Morning Oil Coffee Co., the new “coffee yard” in the Union Terminal Warehouse near Downtown Jacksonville, opened April 27.
The shop at 700 E. Union St., owned by Phil Rogacki and Dennis Dumas, is intended as a place for construction workers and others in skilled trades to pick up a coffee, a quick breakfast sandwich or Danish and, eventually, buy lunch items for later in the day. The general public also is welcome.
The shop is open 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays, 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays and is closed Sundays, Rogacki said.
Morning Oil invites all customers to free coffee 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. Mondays, a promotion aimed at attracting work crews attending safety meetings to tailgate in its parking lot. The meetings are sponsored by construction, HVAC, electrical and plumbing companies to introduce themselves to tradespeople looking for work.
Morning Oil hopes to soon add to-go breakfast and lunch items so workers can stock up for the day.
Rogacki said lunch will be added, and the shop will stay open for beer and wine happy hours.
“We’re going to slowly ease into everything, instead of doing everything with a bang right away. We’ll just see what the traffic is like,” he said.
Specialty coffee beans are served whole, and customers can learn about the beans’ origins, grind them at the table and brew coffee using a French press.
Morning Oil’s coffee is sourced from Guatemala, while pastries are baked locally. The store uses Azar sausage in breakfast sandwiches, Rogacki said. The sausage company is directly north of the Union Terminal Warehouse at 719 E Union St.
Morning Oil is about 910 square feet. It is expected to employ seven people.
The store cost about $200,000 to build-out and equip. Rogacki said the building’s owners, East Union Property Owner LLC, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Columbia Ventures, arranged the contracting. The work was performed by Skyline Construction of Jacksonville.
The historic Union Terminal Warehouse opened March 6 after a six-year, $73 million renovation. The 361,169-square-foot adaptive reuse project includes apartments, offices and retail units for lease near Jacksonville’s Eastside and EverBank Stadium.
Rogacki said he also hopes to use the coffee yard to give back and raise money to promote trades education. Portions of profits from coffee, bagged beans and other sales will be put toward the cause, he said.
“Coffee is just our tool to fund it. Because if we had federal money to help us, we won’t say no to it, but we want to be able to fund ourselves, so we’re never beholden to one group or one grant that runs out and then what do we do?” Rogacki said.
Morning Oil is working with Women In Non-Traditional Employment Roles, or WINTER, a Commerce, California-based workforce development organization that has trained tradeswomen since 1987.
Rogacki said he reached out to Hawx, his favorite work boot company, and secured an agreement for it to provide new boots to every graduate of WINTER’s program. A pair can cost at least $300.
“It means the world to them. It is a huge savings and a giant step toward their new careers,” WINTER Executive Director Carlos Torres said.
“Instead of a cap and gown when you graduate, you get a pair of new boots. So that’s our thing, putting new boots on new people,” Rogacki said.
“We all have different tools that we use. Some people use hammers, some people use drills, some people use chainsaws. Everybody has a different tool to do different jobs, but we all wear the same boots.”