What brought Tim Kahle and Tim Cox together to open Communion Neighborhood Cooperative in November 2017 was a shared passion for service, they said.

“[Tim Cox] is really talented and got the value of doing high-quality coffee,” Kahle said. “Beyond that, loving his community, trying to serve people and make their day better through the craft of coffee and a coworking space.”

A Richardson resident, Kahle said he admired the city’s “robust desire to be local and spend local,” yet he felt the area was lacking a space that embodied that value.

He decided to leave his career in construction to open a coworking business, and in the process of looking for a space he was introduced to Cox, who at the time was director of coffee operations at Ascension Coffee Roasters.

Their joint venture began with a dilapidated tire shop in an under-developed strip mall near the intersection of Belt Line Road and US 75. With the help of Kahle’s father and brother, the interior was gutted and rebuilt to feature three sections: a cafe serving coffee drinks and a full menu, an open-desk area and a private office-suite area.

Serving food was always part of the plan, but the success of the cafe evolved organically, Cox said. In mid-September, Communion Cafe transitioned from counter to table service. The next step is to further compartmentalize the business by enclosing the front patio, allowing the coffee bar to move out front and the restaurant to stand on its own.

Kahle said he submitted a building permit with the city and hopes to have construction on the enclosed patio complete in three months.

Since its inception the cafe has served breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as brunch on the weekends. Popular menu items include a breakfast sandwich prepared with housemade biscuits, a roasted turkey with bacon sandwich, coffee-rubbed brisket tacos and Communion Steak Frites.

The business also specializes in cocktails made with whiskey and bourbon. A drop-down bar tucked into the cafe’s ceiling reveals over 100 variations used to concoct Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Sazeracs and more.