Owner says he ‘misjudged an opportunity,’ will close his Wichita coffee drive-through
Reverie Coffee Roasters owner Andrew Gough isn’t shy about shutting down a business when it isn’t working. He’s done it before.
Now, he’s about to do it again. Wednesday will be the last day in business for his Wichita Reverie Roasters Express, a drive-through coffee shop he opened in April at 7817 E. 37th St. North, where Glas Haus Racing is.
Gough said that the shop never got the kind of consistent business needed to sustain it, and it didn’t help when a new Scooter’s Coffee opened last month at K-96 and Oliver.
“We took the risk. We had a bunch of fun with our amazing staff and the customer fans that come every day to be a part of our team’s lives,” he said. “But in the end, we couldn’t pursue the cafe any further because the economics simply did end up working for us.”
Gough let the staff know on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, he said, his main Reverie location at 2202 E. Douglas is “as busy as ever,” and his wholesale business grew by 20% last year. Gough also reports that business at his Newton drive through, which he opened nearly two years ago at 12th and Main, is also good.
The Reverie that’s closing operates out of a space inside Glas Haus Racing, a sim racing business that Prost co-owner Austin English opened in the summer of 2022. It has a drive-through space on its east end, and before Reverie, the owners of food truck Brazita Bites briefly occupied the space.
Gough has tried out various expansion spots for Reverie Coffee Roaster’s over the years that haven’t worked out, including the Reverie Roasters at Mojos that he closed last year, the Reverie kiosk in the Advanced Learning Library that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and didn’t reopen, and the Reverie Roasters on the ground floor of the Garvey Center that closed in 2019.
Gough said that some told him before he opened the 37th and Rock location that it wouldn’t work, and he now admits they were right.
“Optimism can get the best of you,” he said. “Perhaps for the right operator, there’s a... great, clean space to build a food business. It’s ready to go if someone is interested in exploring it.”
The drive-through will operate from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.
This story was originally published January 29, 2024 at 2:16 PM.
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