The downtown Jefferson City corner of Jefferson and High streets won't go without its signature coffee shop for long.
Cafe Via Roma closed this fall - but only to make way for new owners to bring a fresh spin to the cafe at 105 W. High St.
Derek and Angi Dunham have transformed the coffee shop with the European murals and Capitol view into Press & Port's, the brightly colored and highly caffeinated hangout set to open later this month.
"We want this just to be a really friendly, fun place for people to kind of get away in the middle of the day. We're surrounded by state workers, so we want it to be that place that, if they have a break, they can come down and have a great cup of coffee," Angi Dunham said.
They've already established the restaurant's hashtag - #EatDrinkHappy - to drive home the vision.
Press & Port's Eatery - the name a nod to the couple's children, Preslee and Porter - will serve specialized coffee drinks as well as a customary lunch menu.
"We wanted the staple items that you would find for lunch, everyone's favorites, and then we put a little twist on it - like maybe a special sauce," Dunham said. "Derek is actually the foodie of the two of us. He's awesome in the kitchen. He's always been good at trying new things and just coming up with creative recipes and good food."
Along with fresh salads and several sandwich options, Press & Port's will continue serving a Cafe Via Roma favorite in the Siena wrap, a grilled tortilla filled with Italian-spiced chicken breast and spinach and artichoke dip.
Don't forget the coffee. Press & Port's brand new Astoria espresso machine - "the Cadillac of all espresso machines," in Dunham's words - will run all day brewing a special house blend created exclusively for Press & Port's by Jefferson City's own Three Story Coffee, ground fresh in top-of-the-line burr grinders.
Customers familiar with Cafe Via Roma's fare will be happy to know Press & Port's is retaining its predecessor's baker and her well-loved muffins, scones and cinna-bites.
The restaurant will also carry on a similarly robust catering business, continuing its coveted morning deliveries for free.
"We want to keep the tradition that Cafe Via Roma had with their clientele, but at the same time, we're ready to introduce something that's really new and fresh," Dunham said.
The Dunhams purchased the business from nonprofit Central Missouri Community Action, which took on Cafe Via Roma as a "social enterprise" after founder Audrey Kauffman sold it in late 2014. CMCA operated the cafe as a way to offer employees a living wage while they gain work skills to qualify them for higher-paying jobs.
Daris Preis, executive director at CMCA, said running the cafe under that model was a "grand experiment" that proved unsustainable.
"All of our challenges came down to staffing. We went through four different managers in the 20 months that we owned the place, and I also went through two different managers at the corporate level here at my offices," Preis said. "I felt like we never could quite get the customer service to the level that I was completely satisfied."
They're challenges Preis expects the cafe's new owners are better equipped to handle.
"Small businesses are hard to run, and probably cafes and coffee shops are among the hardest of the hard-to-run small businesses. There's no room for error," he said. "For a business like that, you really need to be an owner-manager. You need to have the hands-on and the ability to make quick decisions."
Derek Dunham will be just that, as the full-time face of Press & Port's, with Angi checking in daily as well. They plan to hire two to four staff members.
It's not their first time in business, either. Angi co-owned Capitol City Cheer for 14 years before selling it in May, as Angi was ready to leave the evening schedule the cheerleading gym required.
"We really wanted something to do together as the two of us because the gym was really mine," she said. "When it (the cafe) became for sale we just kind of thought, 'You know what? This is it.'"
Press & Port's will operate from 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, opening officially in the week after Christmas with a ribbon-cutting in mid-January.
The cafe will be open for all downtown events, and Dunham said after the initial launch they'll consider extending hours later and possibly adding Saturdays.
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