OWEGO, N.Y. — The Owego Kitchen, a new rustic coffee shop and café, announced it will formally open Tuesday, March 22 at its location at 13 Lake St.
Owners Ike and Julie Lovelass, husband and wife, will celebrate the opening of the 1,800-square-foot shop with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. with the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce. The business first opened to customers Nov. 11.
In addition to the owners, the Owego Kitchen employs 12 employees (a mix of full time and part time). They are looking to expand their staff for the summer months, says Ike Lovelass.
The café occupies a historic building that dates back to 1873. The brick structure was first home to S.E. Ashley’s Saloon, Restaurant and Confectionary, according to the New York State Historic Trust and Cornell University.
“We brought the old rustic coffee shop feel back to the place with exposed brick and hardwood flooring,” Ike Lovelass says. “We are bringing the building back to what it used to be.”
The structure stood empty for the 10 years prior to their purchase of the property last May. The couple took six months to demolish, repurpose, and paint the café. Contractor Dan Snyder assisted with the renovation work in the three-floor building, making the top floor a loft in which the couple can live.
Buying the property and conducting renovations cost $200,000 in total, says Ike Lovelass. The property’s full market value was $129,870 as of 2015, according to Tioga County property records.
The Owego Kitchen owners obtained loans through the Tioga County Economic Development & Planning department and Tioga State Bank. The bank made a loan of about $100,000 while Tioga County provided a $25,000 no-interest loan. The couple funded the rest of the costs with their own cash, says Ike Lovelass.
He says it’s too early to gauge the café’s revenue results. But Lovelass says the Owego Kitchen is growing and already looking to expand its hours into the night and add more seating to the café. His spouse and chef, Julie, is exploring a dinner-menu option as the cafe specializes in breakfast and lunch currently.
“My wife, she makes almost everything by hand, she’s here at 4:30 in the morning baking,” Ike Lovelass says.
The café offers fresh bagels everyday from Brooklyn Bagel Company and coffee from Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters is delivered to their doorstep. Julie Lovelass and staff make the rest from scratch.
“Julie takes normal comfort food and puts a twist on it,” Ike says. “It will be a turkey sandwich that you can recognize and relate to, but she’ll put a twist on it. She’ll add beer and horseradish dressing or spice it up with Sriracha.”
Julie Lovelass is no stranger to the restaurant business. Active for 30 years in cooking, consulting, and owning restaurants, she considers food her passion. She graduated from the culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in 1984 and shortly after, started the Phoenix Grill in Oneonta. After selling the grill, she went on to consult for “hundreds of restaurants across New York state,” Ike Lovelass says.
After a decade of consulting, “she really missed owning a restaurant,” Ike says.
While helping Julie run The Owego Kitchen, Ike also works as executive director of a health-insurance group, called Orange-Ulster School Districts Health Plan, according to his LinkedIn page,
“She’s the brains behind the operation, I’m just the pretty face,” he quips.
The Owego Kitchen currently is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The owners plan to stay open later in the upcoming months and expand on their catering services, including hosting private dinner parties at the café.
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