March 4th 2025.
Kavia Simmons, the passionate mind behind the successful online brand I Love My Coffee Black, had always dreamt of expanding her business to a physical location. And when the opportunity arose to open a coffee bar in the Save A Lot store in Englewood, she jumped at the chance. However, things didn't go as planned for the 38-year-old entrepreneur. In a recent interview with WBEZ Chicago, Simmons revealed that she was "ghosted" by Yellow Banana, the retail grocery platform that owns and operates stores in the Chicago metropolitan area.
The deal between Simmons and Yellow Banana was part of a larger redevelopment agreement made by the city of Chicago in 2022. The city had appointed the Ohio-based retail operator to renovate and reopen six grocery stores in the South and West side communities, which have historically had limited access to fresh foods. Simmons was excited about the prospect of serving coffee, tea, smoothies, and pastries in the former Whole Foods building at 832 W. 63rd St., which would be home to her new coffee bar.
The agreement with Yellow Banana seemed like a win-win for Simmons, as it offered her a low-risk and affordable option to exchange 5% of her coffee bar's monthly sales for the use of Whole Foods' existing cafe space and equipment. "I was really excited because it gave me an opportunity to go from online to brick and mortar with low overhead," she said.
The lease, which was signed by Yellow Banana CEO Joe Canfield in March 2023, promised Simmons free rent for the first six months, as well as utilities and internet service. However, Simmons decided to end the deal last summer, citing unfulfilled promises from Yellow Banana. She claimed that the grocery operator failed to pay the internet bill and provide necessary equipment, and that she ran into issues with the heater and broken equipment. In fact, the space was flagged twice for low water temperature in 2023, and the store received a citation in 2024 for operating without a valid business license.
"I don't even know why I stayed as long as I did," said Simmons, who watched her potential coffee bar go through phases of being stocked and emptied during the process of opening. Yellow Banana, on the other hand, was founded in 2021 by three Black entrepreneurs - Michael Nance, Walker Brumskine, and Ademola Adewale-Sadik - who had become friends while attending Yale Law School.
One of the initial promises made by Yellow Banana was to hire community-based and Black vendors, as the firm had been given a budget of over $13 million to renovate and reopen the six stores across the city of Chicago. These stores were expected to meet specific city requirements by a March 31 deadline. In addition, the firm received $250,000 and discounted rent for the Englewood store. However, this decision faced backlash from Englewood residents, who criticized the city for replacing Whole Foods with a Save A Lot. Meanwhile, according to LinkedIn, Yellow Banana also operates stores under the Save A Lot banner in other metropolitan areas, including Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Jacksonville, and Dallas.
As noted by the Chicago Sun-Times, Yellow Banana is currently facing six-figure lawsuits filed in 2023 in Ohio.
Simmons couldn't help but feel used by Yellow Banana, as she believed that they only included her to make themselves look better at a time when they weren't welcomed by the community. "And then once things didn't go right, I just got ghosted like everybody else," Simmons said. She claimed that communication with Canfield came to a halt by February 2024, and the Yellow Banana CEO failed to respond to her messages regarding renewing the expiring lease, returning keys, and reimbursing license fees.
Despite the disappointment and frustration, Simmons remains focused on her business, I Love My Coffee Black. Launched in 2019, the brand offers coffee lovers a healthy option for a "clean cup of black coffee" made from quality beans and infused with distinctive flavors, without the added sugar and dairy. Products are available for purchase online. In other news, Robin L. Washington has been named the new COFO at Salesforce, as the company undergoes a transformation into the Agentic Era.
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