Chapel Hill, N.C.-based gourmet retailer A Southern Season is under new ownership. TC Capital Fund, headed by local entrepreneur Clay Hamner, acquired the gourmet retailer on Aug. 1.
TC Capital Fund is a joint venture between two Chapel Hill Investment funds: Carrboro Capital Corp. and Tryon Capital Ventures LLC. The founders of Carrboro Capital are local residents Clay Hamner, Betty Kenan and Phil Phillips; the founders of Tryon Capital are Pete Coker and Peter Reichard.
“A core part of our mission has always been local ownership and operation,” says Michael Barefoot, who started A Southern Season as an 800-square-foot coffee roaster in 1975. “That will not change; ownership remains local in this new corporate structure.”
Over the years, A Southern Season has expanded to a 60,000-square-foot retail store with a cooking school and the Weathervane restaurant at the University Mall. The company, which employs approximately 300 people, has an online store and a nationally distributed catalog.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
According to a prepared statement, Barefoot will continue to play an active role in the business, along with longtime partners Tim Manale and Briggs Wesche. In addition, Larry Shaw, who also is a local resident, joins the company as president. He has worked with The Vermont Country Store and Nordstrom.
Source: TC Capital Fund
