 to 80,871 in 2017, a difference of 4,200 -- not 5,800.

    https://bit.ly/2slKIKd

    Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Report this