Newsletter: Coffee shop news & local tavern owner shares breast cancer journey ☕💖

I stopped by the cafe for a friends and family sneak peek over the weekend and sampled various items like an egg sandwich, fig toast with ricotta cheese and wings.

The egg sandwich featured a really good sauce with a mild kick and the fig toast was a nice, light dish. The wings were my favorite from the seasoning to the sauce. I don’t know how the cafe plans to use its garlic aioli, but whatever dish it’s on you have to try it.

Other items expected to be on the menu include avocado toast, a wagyu burger, salads and more.

In addition to food, customers can expect a core menu of drinks typically found in every coffee shop as well as seasonal beverages and a trendy menu highlighting popular drinks on TikTok.

Owners Greg Innocent, Chris Cheng and Taylor Moberly want to be known for great coffee and equally great hospitality.

“It’s coffee reimagined,” Innocent said. “We really want people to experience coffee in a way that it’s connected to the people they encounter when they are here.”

The cafe is located at 800 S. Patterson Blvd. next to Old Scratch Pizza in the former space of Ghostlight Coffee. It will be open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

The owners have plans to open a speakeasy in the back of the building. Good Impressions, expected to open early next year, will be a very intimate space with about 35 to 40 seats.

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Warehouse 4 plans to expand in Dayton region

Warehouse 4 has always had a vision to grow to multiple locations in the Dayton region. Owner Ben Neely and his family are ready to make the next step in Beavercreek.

The coffee shop, expected to open the first half of 2025, will be located at 3210 Seajay Drive in the former space of Erie Insurance, next to Flying Ace Express Car Wash.

Warehouse 4 is in the midst of wrapping up drawings with an architect and hope to get contractors inside the building to do things like HVAC, plumbing and electrical in the next month or so.

The Beavercreek coffee shop will be a little under 3,000-square-feet, holding almost double the amount of seating compared to the Kettering location. The menu will be consistent with the other locations offering coffee and espresso-based beverages, tea, breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast, bagels, yogurt and oatmeal. The coffee shop will also have a lunch menu with hot and cold sandwiches and salads.

The new location will have a drive thru, as well as an outdoor patio.

Warehouse 4 opened its first location at 335 S. Dixie Drive in Vandalia in 2013, followed by its Kettering location at 3131 Wilmington Pike in 2020. The coffee shop also has a location in Searcy, Arkansas on the outskirts of Harding University that opened in 2022.

Tavern owner’s breast cancer journey inspires business that support others

Marci Johannes, who owns Mr. Boro’s Tavern with her partner of nine years, Rick Baarlaer, was diagnosed in February with breast cancer. Seven months later, she is cancer-free and using her experience to help others going through a similar journey.

“For me, luckily the cancer did not spread into my lymph nodes. It was caught early,” Johannes said. “It was caught early because of the mammogram and I am thankful everyday to that tech that found it.”

Johannes is also the co-owner of Gather & Graze — a custom charcuterie board business that makes everything from traditional boards with meats and cheeses to dessert boards with cookies and other sweet treats.

During the month of October, she will be making sweet and savory boxes for those that have had breast cancer or those going through it. Johannes said it was so nice to get a little something from her friends and family during her journey to let her know they were thinking of her.

The boxes will be available for preorder with pickup every Friday in October at Mr. Boro’s. All proceeds will go to Pink Ribbon Good, formerly known as Pink Ribbon Girls, an organization that offers healthy meals, rides to treatment, housecleaning essentials, peer support and education for clients undergoing treatment for breast or gynecological cancer.

Mr. Boro’s will also have breast cancer hoodies available for purchase in October with proceeds also going to Pink Ribbon Good.

READ MORE: Marci Johannes of Mr. Boro’s shares breast cancer journey

Quick Bites

🍫 Chocolate Festival at Montgomery County Fairgrounds this weekend: How to go

🥤 Juicing Jammers closes in Dayton’s Wright-Dunbar District: Prior to the brick-and-mortar, owner Tawnni Miles operated the city’s first Black and woman-owned mobile juicer. READ MORE

🥨 Smales Pretzel Bakery reopens after oven fire: The bakery, located at 210 Xenia Ave. in Dayton, is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. More on what happened

Looking for something to do this weekend?

Fred Messaros, the owner of Face Your Fears Hotel of Terror in Springfield, strives every year to be the scariest haunt in Ohio.

“I don’t have to be the longest. I want to be the scariest,” Messaros said. “That is what it’s about. If you’re paying money, you want to be scared.”

I stopped by the haunt over the weekend to film my reaction and I can confirm the Springfield haunt is the scariest in the Miami Valley — especially if you get a touch pass allowing hands on interaction. CLICK HERE to watch my reaction going through the haunted house.

Face Your Fears Hotel of Terror is pushing more than 10,000-square-feet, which takes the average person 25 minutes to walk through. The house is truly a haunted house built in 1858.

READ MORE: Here are 12 other things to do in the Dayton region this weekend

Underground cocktail lounge in Troy to transform into Christmas pop-up bar

It’s not too early to start thinking about the holiday season! The cocktail lounge in the basement of Cherry Street Bottle Shop in Troy will be transformed into a Christmas pop-up bar.

“Cheer on Cherry Street” is set to open Nov. 29 and will run Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 28.

Sara Studebaker, who owns the bottle shop and cocktail kitchen with Carly Witmer, said they want to offer the community something “fun and different for the holiday season.”

One of their employees last year suggested the idea of doing a pop-up after she and her husband couldn’t get reservations to holiday-themed bars in Cincinnati and Columbus.

During the Christmas pop-up, the space will have a winter wonderland theme with blues and whites heading down the stairs and will feature all the holiday colors and cheer in the main lounge area. There will be a holiday-themed drink and food menu. Guests can expect various versions of hot chocolate and small bites such as cookies and mini grazing boards.

Reservations are available online for $25 per person.

Tell Us

Thank you so much for reading my weekly newsletter! If you see a new restaurant opening or are wondering when an establishment is expected to open, feel free to email me here, and I’ll check it out.

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