Coffee chain sues IHOPKC, alleges Bickle scandal caused major financial harm
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- Prefix Coffee sued IHOPKC, citing misrepresentation tied to founder scandal
- Lawsuit alleges contract breaches led to location closures and major revenue loss
- Complaint asserts IHOPKC concealed prior abuse findings during lease dealings
A local coffee chain that leased two storefronts from the International House of Prayer-Kansas City is suing the global ministry, saying its handling of the sex abuse scandal involving founder Mike Bickle caused the business “substantial financial harm.”
Jouby Bean LLC, which operates as Prefix Coffee, alleges that after sexual abuse allegations erupted against Bickle in October 2023, the 24/7 prayer movement committed “a series of misrepresentations, false statements, and breaches of contract” regarding its lease.
“IHOPKC knew for years that wide-spread sexual abuse had corrupted the sectarian organization,” the lawsuit says. “A report from an independent investigation completed in early 2019 (the ‘GRACE Report’) explicitly warned IHOPKC leaders that multiple victims and witnesses of the abuse had come forward and that immediate remedial measures were required.
“Yet, IHOPKC disregarded this advice and concealed these facts from Prefix during the parties’ subsequent business dealings.”
The six-count suit, filed this week in Jackson County Circuit Court against International House of Prayer-Forerunner Christian Fellowship, seeks damages in excess of $25,000 as well as attorneys’ costs and other expenses.
IHOPKC officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Bickle, who founded IHOPKC in 1999, is accused of using prophecies to groom, sexually abuse and manipulate women over multiple decades, one starting when she was just 14. He issued his only public statement about the allegations on Dec. 12, 2023, admitting that he had “sinned” and “my moral failures were real.” He said his “inappropriate behavior” occurred more than 20 years earlier, but he did not admit to engaging in any sexual misconduct.
Ten days later, IHOPKC announced it was “immediately, formally and permanently” separating from Bickle, saying it had confirmed “a level of inappropriate behavior” involving the well-known charismatic leader.
In February, an independent investigation found that Bickle committed sexual abuse or misconduct against 17 women — some when they were minors — over decades, amid a thriving culture of systemic abuse and coverups within the prayer movement.
According to the Jouby Bean lawsuit, Prefix Coffee’s owners had enrolled at IHOP University (IHOPU) in 2010. At the time, it says, IHOPKC had more than 1,000 staff members and a student body at IHOPU of about 1,000.
In October 2016, Prefix took over the operations of the coffee shop in the IHOPU building at 12905 S. U.S. 71 Highway in Grandview, the lawsuit says. And on July 1, 2020, following talk about a potential partnership with IHOPKC, Prefix opened a second coffee shop at 3523 E. Red Bridge Road in south Kansas City. The shop was adjacent to IHOPKC’s worship and prayer center.
International House of Prayer-Kansas City
Because Prefix’s business largely served those attending IHOPKC’s facilities, the lease agreements contained clauses regarding the conduct and lifestyles of all Prefix employees, according to the lawsuit.
“The Employee Clause, reflecting IHOPKC’s conservative religious principles, required that all employees of either party abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage,” the lawsuit says. “The requirement encompassed, but was not limited to, ‘co-habitation, adultery, fornication, incest, zoophilia, pornography, prostitution, voyeurism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, sodomy, polygamy, polyamory, sologamy, or same-sex sexual acts.’”
The suit adds that “before IHOPKC breached the parties’ two written agreements, including the Employee Clause incorporated therein, Prefix paid rent on time, maintained the leased premises, and complied with all other lease requirements.”
Prefix’s business at the Red Bridge Road location was heavily dependent on patronage from worshippers at IHOPKC’s adjacent worship and prayer center, the lawsuit says. And its Grandview site relied on support from IHOP University and IHOPKC’s Forerunner Church, which was nearby.
Prefix provided capital investment in the business, the lawsuit says, including the purchase of a commercial-grade coffee roaster. In 2022, with the assurance of having a long-term partnership with IHOPKC, Prefix spent more than $75,000 on remodeling the Red Bridge shop.
After the Bickle allegations surfaced, the lawsuit says, Prefix had regular meetings with IHOPKC’s director of operations. Those meetings included discussions “about the emerging scandal involving IHOPKC’s founder” and its potential impact on Prefix’s business relationship with IHOPKC.
In January 2024, the suit says, the director of operations told Prefix that IHOPKC might relocate all of its operations to the IHOP University campus in Grandview and close its Red Bridge prayer room.
Prefix Coffee
In a follow-up meeting, however, Prefix was assured “that ‘things would be okay,’ that IHOPKC was ‘doing a complete audit,’ that ‘donor losses had plateaued’ — followed by IHOPKC publicly announcing a few days later that the organization was ‘transitioning out of crisis mode’ — thus downplaying the scandal’s severity and giving Prefix a false sense of stability with respect to the parties’ business relationship,” according to the lawsuit.
But on Feb. 20, 2024, IHOPKC’s director of operations told Prefix that the organization would be closing its Red Bridge operations and that Prefix should prepare to shut down its shop at that location, the lawsuit says. And on April 2, 2024, it says, IHOPKC told Prefix that it would be closing all of its operations the next month.
Based on those representations, the suit says, Prefix made the difficult decision to shutter its Red Bridge location. It did so on May 31, 2024.
But on July 24, 2024, the suit says, IHOPKC ”reversed its position completely,” issuing a public announcement that its Red Bridge operations would not close and that IHOPKC never intended to close those operations.
IHOPKC ultimately closed IHOP University and its nearby Forerunner Church in May 2024, but the 24/7 prayer room on Red Bridge Road remains open. Prefix Coffee closed its Grandview shop in late November 2024.
“IHOPKC’s contradictory statements, misrepresentations, and lack of good faith in its dealings with Prefix were made with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth and were designed to protect IHOPKC’s own interests while disregarding the devastating impact on Prefix’s business,” the lawsuit says.
Prefix has suffered substantial losses as a direct result of IHOPKC’s “unlawful actions, including its misrepresentations, contractual breaches, and negligence,” the suit alleges.
Among the losses it cites are a 48.5% drop in sales at the Red Bridge location from November 2023 to May 2024 when compared to the previous year; a 23.6% drop in sales at the Grandview shop from November 2023 to October 2024; and lost projected food sales of $280,000 to $300,000 per year.
The suit also claims lost bookstore and catering revenue; loss of its investment in remodeling; costs associated with closure and relocation; the inability to pay staff and satisfy financial obligations; lost past and future profits; lost business reputation; and lost business value.
Prefix has three other locations that remain open — in Midtown at 325 E. 31st St., downtown’s Lightwell building at 1100 Main St. and at The Grand, 1125 Grand Blvd.
Jouby Bean LLC has been the subject of several recent cases filed in Jackson County Circuit Court.
In November 2024, IHOPKC sued Jouby Bean LLC, claiming it owed more than $14,000 in back rent on the Grandview coffee shop. On Dec. 5, 2024, the court issued a default judgment for restitution of the property to IHOPKC.
In June, the Missouri Department of Revenue filed four tax liens totaling about $76,000 against Jouby Bean LLC for delinquent taxes in 2022, 2023 and 2024. And in July, the City of Kansas City was awarded a judgment of nearly $29,000 for delinquent convention and tourism taxes, interest and penalties dating back to 2022.
