CLEVELAND, Ohio – Just a little more than a year after opening Milk + Honey in downtown Cleveland, Anisa Rrapaj and Ryan Florio have teamed up with Elie Haoui to open a second location called The Hive in Ohio City.
The Hive is set to open on Monday, June 20.
It takes over a space formerly occupied by other other coffee shops: most recently 3-19 Coffee, and prior to that, Daily Grind Coffee. The cafe area, inside the Limelight co-working building at 2515 Jay Ave., will now get an Instagram-worthy design, akin to downtown’s Milk + Honey layout. Expect natural aesthetics, plus vibrant neon signs on the walls.
The cafe only offers five seats indoors, but will utilize outdoor seating and make space for 16 people outside on Jay Avenue, Florio said.
“I think people will really like the visual aspect of what the space entails. The one downtown has been an Instagram wonder. People love going there and taking pictures,” Florio said in a phone interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. “That, along with the insane drinks that Anisa has come up with, has really brought people to the brand.”
Like Milk + Honey, The Hive will offer drinks made with Erie Island coffees and Inca Tea blends. Besides standard cafe orders, specialty drinks like cinnamon toast crunch lattes, lavender lattes, dragon fruit matcha and honey cinnamon lattes will rotate into the menu.
Plus, expect some flair from Haoui, a local magician known for his social media pages under @eliemagic.
“Because Elie is a magician, we did add a color-changing lemonade, and we’ll put that on the menu at The Hive. It’ll be the staple there,” Rrapaj said. “We’ll also have rotating coffee drinks there.”
Florio founded Inca Tea in 2014, and Rrapaj is the brand’s managing partner. The two linked up with Haoui through a collaboration that entailed Haoui performing magic tricks from behind the Milk + Honey counter.
Later, Haoui started to work more with Florio and Rrapaj, whether he was making drinks at Milk + Honey or working at the warehouse for Inca Tea.
During those workdays, Haoui told Florio that he hoped to open a coffee shop of his own one day. Florio and Rrapaj decided to bring the magician on as a partner, to run his own shop.
“I’m so grateful for Ryan and Anisa to give me that opportunity,” Haoui said. “They’ve been such a huge inspiration, outside of just coffee and tea. They’ve taught me lots of things regarding business and character.”
The team took over the Limelight cafe space, using “The Hive” as a name for the small shop. (The Hive is about one-sixth the size of Milk + Honey.)
“We’re really trying to make something great and positive for that part of town, and give it that local flair too,” Florio said. “Anisa and I are Clevelanders through and through, we’ve been partners for eight years on a bunch of different things. People like and respect the fact that we’re still plugging away and creating great things.”
Their next creation comes to life next week with The Hive – a space that will continue to infuse Haoui’s love of magic with coffee and tea.
“I’m sure I’ll be doing some magic tricks as well, behind the counter… Regarding the magic stuff, I’m going to intertwine social media and also the cafe together with my life,” Haoui said. “I’ll be there the majority of the time, running things, making sure drinks are made with lots of love and magic.”
Follow The Hive on Instagram at instagram.com/thehivecle, and find more information at milkandhoneycle.com.
Get a jumpstart on the weekend and sign up for cleveland.com’s weekly “In the CLE” email newsletter, your essential guide to the top things to do in Greater Cleveland. It will arrive in your inbox on Friday mornings - an exclusive to-do list, focusing on the best of the weekend fun. Restaurants, music, movies, performing arts, family fun and more. Just click here to subscribe. All cleveland.com newsletters are free.
"cafe" - Google News
June 17, 2022 at 06:00PM
https://ift.tt/mbQPt0q
From Downtown’s Milk + Honey cafe comes new Ohio City coffee shop The Hive - cleveland.com
"cafe" - Google News
https://ift.tt/BXPF3dy
https://ift.tt/TI8Av92
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25244079/4.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment