BROKEN BOW – Scissors sliced ribbon Thursday morning (August 29) as Howdy Coffee celebrated joining the Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce as well as their grand opening.
Located on the west end of Broken Bow in the former Taco John’s location, Howdy Coffee first opened their doors in early June with a soft opening. With the passing of a couple months time, adjustments and preparations were ironed out for Thursday’s grand opening.
Owned by Barry Fox, Stuart Fox, and Cody Schmick, Howdy Coffee was the result of a three to four year timeline that saw the consideration of franchises and whether or not there would be enough business and traffic to support a new venture in Broken Bow.
Schmick said on Thursday that the learning process between soft opening and grand opening has been fun.
“We’ve been learning a lot, we’ve been just trying to look at trends in this and make sure that we’re bringing a good cup of coffee to Broken Bow. That was really the driving force. I love coffee, I mean obviously we have Kinkaider and I love beer, but I probably drink more coffee than beer. So we wanted to make sure it was right, using the local roasters was a nice touch. We’ve got some guys up in Burwell that are are roasting all of our coffee, they have been fantastic to work with. It’s been really cool to see how it’s developed. It’s a little different type of business, but kind of the same at the end of the day. We’re putting liquid in a cup and handing it to people. The community has really shown up, that drive thru is full every single morning but we’re clipping them through quickly and it’s been a ton of fun,” said Schmick.
Barry and Cody told KCNI/KBBN in June that movement really kicked up a notch when McDonald’s closed across town and staff from their other business, Kinkaider Brewing Company, expressed interest in helping.
“People feel very passionately about local beer, local spirits, but they also feel passionate about their coffee… So we ultimately just decided we enjoy growing brands, we enjoy growing concepts, and Barry and I work really well together in order to do that and incorporating Stuart’s expertise in and he’s going to see things a little bit differently than either of us see them. But ultimately we were just like let’s try to grow another brand,” said Schmick in the June interview.
Food items in addition to the “Howdy Oh-Lays”, a salute to the building’s former life, include kolaches, breakfast burritos and sandwiches, frittatas, avocado toast, a yogurt parfait, and cronuts (a pastry tossed in cinnamon sugar drizzled in cream cheese frosting).
For drinks, in addition to a classic black coffee, visitors can enjoy more than twelve classic coffee shop options as well as many original Howdy Coffee creations.
Both food and drink specials were stated to be something customers can depend on having regularly as well. Schmick said some fall specific specials are on the way soon.
“So the three things that we have is our Pumpkin Blondie: so if you’ve ever had a blondie, this is a pumpkin version of that. We have our vanilla chai with pumpkin cold foam, that one is fantastic. Our chai is actually being made with full tea leaves and spices legit made in Omaha and then we’re bringing that concentrate here so it makes the best chai. So if you like chai, this will ruin all other chai for you. Then our pumpkin shaken espresso. It’s almost like we’re taking an espresso martini without alcohol, putting a little pumpkin in there, shaking that up so it gets nice and frothy, it’s fantastic.”
Howdy Coffee is open Monday through Friday 6 AM to 4 PM and Saturday/Sunday from 7 AM to 5 PM.
