The new business moving into the Leslie Coffee Co. spot will offer coffee, cocktails, food
.jpg "Leslie Coffee Co. will close in Delano on Dec. 30, but a new food-and-drink business will take the space over.")
Leslie Coffee Co. owner Sarah Leslie surprised fans of her 5-year-old Delano business on Thursday morning when she shared that she planned to close the business at the end of the year.
In an emotional Facebook post, Leslie shared that owning a business as a single mother had become too much of a struggle and that the shop’s last day would be Dec. 30 — four days after the business turns 5.
But at the end of Leslie’s message was a bit of good news: A new tenant is taking over the space at 930 W. Douglas.
Caleb Porter confirmed on Thursday that the trio of businesses he helps run at Revolutsia — the shipping container mall at 2721 E. Central — would be expanding into the Leslie space starting in early 2024.
In 2018, Porter and his business partner Andrew Schwartz opened Fox & Ash barbershop in an upper-level space at Revolutsia. Then in the fall of last year, they added on a cocktail lounge called Good Company Taps & Spirits. A few months later, the duo teamed up with McPherson-based Pennant Coffee Roasters founder Nick Unruh and opened a tiny coffee shop in another space on Revolutsia’s upper level, calling it Pennant Coffee.
Now, Porter, Schwartz, Unruh and Brady Sherman are all partners in the three businesses, and they grew Pennant’s profile over the summer with a popular coffee stand that operated on Saturdays at the Old Town Farm & Art Market.
When they expand to Delano — likely in January or February, Porter said — they’ll bring all three businesses with them, though slowly. Their first move will be to open Pennant Coffee in the Leslie Coffee Co. space. At the same time, they’ll open a two-chair barber shop in the little meeting room in the back of the Leslie space so that Fox & Ash will also have a presence.
They also plan to add Good Company and its cocktail program to the Delano coffee shop space, but probably not until summer. Once that’s open, the owners envision the shop operating as Pennant in the mornings — serving coffee, breakfast pizza, breakfast sandwiches and pastries — then transition to Good Company in the afternoon/evening and serve cocktails plus lunch and dinner. The food menu at dinnertime will focus on the pizza they recently began serving out of their Revolutsia businesses. Though they’re able to offer only slices in their limited space at Revolutsia, in Delano, they’ll be able to serve full-size pizzas, Porter said.
Once the business expands to Delano, the barbershop and cocktail lounge at Revolutsia will continue to operate as normal, but the Pennant Coffee space will scale back.
“We plan on having a coffee footprint there, but it’s not going to be our full-blown cafe like it is now,” Porter said. ‘You’ll still be able to get coffee in some capacity.”
Transition, change
The Pennant/Good Company owners have purchased all of Leslie’s equipment, Porter said. But they will not retain the pink refrigerator from the ICT Community Fridge Project that Leslie Coffee Co. has had in place since the spring of 2021. The fridge is part of a program that allows anyone in need to grab food items whenever they need them. But that section of the building is where Good Company will operate, Porter said.
Leslie said her goal is to find a new place for the refrigerator, ideally in Delano. But if not there, she said, there are plenty of people in other parts of town who could use the help the refrigerator provides.
“I am worried about the community that uses the fridge,” she said. “I know that they rely on the shop for a lot.”
Leslie said she started to feel burned about a year ago and thought about selling the coffee shop or even just closing it. Instead, she reduced her hours to five days a week.
“I decided to keep going, which I’m glad that I did because it really got me to a better place of feeling like I’m walking away from a situation I’m proud of rather than like I’m leaving and I’m defeated,” she said.
Leslie doesn’t know exactly what she’ll do next, she said, but she wants a job where she can help people. She’s recently been a part of Leadership Wichita, which has helped her see a path forward.
“For me, what I’ve found really energizing is the community aspect of it,” she said of running her business. “And so I think that’s definitely what I’m hoping to pursue: something where I’m really engaged in the community and really focused on something that’s helping people be the best version of themselves.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2023 at 2:43 PM.
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