Shahroze Rauf | News Editor
Featured Image: York Lane’s Second Cup has been serving the York community for over 20 years, but this year may be their last. | Excalibur Publications
This February 2020, Second Cup may close down as the York University Development Corporation (YUDC) has refused to renew the coffee shop’s annual lease.
According to one of the franchisees and operator Rouma Taneja, the meeting with the YUDC was held through Taneja and her husband’s corporate office as they co-own the sub-lease. The corporate office approached the YUDC in hopes to renew the lease for January 2020 and begin plans for renovations over the summer to not impact students during the school year.
However, both requests were rejected by the YUDC. This entire process, according to Taneja, began in September 2018. After sending a series of emails, Taneja’s corporate office received a reply from YUDC in April 2019 to come in for a meeting with a renovation proposal.
“At that point YUDC made some claims that our staff is too young, they don’t see the owner present, that being my husband, but I am still here. My husband and I co-own the franchise, we co-own the sub-lease,” Taneja says.
At the end of this meeting, the YUDC decided that they would contact Taneja’s corporate office with their answer by the end of April.
Taneja waited until August for a response until she finally decided to get her lawyer involved who sent an email to the YUDC. Taneja’s lawyer argued for employees who had been with the franchise for 12 years who needed sufficient notice.
Two days after receiving the email from Taneja’s lawyer, Gary Brewer from the YUDC sent a letter to Taneja saying that the YUDC will not be renewing the lease.
The YUDC also told the corporate office that the lines are too long, the employees are too busy changing garbage bins rather than serving the line and YUDC claims that Second Cup has not done enough for the York Community.
“This is the only coffee shop on campus that feels like a community coffee shop in a really big part because they prioritize student-hires as staff. And that’s a great thing! I know when I go that I’m giving my business to a business that itself is a support to the actual community,” says fourth-year philosophy student Matthieu Thomson, a dedicated Second Cup customer since 2005.
“They’ve created a whole community in that coffee shop! They hold events like open mics, they hire students, they’re often open when other places aren’t, and whether you’re there for a coffee to go or a coffee while you work on an assignment, it feels like home,” says fifth-year education student Jennifer Baptie.
Students also started a petition last Friday on change.org to stop YUDC from shutting Second Cup down. With over 1200 signatures, the petition continues to garner support.
Taneja also mentioned that an architect has come to review the Second Cup store. She suspects that the YUDC has already found a replacement.
In a statement by York University’s Acting Chief Spokesperson Yanni Dagonas, he confirmed that Second Cup’s lease will expire in February 2020.
“YUDC has begun searching for a new tenant. The ongoing process of updating and renewing York Lanes retail spaces is part of the commitment to improve service and uphold the standards and expectations of our community. We intend to continue utilizing the space currently occupied by Second Cup for similar purposes, such as coffee, tea and baked goods,” says Dagonas.
