Library reopens cafe after a year with no coffee
There’s another reason to head to the Fort Myers Beach Public Library, and this one is edible.
The Library Cafe reopened this month under the management of beach local Kevin Korant.
A retired telecommunications worker, Korant is trying his hand at the cafe business for the first time.
“I’m not a restauranteur…This is one of those hybrid places. It’s not really a cafe that has a whole bunch of entrees and salads and sandwiches and all that, but it’s more than just a little coffee shop. It’ll be a combination of both,” he said.
Currently selling hot coffee and tea, cold drinks, muffins, cheesecake, and snacks, Korant plans to add sandwiches soon.
Business has been slowly growing, and he wants to know what the people are hungry for.
“What I’ve tried to do is engage people to come up and ask for what they’d like to see me have available,” he said.
For now, there are no specialty coffee drinks like cappuchinos or lattes – the demand just doesn’t justify the cost of a machine yet.
“If there suddenly gets to be a lot of people that are regulars that want them, we’ll get the machines,” he said.
The space, which was built into the library during its renovations, has had two different operators over the years, Korant said.
“(The library) did all these focus groups and surveys of people that were part of this library district, essentially the island and small area on other side of bridge. One of the things they all said was they wanted some kind of coffee shop in the library,” he said.
The last one closed a year ago, and the cafe has sat empty since then.
“I thought it’d be fun to do, and it hopefully satisfies a need that exists here,” he said.
The cafe is on the third floor of the library, next to the book shop and community room, where weekly talks and workshops are held.
The wifi is free and the view is great the blue Gulf stretches out in front of floor-to-ceiling windows.
“(The chairs) are spread out where people can have private conversations and they’re not jammed into each other,” he said.
For now, Korant is working on finishing his official menu and getting his signs printed.
The cafe will be open for coffee lovers from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“It’s a comfortable place for people to come hangout,” Korant said.