After Joe Van Gogh controversy, a Duke alum will expand his Durham coffee shop to his alma mater

The Duke campus coffee shop vacated by Joe Van Gogh amidst a national controversy will have a new owner by the time the school year begins.

Duke alumnus Dorian Bolden, who owns the downtown Durham coffee shop and jazz bar Beyù Caffè, will open Beyù Blue in the former Joe Van Gogh space at Bryan Center on Duke’s West Campus. The university’s dining services department announced the new owner Tuesday.

Joe Van Gogh, a Hillsborough-based coffee roaster with multiple shops in Durham and Chapel Hill, announced in May it would close its Duke campus location. The move bookended a week-long, highly publicized dust-up over the firing of two baristas after university vice president Larry Moneta complained about explicit lyrics in a song by rapper Young Dolph playing over the shop’s sound system.

Bolden is a 2002 Duke graduate and opened Beyù Caffe (pronounced be-you) in 2009. He moved the popular coffee shop and jazz venue in 2016 after buying the space two doors down on Main Street. Viceroy, a British-Indian gastropub, now occupies the original Beyù Caffe spot.

“I mean, it’s Duke, it’s my alma mater, it seemed like a perfect match,” Bolden said. “It’s the perfect spot and allows us to hone in on and play with coffee, to create a real true community feel and community space.”

Bolden said the university approached him about the space and that he was one of two local companies in the running. Previously Bolden had considered putting a Beyù in the gleaming Broadhead Center on Duke’s West campus, but ultimately passed. He called the new spot a “match made in heaven.”

Robert Coffey, Duke’s executive director of dining services, said multiple companies reached out with interest in the space and that the university also recruited some candidates before making a deal with Beyù.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Beyù Caffè since moving to Durham and believe the Duke community will be, too,” Coffey said in an emailed statement.

Bolden said in building the new Beyù Blue at Duke, not far from where he met his wife, Taineisha, he wanted to create a space where “everyone feels comfortable.”

Compared to the downtown Beyù, Bolden said the Duke location would focus more on coffee, adding pourovers and nitro cold brew that’s not found at the original spot. Beyù Blue has an initial one year contract with Duke, Bolden said. Employees will be subject to the university’s background check, he said, but that the company controls operations and hiring decisions independently.

Bolden said he didn’t know the details of Joe Van Gogh’s falling out with Duke other than what was reported in the local media. He said he preferred to shift the focus to the next chapter of Beyù.

“For me, I’m hoping people will focus on Beyù being in business for 10 years and my return to my alma mater,” Bolden said. “That’s the highlight of the story and I hope people will see it as a happy ending.”

This spring, Joe Van Gogh owner Robbie Roberts apologized for the company’s handling of the racially charged incident. Moneta said it was the company’s decision to fire the employees, though a report by Indy Week said the university had pushed for the firings.

Roberts later released another statement that he would close the Duke Joe Van Gogh, saying he felt the move was necessary to uphold his brand’s independence “without conditions.”

“Joe Van Gogh has always been about bringing people together, not driving them apart,” Roberts said in the statement this spring. “We are open to all people and we value people over our profits. We always have. For years, we have nurtured these values to the communities we serve, specifically through the strengths and talents of our staff of baristas.”

Beyù Blue is expected to open next month, coinciding with the start of Duke’s fall semester Aug. 21. A grand opening will feature live music and other activities, a release said.

“This is a particularly special project as we have two Duke alumni — Dorian, as well as architect Ted Van Dyk —coming back to campus,” Coffey said in an email.

Van Dyk is a 1983 Duke graduate and founder of New City Design Group architectural firm. He will design the shop.

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 4:50 PM with the headline "After Joe Van Gogh controversy, a Duke alum will expand his Durham coffee shop to his alma mater."