Mad Priest Coffee Roasters is moving from its Broad Street location of nine years to a larger space at 1200 McCallie Ave., which will begin serving customers Monday.
A grand opening feast will be held at the new “temple” from 6-11 p.m. Saturday, which is also the final day the Broad Street location will be open. Owner Michael Rice will be at the Broad Street shop for a “High Priest hangout” from 9 a.m. to noon Friday.
“It’s just a way to pay homage to the last nine years, interact and engage and invite people who’ve been a part of the journey to come and hang out, because I don’t really get that that often,” Rice said.
Mad Priest began as a small-batch roasting company in 2016, and its roasting space and retail shop on Broad Street opened in December of that year.
Rice said he aims for the new location to be a classic “third space” — or a separate social space from the traditional first and second spaces of home and work — for the community, with places to sit and a bathroom for customers.
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“That’s the running joke,” Rice said, as the sole bathroom at the Broad Street location was reserved only for staff. “Going from two seats to actually having space and being able to build it out the way you want to, I think is nice, because our brand envelops a lot.”
Originally inspired by the character of the Mad Priest from “The Count of Monte Cristo,” the Mad Priest brand aims to be socially conscious through its hiring practices, pay and the sourcing of its products, he said.
“We have a very specific sourcing program where we only work with traders who are transparent, and we know are doing good work with farmers because it’s a very dark industry,” Rice said.
The Mad Priest brand has since evolved to also incorporate the satirical use of religious art and decor in the shop.
“We’ve morphed over the years, and now we just really want to be a place that uses satire and humor to have bigger conversations, talk about nuance, talk about the gray,” Rice said, adding that the new shop allows more room to do that.
In the past decade, he feels many coffee shops have focused on sourcing good coffee that’s served in minimalist spaces designed for grabbing a drink to go or working on a computer rather than promoting community engagement.
“We embody more than that. We want to be a place where we challenge things, and that’s kind of where the religious satire comes in,” he said. “Let’s talk about things, and even if we upset a few people along the way, we would rather engage instead of just being keyboard warriors. Nowadays, everyone’s just moving further apart, and we want to bring people back into place.”
He said designing the new space has been a collaborative effort with the staff, creating a unique atmosphere using a mix of old church items and modern pieces collected over the years.
Among the religious themed decor is a confessional booth featuring a rotating art installation, a phone stand for selfies and a box for confessions.
A former service station, the new shop is 1,800 square feet and seats 40-45, he said.
Premium coffees sourced from Yemen are among the Mad Priest’s specialties, Rice said. In addition to coffee drinks, the new space will offer a full food menu centering on waffles with a variety of toppings.
Mad Priest’s McCallie Avenue site is in a developing area, with several new businesses opening recently, such as White Duck Taco.
“It’s kind of exciting, because I feel like there’s a lot of growth happening,” said Rice, who lives in the area. “I know a lot of Highland Park people, and they’re all really excited.”
Contact business reporter Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.