A new coffee shop will be joining the lineup of Franklin Street businesses in Chapel Hill.

The Summit Coffee Company is preparing to open a location at 140 West Franklin Street in the first full week of October. The business has been working to renovate the space that formerly housed Frutta Bowls into a café space and retail hub.

Summit, a coffee brand founded in Davidson, North Carolina, and with cafes in Asheville and Charlotte, just celebrated its 22nd year of existence earlier in September. Known for both roasting their own specialty coffee blends and selling them, the Chapel Hill location will be the company’s fifth café.

CEO and owner Brian Helfrich shared a post on the Summit website earlier in September announcing the expansion to Chapel Hill. He described the town as having a certain feeling that matches his company’s energy, character and community-based nature.

“We’re one of the best coffee roasters in the South,” Helfrich said to Chapelboro. “We won the 2020 Charleston Coffee Cup recognizing us as such, and want to expand our coffee brand through retail since it’s, frankly, what we do best. We’ve been running coffee shops since 1998. We’re excited to bring both our coffee and our brand into new markets, to new communities, to more consumers.”

 

Helfrich added the Chapel Hill location has the potential to burgeon into Summit’s focal point for more expansion within the Triangle region. He said he believes there’s a market for potentially three Summit cafés in a 45-mile radius from the new location.

“We know how to create a great café experience that appeals to college students,” described Helfrich, “but also is a local hangout and go-to for residents of the town. We believe there’s room in several markets for a coffee brand like Summit — and so our goal, when towns are losing their local brands, is to provide a product and brand people are excited to support and engage with. It’s our mission to be a good neighbor, and we’re excited to make a positive difference in Chapel Hill.”

According to the Franklin Street café’s manager, Summit Coffee Co. will have both indoor and outdoor seating available when it opens. The coffee brand has shared social media posts saying it is continuing to hire employees for the Chapel Hill location.

Frutta Bowls operated from April 2018 until earlier this year in the suite of the 140 West Franklin Street complex.

Restaurants, coffee shops and other eateries currently open in Chapel Hill and around Orange County can be found on Chapelboro’s What’s Open and Closed? restaurants page.

Photo via Summit Coffee Company.

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