RESTAURANTS
Coffee Culture coming to area
A Canadian restaurant chain will be setting the table in the Buffalo market next spring with a cafe in the Village of Williamsville.
Mississauga-based Coffee Culture Cafe & Eatery will open its first U. S. location at 5590 Main St. in the village in March or April. The site, at the corner of East Spring Street, was formerly home to Sweet Jenny’s ice cream parlor.
The chain is also in negotiations for a site in downtown Buffalo.
Coffee Culture President Peter Karamountzos said his company has been eyeing a U. S. launch for about 18 months and picked New York over Michigan and Illinois for a cross-border expansion.
“We’d like to open 10 to 12 location in and around Buffalo,” Karamountzos said. “We like to be in village settings or downtowns, where there’s strong neighborhood foot traffic. We also like being on corners where we can have a physical presence.”
The chain is scouting potential locations in the villages of Orchard Park, East Aurora and Hamburg, as well as prime local retail destinations, like Main Street and Transit Road area. Ellicottville, Batavia and Rochester are also on its future expansion list.
It is also planning to open cafes in Niagara Falls and Niagara- on-the-Lake, Ont. Founded in Woodstock, Ont., in 2006, the chain has grown to 45 Canadian units, including a cafe that debuted on Jarvis Street in Fort Erie last month.
The European-style eateries offer a range of fresh-baked goods, panini sandwiches, breakfast and lunch/dinner crepes and coffees. Coffee Culture eschews drive-up windows in favor of more personal walk-in and sit-down service.
“Our theme is ‘Come for a taste, Stay for a visit,’” Karamountzos said. “We know people are in a hurry, but that doesn’t mean they have to settle for a sterile fast-food experience.”
The chain’s cafes average about 2,000-square-foot in size, and are outfitted with rich wood fixtures, leather chairs, and warm decors. No two sites are exactly alike and many are located in older, renovated buildings.
Eat-in diners are treated to food served on real china and silverware, rather than paper and plastic.
