We’re thrilled to launch our latest café, positioned on Clarkson Street in Ellisville, MO. This drive via location has walk-in counter service, patio-only seating, and on-line ordering accessible by way of Toast, and we’re very excited to serve you on this new approach.
Since its inception, we’ve aimed to make Ellisville in contrast to any drive via you might have skilled, and we all know it’s in contrast to any café we’ve ever constructed. Sustaining our present cafe expertise whereas creating this fully new kind of cafe was paramount, so we spent plenty of time making an attempt to determine how our present visitor expertise would translate to this new idea.
On this weblog, we’ll lay out the inception of the drive via and the particular design concerns we made to make sure you’re nonetheless getting the memorable espresso expertise we try for.
Why did we resolve to design a drive-thru in Ellisville?
The wants of consumers and firms modified rather a lot in 2020 and 2021. With these adjustments, we noticed a possibility to increase the way in which we serve you and your households, by making use of our a long time of expertise to a brand new type of cafe. We all know with a automobile full of youngsters or a protracted commute forward, staying on the go will be priceless, however we didn’t need to open a Kaldi’s drive via only for the sake of the drive via.
Ellisville has all the time been supportive of our Chesterfield café, however stays its personal distinct neighborhood in a unique, high-traffic space with its personal commuters, patterns, and desires. For our very first drive via, we checked out our present operations and tried to determine how we may match all the pieces into an 1,100 sq. foot area. Our present cafes are designed with the visitor expertise first, so we began with that very same perspective.
THE EXPERIENCE
So, what’s the brand new visitor expertise like? As quickly as you enter the road, you’ll see digital menu boards, which is able to talk with our POS system. This communication ought to present the identical familiarities as standing inside considered one of our cafes. For instance, if we’ve bought out of blueberry muffins, they received’t be on the screens, as if you happen to have been ready in line inside a restaurant, inspecting our bakery case.
After you order, we’ve constructed what is named a “6 automobile stack,” which is the size from order to our pickup window. We selected this size realizing we’d like time to craft your drinks and meals orders, however nonetheless eager to get your freshly made latte into your arms rapidly. On the pickup window, you’ll be greeted by a barista on the register, standing beside our bakery case, identical to any of our different cafes. They’ve fast entry to brewed espresso, iced coffees, iced teas, and pastries, so easy orders will be served rapidly.
From there, peek across the nook and also you’ll discover our espresso machines, chilly brew kegs, and smoothie blenders, simply in entrance of the kitchen, the place the burritos and egg bagels you’re keen on will probably be ready. We even have a walk-up counter and condiment bar inside our entrance doorways, in case you could stretch your legs, have ordered on-line by way of Toast, or need to hang around on our giant patio. A couple of parking spots are even devoted for visitors who’re choosing up on-line orders.
THE DESIGN
Whether or not you’re driving by or strolling in to say good morning, we didn’t desire a Kaldi’s drive via to really feel like several drive via you’ve ever skilled. On the within, we don’t have seating, however we laid a tile flooring within the entryway and within the lavatory, hung stunning wallpaper, and constructed shelving for vegetation, decorations, and naturally, your ready-to-grab Toast orders. The area feels trendy, welcoming, and is surrounded by meticulous landscaping.
We additionally needed to make sure that our workforce member expertise is simply as nice. Drive thrus and business kitchens usually really feel like closed-off bunkers. We insisted on home windows throughout our new area, from the workplace within the rear of the area, to a excessive, wall-length window illuminating the espresso bar, and even contained in the kitchen itself. The kitchen is bathed in pure mild by way of east dealing with home windows, making every morning a livelier, more healthy area. Even earlier than {the electrical} work was completed, with no lights working, the area was nonetheless effectively lit all through.
The skin of the café obtained the identical refined remedy, with a marble-like, climate resistant tower setting off the pickup space, brass lighting fixtures, a big patio, and manicured grounds under a big, backlit signal of our beloved goat.
THE COFFEE
Delivering the identical, prime quality espresso expertise that we’re recognized for at pace requires leading edge know-how and we regarded to an business chief for assist. The Eversys shot-master is a 4 group-head, two steam wand, algorithm pushed surprise of an espresso machine. Always calibrated espresso and flawlessly steamed milk are hallmarks of Eversys, due to some wonderful software program and internals. Their methods assist baristas with pace of service whereas sustaining our non-negotiable dedication to high quality. We will’t wait to make you drinks utilizing it!
A NEW TAKE ON THE KALDI’S COFFEE EXPERIENCE
All through the years, we’ve served you from the comfortable confines of DeMun on snowdays to the bustling sidewalks of Clayton, Kirkwood, and the Central West Finish. Chesterfield’s been an oasis in a concrete espresso desert, our Atlanta-area Emory cafes are social and tutorial hubs of exercise, whereas Citygarden in downtown Saint Louis supplies lush shade and nice artwork all day.
We’re thrilled that after almost 30 years, you’ll get to expertise a wholly new mode of service at a Kaldi’s Espresso cafe, whereas we maintain firmly to the values that carry you again to us time and time once more. We will’t wait to be taught much more about what makes a restaurant nice, what you’re keen on essentially the most about our newest iteration, and the way we will proceed to enhance in our fixed effort to give you the very best espresso expertise on this planet.
We hope to see you quickly — simply pull proper on as much as the window and say hey!
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