A popular Wichita coffee shop is expanding, taking over a longtime shop in North Newton

Denise Neil
·2 min read

A popular Wichita coffee shop is about to expand its operations into a near-Wichita town.

Andrew Gough, the owner of Reverie Coffee Roasters at 2202 E. Douglas, has recently finalized a deal to take over one of Newton’s well-known coffee shops: Mojo’s Coffee Bar, which has operated at 300 E. 27th St. North — on the Bethel College campus in North Newton — since 2010.

Gough, who will take over at the beginning of January, said he will change the name of the shop to Reverie Coffee Roasters at Mojo’s. He won’t change the approach much, though, and will continue to offer breakfast and lunch options.

Mojo’s owner Patty Meier said she decided to sell the shop because she’s ready to slow down. She also has a bakery and still owns the original Mojo’s shop opened inside Newton Medical Center in 2009 before expanding to the Bethel Campus and plans to keep those.

“I just needed a little more free time and wanted to be a little less tied down,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a few years and wanted to find somebody I felt comfortable turning it over to, and Reverie is just that place.”

Mojo’s Coffee Bar operates on the Bethel College campus and draws about half its business from faculty, staff and students and half from the North Newton community.
Mojo’s Coffee Bar operates on the Bethel College campus and draws about half its business from faculty, staff and students and half from the North Newton community.

Though the shop operates on Bethel’s campus, it’s open to the public and draws about half its business from faculty and students and the other half from the North Newton community.

Gough said that was one of the reasons he liked the deal.

“There’s a presence of people of all ages, and really that’s what’s appealing to us,” he said. “It checks a lot of the boxes for us when we look at opportunities. This business has done a really good job for a dozen years now building a community around it, and that is exactly what we think the DNA of our business is.”

The main initial change is that Gough will start using his own Reverie coffee in the shop. The food options, which include pastries, soups, salads and sandwiches, won’t change at first, though eventually Gough will make them his own. Customer favorites from the menu will stay in place, though.

“It’s really important for the community to know that even though we’re going to be shifting some of the coffee and offerings, within the store, it’s essentially going to be the same business with different owners,” Gough said.