
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990                   TAG: 9003212206
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

H&C COFFEE OPEN; SIGN UP IN AIR

The former Woods Brothers Coffee Co. is back in business as H&C Coffee, a division of Becharas Brothers Coffee Co., but the future ownership of the H&C sign still is unsettled.

Coffee production at the plant in the Blue Ridge Park for Industry began last week and H&C trucks are beginning to make deliveries, but operations depend on regaining sales, said Chris Stave, national sales manager for Becharas, a Detroit company.

Three former employees have been rehired and others will be recalled as sales bring in more business, Stave said.

He said that E.C. Woods, former president of Woods Brothers, will be general manager for H&C.

The company is not selling enough coffee to be in production every day, Stave said. About 10 to 12 employees may be needed when the company reaches full production, he said.

Woods Brothers closed in June because of a lack of financing for debts incurred in November 1985. The business was sold to Becharas by the Small Business Administration in a foreclosure auction in January.

The future of the sign is complicated by more than $260,000 in liens against it held by the SBA, the Internal Revenue Service and John and Betsy Williams, owners of the building supporting the sign.

Located in a historic district, the sign was withdrawn from the January auction because of a preservation law requiring that adverse effects be addressed for any federally funded action on property in such a district.

Stave said the new owner of the coffee company is staying out of the sign question "until all legalities are cleared up."

by CNB