THE COFFEE CAFE SET TO OPEN FRIDAY
New Highway 81 restaurant will serve coffee only at first; food starting next month
Nine months after beginning the process of turning warehouse space into restaurant space, the Susan and Keith Letcher family are planning to unveil to the Freeman community its latest venture — The Coffee Cafe.
The new eatery located at 409 U.S. Highway 81 on the northeast corner of Freeman will see a soft open this Friday morning, Sept. 19 with a full coffee bar menu and limited snack/dessert options; the Letchers will begin rolling out a larger food menu after they settle in — most likely sometime in October.
Hours will be from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
The Coffee Cafe is located in the former Jake’s Electric building that sits on the corner of Highway 81 and the North County Road — north of Dollar General, west of Kleinsasser’s and south of C&B Operations.
The Letchers acquired the property after moving back to the Freeman community from Lake Vermillion last July. While the primary motivation was to use the space to house their other business, Central Ag, established in 2011, Susan says they realized the building offered more space than they needed, which led them to pursue the other project they had been thinking about the last few years — a restaurant.
Susan says the family’s love of coffee — “good coffee” — was the driving force behind the name. To that end, she says they have relied heavily on an established business, the Coffea franchise out of Sioux Falls, to provides wholesale ingredients and has helped with recipes and equipment.
“We’ve been waiting for something on 81 for this type of thing,” said Susan, who has experience in the restaurant business through ownership of Papa’s in Freeman for several years in the early 2000s. “I love a good project, but I’m done with them for a while I think!”
Indeed, the renovation of the space has been a lot of work for the Letchers, who did most of it themselves, with strong involvement from son Drew and his wife, Angele.
“We’re getting there,” she said on Saturday, as other members of family were on hand to help prepare for the opening just six days away.
Those visiting The Coffee Cafe will see a drink menu that includes lattes, drip coffee, teas, espressos and Frappuccinos with a variety of syrup and milk choices. Food options will be limited at first to give the Letchers a chance to settle in.
“We still have a few pieces of (kitchen) equipment to get in line,” Susan says. “Plus, I wanted a little time just to get comfortable with what we’re doing with the coffee and the Point-of-Sale equipment — just making sure we have the bugs worked out before we get into food. I think doing that all at one time would have been a little crazy. But we’re getting there.”
Once the Letchers roll out the menu, the Coffee Cafe will offer traditional breakfast food and lunch items like burgers and other sandwiches, chicken strips and salads.
“We’ll start there and see how it goes,” she said. “We’re excited to get things going.”
