By MARY GALES ASKREN, Staff Reporter
Article courtesy of Madison Daily Leader http://www.madisondailyleader.com
There's no place like home -- unless, of course, you find a home away from home where you can have a good cup of coffee, pull out your computer and make yourself comfortable, having an affordable sandwich or pastry when hunger strikes.
"We want people to feel good, to feel comfortable. We want this to be a place they can go every day," said Samantha Contarino-Honomichl, one of the new owners of Sundog Coffee.
Contarino-Honomichl, who is the director of the Upward Bound program at South Dakota State University, and her husband Rob Honomichl, an instructor in Dakota State University's Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences, purchased Mochavino's earlier this year and are in the process of creating an entirely new business in a familiar location.
"We're not Mochavino's 2.0. We are Sundog Coffee," she said. "We want to work with what is fresh and seasonal, so our menu will change."
A seasonal menu is just one of the changes that patrons will discover when they walk into Sundog Coffee.
The first change is the stunningly different appearance. The walls are now a rich aquamarine with a copper-colored accent wall and contrasting features in deep teal and white.
A long bench with small tables will line one wall and comfortable chairs will nestle in the windows. A new display case for pastries will greet customers, and the china will be new and matching in white and dark blue.
"My vision is modern and warm with clean lines -- the kind of place I want to stay and hang out," Contarino-Honomichl said.
She grew up in coffee houses in Philadelphia and hung out in coffee houses while a college student. When she and her husband were dating, they spent a lot of time at Mochavino's.
"I've always thought about owning one," she said. "Doesn't everyone?"
Still, when the opportunity arose in Madison, she didn't immediately jump at the chance. She derives a great deal of personal satisfaction from helping South Dakota's low-income students pursue higher education.
But, she did explore options. She contacted her brother, Travis Contarino, who was managing a Starbucks in Philadelphia, and asked him, partially in jest, if he'd consider leaving the city of brotherly love to manage an independent coffee shop in Madison.
He agreed, and even brought experienced baristas with him -- one from Georgia and another from Chicago.
"We want to be a coffee shop that serves food, not a food shop that serves coffee," Contarino-Honomichl said, describing the ambience they hope to create.
However, they do want the food served to be both fresh and affordable. For that, they will be looking to local businesses -- Gary's Bakery for bread and Jack's Meat Market for meat. In addition, they are purchasing coffee beans from Watertown Confectionery, where beans from seven to nine countries are roasted in house.
"Small businesses need to have a symbiotic relationship to be successful," she explained.
At present, they are planning to serve sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and pastries. However, the specific offerings will vary depending upon what is in season and what is popular.
"We want to do as much fresh food as possible," Contarino-Honomichl said. "If it's delicious, we want it to run out."
The goal is to reduce food waste.
"Food insecurity is huge in the world, and we don't want to contribute to that," she said.
She admits there will be a learning curve and future changes. As much as she and her husband enjoyed Mochavino's, she wants a business that reflects their values as well as her personal style.
Choosing the right name for the business was part of that. She said they had tossed around a number of names and had almost settled on one, until she saw a sundog while driving to Sioux Falls one day.
"I called my brother and said, 'Sundog Coffee,' and he said, `Yup, that's it'," Contarino-Honomichl said.
In part, the name works because they are dog people. She and her husband have four dogs; her brother has one. However, sundogs have symbolic meaning as well.
"They represent hope and beauty, even when it's really, really cold," she said.
They expect their business to undergo changes and come to it with a spirit of hope. They know, for example, they want to add live music and perhaps even poetry slams, when they get other aspects of the business up and running.
"We want to have a menu that grows and shrinks, ebbs and flows," Contarino-Honomichl said.
They know that finding meeting places in Madison can be challenging, so they want to create a meeting room in the basement which will eventually be equipped for PowerPoint presentations. They already have Wi-Fi for customer use.
Most of all, they just want people to feel at home.
"We want everyone to feel they can come in here, and we want people to linger," Contarino-Honomichl said.
Neither she nor her husband is planning to leave their university positions. Sundog Coffee will be under the management of Travis Contarino.