“We do a lot of beers and what not with coffee from different local roasters,” Fisher said. “We talked a lot at the brewery about adding coffee service during the day time, but we really didn’t have a good way to do it space wise.”
The Heights Café, located at 6178 Chambersburg Road, closed in August after 12 years in business. Fisher said this was the perfect opportunity for them to acquire a kitchen space, more seating and a place to serve coffee. Customers will eventually be able to move between both spaces as well.
B-Side Coffee Bar, expected to open in January, will have a full-scale coffee service with everything from drip coffee to espresso, lattes and teas, Fisher said.
“We’re going to source coffee from multiple roasters focusing on the Dayton area and Ohio at large,” Fisher said. “There’s a ton of really good coffee roasters in Ohio. It gives us a chance to highlight and partner with them.”
In addition, the coffee bar will have a full kitchen with breakfast sandwiches, bagels and muffins. Fisher explained having a full kitchen will allow them to always have elevated bar food like wings, chicken sandwiches, sliders and flatbreads during brewery hours. They will also have cookies from The Cookieologist.
In the past, they have had food trucks at the brewery, but Fisher said consistency and weather had been a problem.
“It really was an easy decision overall because it checked all the boxes that we needed,” Fisher said. “It gives us more seating. It gives us the ability to bring our own food program in-house and then the coffee bar is icing on the cake.”
Fisher said they are looking forward to being the community’s only locally-owned coffee shop. He explained they are still trying to decide the hours of operation, but plan to be open at 6:30 a.m. and stay open until at least 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. depending on coffee demand. If customers want coffee later, the coffee bar will stay open, Fisher said.
B-Side Coffee Bar is expected to begin hiring kitchen staff and baristas next month. There is also a possibility of hiring a few more bartenders for Alematic Artisan Ales. Fisher said he hopes to add eight to 12 people to his team.
Fisher and his two business partners opened Alematic Artisan Ales, the Dayton-area’s first Black-owned brewery, in February 2019.
For more information about B-Side Coffee Bar, visit www.bsidecoffeebar.com or the establishment’s Facebook or Instagram pages.
About the Author
