DESOTO, Texas — You will have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on a cup of joe from the first Black-owned coffee shop in DeSoto. Some investors are backing away from the new business, and it’s affecting the grand opening.
What’s going on is larger than a coffee conversation, as it may be cultural.
In the Black community, there is a saying about a person who has a “crabs in a barrel” mentality. It describes a Black person who tries to stop another Black person from succeeding.
Tara McDaniel, the owner of Heritage Coffee Lounge, first spoke to Spectrum News 1 back in December. Supply chain issues then and construction delays now are a headache for her, as she is ready for the grand opening. Unfortunately, it’s not the only problem she faces.
“With that being said, I’ve suffered. I’ve suffered in every way possible,” said McDaniel.
McDaniel is getting hit with a lawsuit from her partners at another Black-owned coffee shop in Dallas called Soiree Coffee Bar. The jazz-themed shop received a lot of hype and attention when it opened its doors in October 2020.
“I had been working to create this concept since the summer of the previous year with no pay,” McDaniel recalled.
McDaniel is a single mother of five. She tells Spectrum News 1 that she still has never received a dime for her ideas and work to open Soiree. In the lawsuit, Clive and LaFree Ryan, the other partners of Soiree, blame McDaniel for “intellectual property theft” after finding out about her plans to move forward with the DeSoto coffee lounge. McDaniel also says she’s within her rights to move forward with Heritage because a non-compete agreement does not exist.
“It’s painful when we as a Black people do this to each other,” McDaniel said of the lawsuit.
She claims all allegations by Clive and LaFree are in retaliation because she sued the duo first to document ownership of Soiree.
McDaniel says her business relationship with the Ryans started after Clive reached out to McDaniel in 2020 after seeing her success with an online group called Buy Black National, a space that promoted Black-owned businesses.
“He asked to invest in Buy Black National because he loved the concept and wanted to partner to build an app. That’s when I shared the concept for Soiree,” McDaniel explained.
The lawsuit from the Ryans also says McDaniel is a “scam artist” for misrepresenting her role at Soiree. However, documents from the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission that Spectrum News 1 received show the Ryans and McDaniel’s names listed as all people who are liable and have ownership of Soiree. The original Certificate of Formation, which is a document submitted to the state of Texas to create an LLC, also lists all three partners as managers.
Lafree Ryan filed an amendment to remove McDaniel’s name from the Certificate of Formation in May 2021, nearly three months before the Ryans filed their lawsuit.
“I speak from a place of truth and transparency,” McDaniel added.
Multiple requests for interviews sent through emails to the Ryans and their attorney have gone unanswered. McDaniel says there are already enough systematic obstacles for a Black entrepreneur. Investors are starting to walk away from Heritage since the Ryans’ lawsuit and now opening day is in jeopardy without those funds. McDaniels also says Soiree and Heritage can both exist. She says the more Black entrepreneurs and Black businesses the Dallas area has, the more the community benefits.
“I think [Heritage] is a perfect fit. We need a partnership with businesses that can come and uniquely provide a space where like minds can gather and lounge and push DeSoto forward,” said Tammy Adams, the head of an HOA in DeSoto, in anticipation of Heritage’s opening day.
If McDaniel can get the investors she needs to open Heritage, she plans on hosting educational meetings to guide current and up-and-coming entrepreneurs with tools to legally protect their ventures so they don’t end up in a situation like she’s in now.