Elements Coffee Co. might soon offer craft beer, wine

ALBANY — Area residents looking to enjoy an interesting craft beer or kick back with a refreshing glass of wine while enjoying a laid-back, coffee shop-style experience … Elements Coffee Co. might soon be the place for you.

Elements owner Calvin King, who has steadily built the Ledo Road coffee shop into a local fixture over the past nine years, is patiently waiting to see if the Albany City Commission approves a rezoning request that will allow the entrepreneur to start serving alcohol on the premises, and thus change the perception of what a Southwest Georgia coffee shop can be.

“My vision is to be a coffee shop, and a lot of coffee shops that are taking themselves seriously are getting into the craft beer and wine selections and evening offerings,” said King. “You can’t go to a coffee shop up in Atlanta that takes themselves seriously and not see craft beer and wine, it just doesn’t happen. So if Albany wants to grow and make a name for themselves and become unique, which I know there are a lot of people around here that would like to see that happen, then this is a good step in the right direction.”

When King describes his vision for Elements, the scene that’s described is not unlike what people see when they visit the coffee shop today. There are still people reading books or working on their laptops, and groups of friends catching up over a beverage. But instead of enjoying a latte or a cappuccino, they’re enjoying a pint of beer or a glass of Pinot.

What he doesn’t see, and what he fears others may wrongly envision, is a full-on bar with patrons knocking back Jager bombs while a high-powered stereo forces conversation to a shout.

“I don’t want the serious drinkers; I want the ones that want to socialize, maybe before they get their night started,” said King. “If I’m going to end up at Coach’s, I don’t necessarily want to spend three or four hours there. I might want to start my evening with a couple of beers and some conversation, and then end my night with the liquor and loud music.

“That’s my idea, keep the atmosphere the same. This is a great atmosphere, and it could be used for more than just coffee.”

Indeed, in addition to establishing a regular clientele that will hopefully visit Elements for a relaxing evening, King said he is hoping to feature things like small acoustic performances, trivia nights or tap takeovers.

“The state of Georgia’s got a lot of great beers, so we could do a state of Georgia tap takeover,” said King. “That’s a really good thing for people to come to and social at over drinks.”

And while creating a new and exciting evening destination is a huge part of King’s plan for Elements, economics are also at play. King said he sees the addition of beer and wine as a way to grow his business.

Since he opened Elements in 2007, King said he’s had some fairly up and down years and has even had to cut back on some of his hours recently because, as he says, “Payroll and sales weren’t really matching up.”

As King sees it, offering beer and wine in the evenings will create revenue that simply isn’t there today, despite Elements being open until 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“I want to maybe give it a more adult vibe,” said King. “In the evening, usually the adults are elsewhere and this is a more kid-friendly hangout. We get a lot of people in here playing Magic, gamers, and it’s hard to sell them on more than one beverage. So the idea is to generate something else that other people would like at 8 at night. A cup of coffee is not really the go-to item.”

If he’s able to see his plan come to fruition, King said at first he’ll keep the same the hours and just see how things go.

“Of course, I’m going to maintain those hours until I know what kind of draw beer and wine will pull in,” he said. “If it were me and I started my night at a place like this on a Friday night, I would get here at 7 or 8 and be ready to move on somewhere else by about 10 p.m. Not everybody is me, and for all I know my customers might really take to it and enjoy the atmosphere and want to end their night here.

“If I start seeing a bunch of people hanging out come closing time, then I might push the hours back. I’m definitely not going to be one of those past midnight, 1 or 2 a.m., places. There’s enough places you can roll to if you want to stay out that late.”

And even though he sees a lot of potential in the idea, King also knows there’s some risk involved should he make the move to selling beer and wine, including the cost of carrying those items and the possibility that some of his current clientele won’t like the decision for whatever reason.

“It’s going to be a learning process,” said King. “I’ll try to do it as cost-efficiently as possible, start small and grow into it because, of course, if it does take off and it is something my clients want, then I’d be stupid not to build on the concept. I (also) understand people’s apprehension toward it, and I appreciate their loyalty to the Elements brand. But I can guarantee that none of that’s going to change.”

What does have to change in order for any of his plans to become a reality, however, is the current zoning of the property, which does not allow alcohol consumption of any kind.

Currently, Ledo Plaza, the eight-unit retail center where Elements in located, is zoned C-2(N)c, which, like the more common C-2 designation, is a general mixed-use business district. However, the zoning designation carries the added restriction of not allowing on-site alcohol consumption.

In fact, according to Albany-Dougherty Planning Manager Mary Teter, the C-2(N)c designation is only in effect in one other place, the Ledo Crossing strip center, which lies to the west of Ledo Plaza. There is also a similar C-1(N)c designation at the intersection of U.S. 19 South and Holly Drive, but neither the C-2(N)c nor the C-1(N)c designation is currently used by the city.

In order to get the property rezoned, King has to apply to the city/county Planning department, which requested that he get approval from the other owners located in the strip center. King said after meeting with each owner, he was able to get their agreement fairly easily once he eased their minds that he was not planning to have “full-on liquor service” and told them that the zoning impacted all of them.

“I had to have everyone’s signature, and it didn’t take me that long to get everybody on board,” said King. “Everybody was very receptive, so I feel really good about the opinion of my neighbors going forward.

“Many of us were under the impression that we could have it but not sell (alcohol). When we find out that we can’t have it period, that came as quite a shock. It’s something that I think many of us would like to see changed. I had no idea.”

King said many of the other owners even told him that they’d be interested in at least serving alcohol to clients or hosting events where alcohol was present, which only helped to get their agreement. The general thinking among owners was that it was good to everyone involved to help the area continue to become a thriving corridor.

“I think that’s why it was very easy for me to get all the other owners on board,” King said. “It even opens up the possibilities for some of these other owners that have properties that they’re renting out, and I know I wouldn’t look at a place if it were zoned as heavily as this is at all. Honestly, I had no clue it was this heavy.

“All the plans for Ledo Road, for making it four-lane, connecting it to Westover, I think we’re about to get a very excellent commercial district here. I say that it will rival that whole Westover and Dawson Road intersection. This will start to take over as far as where businesses want to come. I feel like there’s a lot of promise to rezoning it to making sure it is a fully commercial district to allow those businesses the freedom to make money.”

The extent of King’s freedom to make money took a strong step forward last week when his rezoning request was heard by the Planning Commission, which subsequently recommended final approval by the City Commission.

The board of commissioners is expected to decide the matter at its next meeting June 21, and if commissioners give their blessing, King said he’s ready to obtain a alcohol license and move forward.

“The rezoning is the biggest hurdle,” King said. “I’m hoping that by mid- to late-July, I’ll be launching.”