A coffee shop will be missing from College Station’s collection of study spots.
Chris Thomas, former Muldoon’s Coffee Shop owner, sold the shop’s recipes to Barry Ivins, owner of Carney’s Bar, the Corner at Northgate and LakeSide Icehouse. Ivins said he hopes to incorporate Muldoon’s classic drinks into his Carney’s menu, but with a twist.
“Adding alcohol to the coffee is something that’s really trending in the Austin and Houston areas,” Ivins said. “We’re trying to go for a younger crowd, too, so we’ll have the staples in there, but for a little bit laterwhen, you know, you’re having a four o’clock meeting or whatever, we’ll have that option for you.”
Ivins said he’s been considering adding a coffee menu to Carney’s for some time.
“It just kind of was the right time to come in,” Ivins said. “I’m opening up another coffee shop in March, actually. That was already in the plans, so this fell together pretty quickly.”
Kristi Petty, owner of The Village Café and friend to Ivins, said Ivins was adamant about securing jobs for all of the former Muldoon’s employees.
“He sent out e-mails to fellow restaurant owners saying that there were some really great people that would now be looking for work and he was trying to help,” Petty said.
Many of Muldoon’s employees have long had a connection with The Village staff and now work at The Village Café, said Petty.
“A lot of their employees were regulars already and the Muldoon’s and The Village staffs were already very close and supportive of each other,” Petty said.
Ivins plans to use Muldoon’s recipes but leave the old coffee shop location on Texas Avenue alone, Thomas said.
“He’s actually going to open an independent location that I believe he’ll rebrand,” Thomas said. “The idea evolved from when I first talked to him. He was going to do something like Spiderhouse in Austin. Just kind of rezone a residential house. He wanted to do something like that and then he’s looked into actual commercial space, but his plans are pretty much going to be up and running in four to six months, so by March at the latest.”
Thomas said Ivins has big plans for his recipes and plans to bring them back for Muldoon’s’ customers in the near future.
“It’ll be kind of a new iteration of Muldoon’s,” Thomas said. “I’m not 100 percent sure if he’s going to keep the name. He bought the recipes, the systems and everything about the shop.”
Ivins said he hopes to keep the most popular Muldoon’s drinks, like Café New Orleans, that have accumulated such a heavy following.
“Being a barista is not an easy job, so we’re going to slowly fit it in at Carney’s,” Ivins said. “If we’re able to train baristas pretty well we’re going to move it into the Corner Bar. We’re looking into roasting our own coffee as well.”
Thomas, Class of 2008, said he decided to sell the shop and move to Austin to be closer to family.
“I’m in the process of completely transitioning,” Thomas said. “I’m pursuing new things, I’ll be doing real estate investing.”
Thomas said though the closing of his coffee shop is heartbreaking, he’s hopeful that good things lie in the future.
“I know a lot of people are sad about Muldoon’s but I’m glad it will continue in some new form and I’m excited to see what Barry does with it,” Thomas said.