The owners of the coffee shop and roastery in McKinney realized shortly after COVID-19 began affecting the North Texas area that normal operations and plans for a new location would need to change, owner and founder Elaine Krazer said.
The shop recently changed its brand from Pacific Tradewinds Coffee Co. to TexaKona. The coffee shop and museum has been operating since 2016 in its current space at 3103 N. McDonald St., McKinney, where it operates as a roastery, coffee museum, coffee bar and gift shop. TexaKona is a brand of coffee beans grown in Hawaii and roasted in Texas.
Plans were in the works to open a new space in early 2020 on Davis Street in downtown McKinney, Krazer said. Those plans were halted due to the virus, and adjustments were made to the existing location instead, she said.
“People still want to come in and get our products, so we had to do something with retail that works in the current environment,” Krazer said. “That being, minimizing the amount of exposure that your shop has to the public and maximizing the distance between people.”
To that end, the register has been relocated from the back wall of the shop to the very front, so customers only need to take a few steps in to place an order. Two separate doors shepherd people in one way and out another to avoid people congregating in one space for too long.
“It minimizes the amount of space that is exposing our customers to each other as well as to our staff,” Krazer said.
Seating has been placed off to the side of the shop, separate from other workers and with some space to spread out. Wi-Fi is available as well, Krazer said.
Things have been altered at the back of the house as well to allow staff to work in one central location rather than moving between the main part of the shop to the space at the back. It frees up more space for the manufacturing side of things for the coffee shop, which offers its own roasted beans, K-cups, filters and syrups.
Before COVID-19 the shop also did not serve food. This has also changed, with the shop now serving coffee-infused cereals.
"Instead of adding milk to your cereal, we're adding a full latte or cappuccino to your cereal,” Krazer said. “And with the flavor combinations we've come up with, they have absolutely raving reviews, and it's not like anything else offered anywhere else. It's totally an idea that we came up with.”
These cereals are being morphed into a bar form as well, and the shop is exploring other breakfast items as well, Krazer said.
She is still looking at options to eventually move into a new space, she said, but for now she is working to listen to local officials to help keep her business open and safe as well as responding to ideas from customers.
“We're just doing the best we can,” Krazer said. “I feel like I'm a pinball in a pinball machine. kind of hitting a different direction every moment, but I'm glad to just keep rolling.”
TexaKona Coffee Museum & Cafe
3103 N. McDonald St., McKinney
214-778-5662
www.texakonacoffee.com
Hours: Mon.-Tue., Thu.-Sat. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; closed Wed., Sun.
