Chelsea's Bearclaw Coffee looks overseas for expansion cash

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 | Source: The Detroit News

The folk's behind Bearclaw Coffee have gotten really creative with their financing so they can continue to expand their growing business.

Excerpt:

When she needed investors to help grow her Bearclaw Coffee Co. franchise, Debi Scroggins looked to the Middle East.

The founder of the Ann Arbor-based coffee company has recruited nearly a dozen Iranians -- with more to follow -- to open mobile coffee carts in the United States at $180,000 a pop.

"These are candidates who are cash-ready," Scroggins said. "I've had so many candidates (in the United States) who have $30,000 to put down and cannot get financing because they lost their home equity and they lost their 401(k) and, oh, by the way, their credit has nicks in it."

Read the rest of the story here.