By Andy Owens
aowens@scbiznews.com
Published March 19, 2010

A coffee shop that has become a local favorite among college students and professionals working in downtown Charleston has a new owner and a new direction after the founder moved to South Africa and closed a spin-off location in Mount Pleasant.

For years, Kudu Coffee on Vanderhorst Street reflected the vision of writer and entrepreneur John Saunders. When Saunders decided to leave Charleston and move to South Africa to write a book, he eventually sold the business to a Mount Pleasant-based business owner who wanted to have a coffee shop near the college.

First, though, one of Kudu’s longtime customers took a shot at running the business and hoped to buy it. That soon fell through, and Sozo Hospitality LLC was formed in January and took possession in February.

Sozo’s owner, Grae Rambo, also owns CPI Inc., a general contracting company that specializes in commercial projects such as hotels and office buildings. Rambo said he identified Kudu early on and spent months negotiating for the business.

“It’s just something that I really wanted to do for a number of years and had some folks who I thought would be really good at it,” he said.

Rambo’s management team is Jason and Josh Bell, two brothers from Winston-Salem, N.C., who started making changes immediately. Jason Bell said some of the changes are coming so fast that they haven’t updated the signage and menus for customers.

The Bell brothers stopped using locally roasted coffee from Island Coffee for Kudu’s main product, changing to Krankies Coffee, a Winston-Salem brand they were familiar with. They also hired on one of Krankies’ experienced coffee experts and brought him to Charleston to manage the baristas.

“We just love coffee. I guess the more you drink, the more you love the good stuff,” Jason Bell said. “We always just kind of wanted to get into this.”

Expanding the menu

He said the goal is to provide consistent quality for Kudu’s core coffee product, but it won’t be Kudu’s only product. The business has started selling sandwiches made by Normandy Farm Bakery in West Ashley and craft beers using Kudu’s existing beer and wine license. Kudu also is featuring local musical talent.

“We’re trying to attract a young professional crowd. Not really making it into a bar, but somewhere someone could have a beer,” Rambo said. “Now that the weather’s getting nicer, we’ll probably have a musician on the patio. It’s gone well so far. We’ve done it for the past two weekends. That’s the main thing we’re doing to expand.”

Rambo said Kudu has received a lot of favorable responses to the changes, but some customers are waiting to see what will happen as Sozo expands the scope of what has become a Charleston icon for coffee and atmosphere. He said Kudu was at its best when Saunders was around, though he said Saunders had recently begun to pull back from directly running the shop.

“I think it did hurt the business with him not being there,” Rambo said. “We’ve got some work to do, but I know the response has been really well so far. I know a lot of people are really taking a wait-and-see attitude. What I liked about John was his vision to create a place of community.”

Failed expansion

Rambo and Jason Bell said there are no plans to expand Kudu’s brand to other locations just yet, though more than a year ago Saunders tried to do just that. He partnered with Mary Anne Fox to open Primal Fuel, a spin-off African-themed coffee shop on Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.

Today, that building has a “For rent” sign outside after the collapse of a deal that would have transferred the lease to a new owner and kept it open. The building has been shuttered and all the equipment sold, Fox said.

“It’s just not a real pretty story,” Fox said. “A South African was going to buy Primal, and we had some landlord issues. The buyer backed out because of her [the landlord’s] uncooperative spirit.”

Rhonda Hewitt, who owns the building, said the potential buyer would not have been able to take over the lease. She said the lease was broken with four years left on it and had more than one signee.

“Unfortunately, the business didn’t make it,” Hewitt said from her home in Florida. “There were a lot of reasons I heard.”

She said that her brother-in-law is showing the property to prospective businesses.

“I’m not real happy,” she said. “I’m hoping to re-lease it.”

Kudu and Primal Fuel both carried African coffees roasted at Island Coffee. Fox said that product was a reason both shops were successful. Fox said she and Saunders are “completely done” with Primal Fuel, and she said she expects him to return to the States soon for a visit.

“It’s all very sad because both places were loved because of the coffee,” she said.