A staple of the Manitowoc farmers market will soon have a brick-and-mortar location.
Katreena and Steve Powell, the owners of Higher Grounds Coffee Company, have teamed up with Mikala and Joey Debone to create Little Sips Play Café, a space for parents to enjoy a cup of fair-trade coffee while their young children play.
The café will be located in the former Shopko Mall, on the northwest side.
Mikala explained that the idea was born out of desperation because “As stay-at-home moms, we’re like, there’s nowhere for us to really go for our little littles to go play where they can scream and be loud and, you know, just be themselves without going, ‘Okay, you have to be really quiet.’”
Mikala and Katrina met through online mom groups, which is how they realized other mothers were having the same issue.
Plus, while Katreena and Steve were serving coffee from their Higher Grounds truck, they had been asked numerous times when they were going to get a brick-and-mortar store, so when the former Party Pizzaz space opened up, it was a perfect fit.
“Kind of the next best thing to a drive-thru is having the big windows out here,” she noted. “If you have all your kids in the car and you want to get a coffee, you can preorder it online. It’ll be ready for you to pick up, and you can see your kids. You can just run in and leave them in the car. You don’t have to get everybody out to come because it’ll be very safe in that regard because you’re just a couple of feet away.”
The goal of Little Sips is to be a welcoming space for everyone, especially parents who need a space to be with others in their situation.
“If your kid has a tantrum, that’s okay,” Mikala said.
“Forget a diaper? We’ll hook you up,” Katreena added. “If you forgot to grab a snack for your kid and they’re really hungry and need a snack right now, we’ll have things for them.”
For those who don’t want to deal with children, there will be a walk-up window in the hallway where you can pick up your coffee without going inside the actual café.
Katreena tells us they will have the same menu in the café as they do on their truck with a few additions that they don’t have space for on the truck.
A lot of work has yet to be done, but the group anticipates opening up by the end of September.
They are currently selling memberships through their Facebook and Instagram pages, or you can call 920-901-3893 or email littlesips.manitowoc@gmail.com.
