Illustration By Ryan Casey

With his broken-in jeans, untucked dress shirt, mop of silver hair and unplugged, topic-jumping manner of speaking, Joe Grasso is rather casual for an urban conqueror.

His office is on the sixth floor of the Curtis Center at Sixth and Walnut — the property that publishing magnate Cyrus Curtis built as his ledgerbook Xanadu. Grasso's gigantic personal office, naturally, once belonged to the man who helmed The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies' Home Journal, though in its modern incarnation, it's reminiscent of a slightly more lived-in version of Ari Gold's workspace on Entourage. It's clear from the gates that the laughy, engaging Grasso is high-energy — there's a branded Red Bull cooler behind his desk.

Michael T. Regan THE BREW CREW: Walnut Street Capital founder Joe Grasso (left) and Saxbys Coffee CEO Nick Bayer.

He's prepped to talk about Saxbys, a 30-location national coffeehouse chain, formerly based in Atlanta, that Grasso's $200 million real estate investment firm Walnut Street Capital (WSC) purchased this past summer. It's not long before besuited Saxbys CEO Nick Bayer strides in beaming, arms full of folders and briefs that presumably hold reams of important documents. He's just secured two Saxbys locations in the Philadelphia International Airport, and he's feeling good. Bayer, 29, is a tall, confident kind of guy who Grasso almost paternally refers to as "H.B." — short for "handsome bastard." They laugh. They joke.

They're happy because they're about to take over coffee in Philadelphia.

The mystique is in the numbers: There are currently 30 Saxbys in 13 states across the country, with three in suburban Philadelphia. Fifteen more are expected to open nationwide by the end of the year. For 2008, the goal is to open 200 sites — with between 15 and 20 of those stores in greater Philadelphia. Locations in Abington, Haverford and on campus at Temple University will all debut in the coming months, joining the spots in Malvern, Lansdale and Wayne; a total of 150 are tentatively earmarked for the tri-state area.

The big picture? Two thousand national locations within the next five to seven years.

But is Philadelphia — populated by dozens of independent coffeehouses and Starbucks sites in addition to widely regarded full-service firms like ISO-certified Ellis Coffee Co. and haute roasters La Colombe — able to sustain another big-time player? Is our city not full of scads of stubborn DIY coffee consumers? Won't your average urban progressive always choose mom and pop over The Man?

Can there be two The Men? Read the full story.

Saxbys steams to town

Philadelphia Business Journal - by Peter Van Allen Staff Writer

Curt Hudson

Saxbys Coffee Worldwide has brought with it major expansion plans. For now, Saxbys has locations in Wayne, Lansdale and Malvern locally, but it has seven new stores in the works. Within a year it hopes to open 15 to 20 stores in the region, said Nick Bayer, president and CEO of Saxbys. Nationwide, the company hopes to have commitments for 200 locations in roughly a dozen markets by the end of the year, up from 31 locations currently.

Competition for coffee drinkers is heated: Bayer cited a decision by McDonald's to invest $1 billion in in-store cafés and the return of founder Howard Schultz as CEO of Starbucks, as well as increased marketing of coffee drinks by Dunkin' Donuts and Wawa.

"Whatever happens with the economy, people find ways to make it part of their budget," Bayer said. "Maybe they'll decide it's not the time for a $60,000 BMW, but they'll spend $3 or $4 for a latte."

Saxbys plans to take advantage by adding stores quickly:

• On Jan. 16, Saxbys will open on Liacouras Walk on the Temple University campus;
• At the end of the month, it will open an Abington location near Abington Memorial Hospital, adjacent to Peace A Pizza.
• In March, Saxbys will take over two Jazz & Java locations in the Philadelphia International Airport, in the C Terminal, which ushers in 3.7 million US Airways travelers a year;
• By early April, it will open a site in Kennett Square.

Other leases are either being signed or are close to being finalized for stores in three locations in Center City and a site each in Haverford, Exton, Narberth and Rosemont.

The growth is made possible by the July acquisition by Philadelphia investor Joseph Grasso, principal at Walnut Street Capital, which is at 601 Walnut St. Walnut Street Capital has a real estate portfolio worth $200 million.

Grasso comes from a family of real estate developers. His brother David Grasso opened The Grande condominium complex and owns Grasso Holdings, which plans a $300 million mixed-use complex for the 1600 block of Vine Street. Their father, Michael Grasso, is chairman of Metro Commercial Properties, which developed the $125 million Valley Square shopping center in Warrington.

Grasso's interest in the company started after he opened Saxbys' first location, in the Pavilion shopping center in Lansdale. He was so impressed with the concept that he started negotiations to buy the company.

Grasso said at the time of the acquisition that Saxbys brought "foot traffic, visibility and buzz" to the shopping center.