Carolyn Fath
Ancora Coffee’s 20-year reign on King Street is ending. Well, on that side of King Street. The shop is just moving across the street.
Ancora owner Tori Gerding says she was not offered the option to extend the lease at the current location, 112 King St., past its February 2019 expiration.
It’s the latest in a series of shakeups on the 100 block of King Street since Madison businessman Eric Fleming and his girlfriend Oleysa Kuzmenko bought up most of the block between February 2016 and January 2017. That sale leaves a planned hotel development on the site in limbo and resulted in Opus Lounge closing in October.
Come summer, Ancora plans to be set up in the space formerly occupied by The Kitchen Gallery, which will close by the end of March. “We can start building in April, so we’re really, really hoping we can be open by June,” says Gerding. “It’s nice that we don’t have to be out of one location, but we want to be able to take advantage of summer and all that foot traffic.”
The coffee shop isn’t moving far, but it is definitely leaping forward. “We’ll have a full kitchen, which was the main draw of this new space. That was very exciting to us,” Gerding says. “When I took over Ancora [in 2013], the thing I most wanted to expand was the food offerings. Our coffee program had always been super strong, but the food was kind of an afterthought. And with rents and competition increasing downtown, we need to be that place that provides the kickass cup of coffee but also a more thoughtfully prepared meal option.”
In that regard, the new space will mirror the new University Avenue Ancora, which opened in summer 2017 with breakfast, lunch, and brunch offerings.
“We just signed our lease in January. We have floor plans. We don’t have materials sourced, but we have a good vision for what it’s going to look like based off the fact that we just did the store on University Avenue,” Gerding says. “Similar vibes — not matchy-matchy, but similar aesthetic over here.”
The floor plan in the new space will be more open than at either current location. Though the 2,400-square foot space is about the same size as at the current King Street location, Gerding says an open layout will make the new location feel larger. She’s planning a full dining area with seating for about 65.
It’s not the first time a restaurant has been in the space. In the 1990s, it was home to Botticelli’s; Clay Market Cafe and Tutto Pasta Cucina Italiano followed.
Ancora has a liquor license, which Gerding hopes to move across the street: “We won’t have a full bar, but we’ll have brunch cocktails, mimosas, bloodys, that stuff. And a few beers on tap.”
The new kitchen means new staff, too. Gerding expects to hire a couple more front-of-house staffers and five or six to work the kitchen. “We’ll be able to train kitchen staff and front of house staff over at the University Avenue location, which we hope can make for a seamless transition. Knock on wood, there are always hiccups, but we think we’ll be able to be really up to speed by the time people come over to our new spot.” Ancora will also be hiring bakers, to make more of their bakery items in-house.
“We’re trying to grow with the neighborhood we’re in and create more of a community space. Continue with our amazing coffee program, but also provide that all-day brunch and fun cocktails and sense of being that third space — which we already are to a lot of people,” says Gerding. She hopes they can do an even better job of filling that function: “We kind of want to be that all-encompassing place that can handle all those needs people are looking for.”
The move will also put Gerding even closer to her husband Matt Gerding, a co-owner of Majestic Theater. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” she laughs. “Though he is one of our best customers.”
“We’re excited to move. We’re sad to be leaving 24 years behind in the space,” Gerding says. “But what are you gonna do when they say you can’t stay?”
