Full of Beans Cafe, a new coffee shop located in the Mabbett & Breeds warehouse building at 184 S. 2nd St., opens its doors today for a public soft opening with a limited menu.
Owners JoAnn and Rob Hausknecht, who have wanted for many years to open a cafe, worked with Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. (WIBIC) to create a business plan and partnered with Milwaukee-based Stone Creek Coffee to source its coffee products.
“This morning we were overwhelmed with happiness to turn the sign from closed to open,” JoAnn said. “But now we’re aware that it’s a lot of hard work and we are determined, enthusiastic and looking forward to people finding us and becoming regular customers.”
The cafe serves a variety of coffee and espresso drinks, as well as beer and wine, and will soon add Milwaukee-based Rishi Tea to the menu. A selection of bakery items, including cookies and pies, are currently offered and, eventually, the cafe will serve sandwiches, soup, and on weekends, housemade waffles.
“We will ramp up the menu as we go,” Hausknecht said. “We just want to be sure we do it right.”
Hausknecht, a former elementary school librarian, makes the baked goods daily in the cafe’s newly-installed kitchen, located in the back of the space. Rob will make the waffles, she said.
The 1,200-square-foot space required a full renovation including flooring, dry wall, countertops, and kitchen installation. It is now complete with an exposed cream city brick wall– the building’s original– and old cabinetry and furniture, to give the cafe its “urban farmhouse style” look.
Full of Beans will close at 3 p.m. on Saturdays to hold both public and private events such as game nights, when board game-lovers can bring their own games to the cafe or play games that would be set up on each table.
JoAnn said she plans to organize a book club for the cafe and host “make and take” craft nights, to create crafts including fairy gardens in jars, and to teach crocheting and knitting. She also hopes to host paint and sip-style art classes that would fit a maximum of 10 people.
Full of beans is open Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
