Depot Town staple Café Luwak was sold for $50,000 during winter break after six years of business.
Café Luwak Owner Jim Karnopp said he decided to sell the popular restaurant after discovering theft among his employees.
“At one point we had almost $500 in coffee disappear, along with cases of other food items,” Karnopp said in a recent blog post on Café Luwak’s website. “We had three slabs of corned beef stolen after they were cooked and left cooling in the walk-in.”
Café Luwak was bought by Ypsilanti-residents Mark Teachout and Danielle Scherwin.
Both Teachout and Scherwin have Ypsilanti-restaurant experience. Teachout was a trusted employee of Karnopp’s and Scherwin was a bar manager at Corner Brewery.
The space that was once Café Luwak is being renamed Café Ollie and will serve much of the same food. Since Teachout is vegan, 1/3 of the menu will be as well. Another third will cater to vegetarians and the final third will cater to the rest.
Although sad about closing the café he and his 16-year-old son had run for the past six years, Karnopp has positive expectations for Café Ollie.
“I really believe they have what it takes to take what we started and make it a profitable, long-lasting business in Depot Town,” Karnopp said.
Café Ollie opens its doors Jan. 20.
In an interview with AnnArbor.com, Karnopp said he estimated a loss of $20,000 from September to November of last year.
“Throughout our years in business, we have always had weak staff members, and we have had thefts before, but they were usually $20 here and $20 there, not hundreds of dollars a day,” Karnopp wrote. “And when we did have a bad apple, we had enough good staff that would point it out and we could get them out pretty quickly.”
Despite its popularity, the combination of employee theft and the café not making much profit forced the decision to close.
When asked about Café Luwak’s closing, students’ reactions ranged from indifferent to sad.
“Never heard of it,” senior Chrystale Baker said.
Biology major and junior Beth Graunstadt had never visited Café Luwak. For her, Depot Town is too out of the way.
“There are other places to go, so I don’t need to,” Graunstadt said.
Despite visiting Depot Town regularly, senior Ramzi Berdier never visited the café.
“Usually Sidetrack,” said Berdier when asked where he goes in Depot Town.
Sophomore Erica Armstrong, however, was disappointed to hear of the café’s closing.
“I liked their food a lot,” said Armstrong, who had visited Café Luwak a handful of times.
