After Plus Coffee announced on Facebook Feb. 29 that it would be pouring its last cup later that day, Chris Calhoun with the Tap House quickly went to work and is now serving coffee, breakfast burritos and pastries.
Calhoun enlisted the help of friend and fellow St. Elmo business owner Andrea Waters to run the morning crew, at least for now. She is the owner of a Touch of Therapy in the same building as the Tap House and agreed to help because they both saw a need.
"St. Elmo needs its coffee," she said.
"And, the employees in this building need their coffee."
The Tap House began serving breakfast this morning and will be open tomorrow and Mondays-Fridays at 7 a.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. The local tap room opened in 2017 at 3800 St. Elmo Ave. in the first-floor space across the hall from Plus Coffee.
Plus Coffee owner Matt Park wrote a lengthy note last Saturday, which happened to be Leap Day, stating that after four years to the month, the storefront would be closing. Ironically, 2016 was also a Leap Year.
"The details are a bit unclear after that," he writes, adding, "I've been working very hard over the last several days to figure out where we'll land next. I've waited until the last day to share this news because I've also been trying to find a solution."
Waters said the Tap Room is serving drip coffee and made-to-order burritos and if things go as planned, they will begin selling locally sourced pastries.
"Considering how quickly we did this, we've had a lot of customers already," she said.