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Two Detroit entrepreneurs are planning to bring their passions for cycling and coffee culture under one roof. Jonathon Colo and Benjamin Kehoe are the partners behind Woodbridge Bikes & Coffee, a combination café and service-oriented bike shop headed to Trumbull Avenue next year.
Colo and Kehoe didn’t know each other when they joined BUILD Institute (an organization that helps people develop business plans) in 2015, but soon found that their business plans were remarkably similar. Colo joined build with the intention of opening a bike-centric coffee house, while Kehoe planned to open a bike shop with a café component. Together the pair developed a combined plan for a space Colo had already secured in Woodbridge.
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"I think Woodbridge — the neighborhood itself — definitely [has] a lot of cyclists but outside of that there's just a lack of commercial amenities in the neighborhood outside of gas stations and liquor stores," says Colo. The lack of amenities, he notes, is partially due to zoning, but "now that zoning has changed due to some great work by the residents and Woodbridge CDC [Citizen’s District Council] working with the city."
Woodbridge Bikes & Coffee will occupy roughly 1,400-square-feet of space in a vacant building at the corner of Trumbull Avenue and Putnam Street. Colo says the building includes a total of seven units, two of which are reserved for the coffee and bike shop. While the layout of the shop has not yet been finalized, the rough setup includes a centralized coffee bar with seating where customers can relax while their bikes are being worked on.
The café will offer pourovers and espresso drinks, as well as a quick-service house blend brewed for customers on the go. Colo says he'll be sourcing beans from Michigan roasters. On the cycling side, Colo says they plan to "let the bike shop side grow very organically." He adds: "We're not coming in with $10-15,000 worth of inventory." Colo and Kehoe hope to begin building out their space by late fall and estimate that the shop will open in spring 2017.
