Torque Coffee Roasters is no more, but it left behind debts piled up like used coffee grounds getting cold.
The downtown Vancouver cafe and roastery has defaulted on more than $60,000 in loans, according to a lawsuit Columbia State Bank filed last month. The company owes about $34,500 on a Small Business Administration loan and roughly $26,700 on a second loan.
Torque is no longer registered with the Secretary of State and moved out of its last location, at the former Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay, earlier this spring following another lawsuit asking for more than $30,000 in back rent and deposit.
Owner Ryan Palmer could not be reached Wednesday. The last posts the company made on its social media pages advertised a crowdfunding campaign for bottled cold-brew coffee in April. An online store still offers the cold brew, though it is unclear if those orders can be fulfilled.
Palmer’s parents, Andrew and Marsha Palmer, are both named in Columbia State Bank’s suit alongside Torque Coffee as they were guarantors on the SBA loan and signed for the second line of credit. The suit calls for “immediate possession of the collateral,” described as all the company’s property, as well as payment of the bank’s legal fees.
Started in a garage in 2011, Torque had gained a local following at its Columbia Street shop across the street from the Hilton Vancouver Washington. A location was opened in Washougal last year but closed soon after. Palmer relocated his business to the former Red Lion at the end of 2015 in a move hailed by the Port of Vancouver as it continues its Terminal 1 waterfront development.
The port sued Torque in March after the company failed to pay rent or a deposit for three months. At that time Palmer said he was “getting everything caught up,” then moved out of the space without a word a few weeks later.
Several people contacted The Columbian anonymously this spring describing how the business “unraveled,” leading to an exodus of baristas and an alleged shortage of coffee beans.
“Palmer has burned too many bridges in town,” one person wrote.
