HoneyBear Farms returns to its J-town roots with new coffee shop venture

Things just got a little sweeter in Jeffersontown.

In the buzzing Gaslight Square, Honey Depot and Coffee House, a subsidiary of HoneyBear Farms quietly opened its doors Oct. 7. HoneyBear Farms is a full-service beekeeping facility that harvests raw honey, provides mentoring, offers beekeeping classes, and now, runs two community-focused coffee houses with locations in Jeffersontown and Mount Washington, Kentucky.

“We love J-Town,” Joel Gonia said. “This is our original market right here, our original customer base.”

Before opening in the 3,700-square-foot space in Gaslight Square, Gonia was planning to open a store by the farm near Fisherville, Kentucky, but that never came to fruition.

“It was totally the worst of times because we were really popular. We had a really good business, we had a good following, J-Town and Fisherville were our community,” Gonia said.

The farm spent $60,000 building a parking lot, buying a portable building and running utilities to it. However, the road expansion on Taylorsville Road near the Gene Snyder Freeway forced the farm store to relocate after buying the land they were renting.

“We were really ready to open within two weeks, we were ready to open,” Gonia said. “We had to close everything down and stop. That is a cost that we cannot recoup.”

After that unforeseen halt, Gonia started looking at properties around Louisville to relocate his store. He visited over 20 buildings before finding the Jeffersontown location.

“We just couldn't find anywhere that actually worked for us,” Gonia said. "Finally, by happenstance, we found this property and it was available and it looked like a really good fit.”

More:Local honey farm to open 5 new honey and coffee shops in the Louisville area

The Honey Depot and Coffee House took over the building lease Sept. 3. A week later was Gaslight Festival and the coffee shop had its first opportunity to interact with the community from the new storefront.

“We opened up that weekend, just the front part selling honey,” Gonia said. And it was a success.

Currently, Gonia is pouring another $30,000 to $50,000 into improvements at the new coffee house, including updating the flooring, having tables and chairs built, creating a honeycomb look on the exterior awning, and other renovations required to turn the old veterinary practice into a coffee house.

Gonia said, "We're spending a lot of money."

Gonia hopes Honey Depot and Coffee House will not only provide tasty drinks and pastries, but will become a community staple that works with, and for, the people in Jeffersontown.

“Our motif is the community coffee house,” Gonia said. “We want people just to feel comfortable coming in here."

The second floor of the building will be available for community organizations, businesses and local residents to rent out and use for meetings or other small events.

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Gonia and his local business also put a large emphasis on community involvement. They participate in the national program, Coffee with a Cop. The program brings a local police officer into the coffee house and allows citizens a chance to get facetime and chat with the officers.

Gonia said he plans to incorporate a local version of this program where he brings in firefighters, Jeffersontown city council members, people from the Jeffersontown chamber of commerce, and even the Jeffersontown mayor.

Possible 'Food Truck Friday' event coming to J-town

Gonia has already met with the Jeffersontown chamber of commerce and local city hall to introduce an event called “Food Truck Friday.” The event will bring local food trucks and bands outside the Honey Depot and Coffee House, allowing people a regularly scheduled family-friendly Friday night activity in the heart of J-Town.

“We're looking at somewhere between possibly 1,000 to 1,500 people every Friday night for about 35 weeks out of the year, so it's really going to be something big,” Gonia said.

The Honey Depot and Coffee House serves a variety of coffee drinks like espressos, lattes, and subzeroes, which are like Frappuccino's.

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They also serve a variety of scones, cinnamon rolls, and other pastries.

“All of our pastries are made fresh three times a week,” Gonia said. “Once we get rolling, we'll look at possibly introducing our [gourmet style] breakfast sandwiches, as well.”

Most products are made with locally sourced raw honey from their farm. Honey flavors include bourbon caramel, lavender, pumpkin spice, apple pie, cinnamon vanilla, spicy bourbon and more.

Kim Franconia, a lifelong J-Town resident, remembers when 10512 Watterson Trail was a veterinary clinic. Franconia said when she saw Honey Depot and Coffee House was moving into the building, she got excited and knew she had to try it.

“I wanted to see all the different honeys and what they have,” Franconia said during the soft opening Oct. 7.

The store will hold a grand opening Oct. 14, with a ribbon cutting and appearance by Jeffersontown Mayor Bill Dieruf.

“As a company, we're just so excited to have relocated here to Gaslight Square, because this is our original customer base,” said Gonia. “They helped us get going four years ago and have supported us along the way.”

Reach business reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: HoneyBear Farms Louisville opens coffee house to serve Jeffersontown