From left: Christophile Konstas, Jay Metzler, Elizabeth Ellen, the owners of an upcoming Bon Air coffee shop. Courtesy of Konstas, Metzler and Ellen.
There will soon be an added perk to living on the Southside.
Perk!, a new coffee shop, plans to open by the end of the year at 2620 Buford Road in Bon Air.
Behind the venture are Christophile Konstas, Elizabeth Ellen and Jay Metzler, a trio of first-time cafe owners.
“Aside from the Starbucks that’s a few miles away, there was nothing local that offered all the local items we like to get,” Konstas said of Bon Air. “It was kind of a selfish endeavor– we wanted to bring coffee to the neighborhood for ourselves.”
Perk plans to sell coffee, snacks, breakfast and lunch. The cafe will get its coffee from Adbibo Coffee Co. in Midlothian and hopes to buy from other local roasters and food suppliers as well.
Perk sits in a shopping center at Forest Hill Avenue and Buford Road.
Konstas said it’s going to cost about $50,000 to get the cafe open in what was formerly frozen yogurt shop Bon Fruyo and a hair salon. The business has a three-year lease on the 1,800-square-foot space. Planned renovations include new plumbing, counters, knocking down walls and building a space for a children’s area.
The owners are fronting their own money to get the venture off the ground and have taken to Kickstarter to raise $10,000. As of Wednesday afternoon, they had raised more than $5,000 in five days through the online campaign.
“We could have tried the classic avenue of finding someone to finance through a loan,” Konstas said. “We thought that since we want this to be a community spot, we wanted to reach out to our fellow neighbors.”
Konstas is no stranger to the local food community. She took photos of local restaurants for Richmond cookbook 80FORK and helped shoot a documentary on pimento cheese.
She said Perk’s emphasis on local products will help it survive the competitive coffee scene.
“There’s an Einstein Bagels across the street, but there’s nothing independent and local in Bon Air proper,” Konstas said.
From left: Christophile Konstas, Jay Metzler, Elizabeth Ellen, the owners of an upcoming Bon Air coffee shop. Courtesy of Konstas, Metzler and Ellen.
There will soon be an added perk to living on the Southside.
Perk!, a new coffee shop, plans to open by the end of the year at 2620 Buford Road in Bon Air.
Behind the venture are Christophile Konstas, Elizabeth Ellen and Jay Metzler, a trio of first-time cafe owners.
“Aside from the Starbucks that’s a few miles away, there was nothing local that offered all the local items we like to get,” Konstas said of Bon Air. “It was kind of a selfish endeavor– we wanted to bring coffee to the neighborhood for ourselves.”
Perk plans to sell coffee, snacks, breakfast and lunch. The cafe will get its coffee from Adbibo Coffee Co. in Midlothian and hopes to buy from other local roasters and food suppliers as well.
Perk sits in a shopping center at Forest Hill Avenue and Buford Road.
Konstas said it’s going to cost about $50,000 to get the cafe open in what was formerly frozen yogurt shop Bon Fruyo and a hair salon. The business has a three-year lease on the 1,800-square-foot space. Planned renovations include new plumbing, counters, knocking down walls and building a space for a children’s area.
The owners are fronting their own money to get the venture off the ground and have taken to Kickstarter to raise $10,000. As of Wednesday afternoon, they had raised more than $5,000 in five days through the online campaign.
“We could have tried the classic avenue of finding someone to finance through a loan,” Konstas said. “We thought that since we want this to be a community spot, we wanted to reach out to our fellow neighbors.”
Konstas is no stranger to the local food community. She took photos of local restaurants for Richmond cookbook 80FORK and helped shoot a documentary on pimento cheese.
She said Perk’s emphasis on local products will help it survive the competitive coffee scene.
“There’s an Einstein Bagels across the street, but there’s nothing independent and local in Bon Air proper,” Konstas said.
How exciting! Looking forward to breakfast & a cup of Java!
So very excited for you all at Perk! And excited to see a local coffee shop coming to Bon Air. Of course, that could just be my caffeine addiction talking…