After negotiating for more than two years to obtain a lease to manage Java Beanery and Bakery in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, Mike Bliss has opted out of his annual contract after four months.

“The contract we had negotiated with Keith was an annual one with renewal clauses, as long as the university agreed with it,” Mark Hudson, director of housing and dining, said. “There is a 90-day notification clause, and (Keith) chose to exercise it.”

Bliss, who declined comment, will manage Java until May 13, the date of spring commencement. At that time, the university will assume responsibility.

Bliss made his final decision to be released from his lease within the last week, but in doing so, leaves behind a trail of turmoil.

Contract negotiations had been in progress since the fall of 2000.

Bliss, the owner of Charleston coffee shop Jitters and Bliss, originally had planned to relocate his business to Eastern’s campus.

But university negotiations with Bliss were stalled, which prompted Bliss to say in an article of the Dec. 5, 2001, edition of the Daily Eastern News: “(The University) reneged on their promise. I always thought there was a hidden agenda.”

The university said they cut off negotiations for various reasons in the DEN article.

“We tried, tried and tried with Jitters and Bliss — people were just tired of waiting,” Hudson said.

Shirley Stewart, interim vice president for student affairs, said in the article the decision was made to maximize profits that would not be available if Bliss received a split.

By October 2002, Bliss negotiated his way to manage Java B&B.

“I have been working on it for a long time,” Bliss said in an article of the Oct. 28, 2002, edition of the DEN. “I won the bid to lease it and negotiated out the price (in) three weeks.”

Hudson predicted in the ensuing four months Bliss and Java B&B were not making profit.

“I would sort of say it was a disappointment,” Hudson, who met with Bliss once a week, said. “I had hoped it would worked out better for him.

“I know for the last month or so, he has been trying to make decisions for the long term, and I guess reviewed the situation and didn’t think it would work.”

Hudson said he considers Bliss a “good friend” and that he thought the two had a “good working relationship.”

But competition from Jackson Avenue Coffee and even Jitters and Bliss may detract from some of Java’s potential profits.

Bliss will meet with Hudson periodically to suggest ways to improve Java business.

“I think we need to try to survey customers, but it’s hard to serve customers who aren’t there,” Hudson said. “We’re not in this to make money but just to break even.”

One possible solution to the lack of business could be Java’s refusal to accept Dining Dollars, which was a conscious decision before it opened.

“The number of Dining Dollars would run (Java B&B) over,” Hudson said in the Oct. 28 edition. “The use of Dining Dollars would make it unmanageable. It is a singular standing operation.”