{"id":491164,"date":"2026-01-04T06:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T06:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/491164\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T06:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T06:26:33","slug":"cupcake-pioneer-sprinkles-shutters-all-locations-including-one-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/491164\/","title":{"rendered":"Cupcake pioneer Sprinkles shutters all locations, including one in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Houston hospitality group is shifting from operating cafes to selling coffee products to as many people as possible. Rex Hospitality\u2019s decision to focus on products such as cold brew concentrate means that Maven Coffee in Sawyer Yards has closed, but the space will soon reopen as the newest outpost of a growing Houston coffee shop.<\/p>\n

Rex partner Juan Carlos de Aldecoa tells CultureMap that he and his business partners, attorney Jimmy Doan and Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., have turned over the property to Slowpokes<\/strong><\/a>, the growing Houston coffee shop with locations in Garden Oaks, the East End<\/a>, Levy Park, and more. While Rex is still operating Maven Coffee\u2019s shop at the Thompson Hotel<\/a>, the company is actively searching for a new operator who would keep the location open as Maven but free it from day-to-day oversight. The future of Maven\u2019s coffee and cocktail stands at Toyota Center and Daikin Park has yet to be decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cafes are brand plays for us,\u201d de Aldecoa says. \u201cWe\u2019re shifting that a bit. We still have more locations coming, but they won\u2019t be operated by us. They\u2019ll be licensing deals in different developments. That\u2019s our new model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, the company will focus on growing Maven Coffee Company<\/a>, which sells cold brew concentrate and other coffee products to both restaurants and directly to consumers. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a record month-over-month. If we put the right amount of time and effort into this project, we can make a big impact. I feel that\u2019s where our resources are best utilized,\u201d de Aldecoa says.<\/p>\n

Later, he adds, \u201cWe\u2019re in 14 different metros. We\u2019d like to increase that to about 50 through our concentrate and having different sorts of products such as RTDs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rex opened Maven at Sawyer Yards<\/a> in October 2024. Intended to be an all-day cafe, it served coffee and breakfast in the morning as well as a sophisticated dinner menu that included everything from roast chicken and spicy rigatoni to steak and octopus.<\/p>\n

Coming Soon to Sawyer Yards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slowpokes owner Mazen Baltagi tells CultureMap that, after building a friendship with de Aldecoa, he welcomed the opportunity to bring his coffee shop to Sawyer Yards. Having assumed control of the space on January 1, he\u2019s optimistic that the new Slowpokes will open in March. Plans call for replacing the current interior with more homey fabrics and installing vintage speakers that are more in line with Slowpokes\u2019 other shops. He thinks the location is ideal for Slowpokes, which has built a devoted following by selling coffee, beer, and wine that are paired with a diverse food menu built around sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, and breakfast items.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at all of our locations, most of them aren\u2019t necessarily in high-traffic areas. They\u2019re in underserved areas \u2014 besides [nearby] Catalina Coffee, which we\u2019re huge fans of, but they don\u2019t have food [other than pastries] or Wi-Fi,\u201d Baltagi says.<\/p>\n

In particular, Baltagi thinks Slowpokes will appeal both to area residents looking for a coffee shop where they can get a little work done and to people exercising at nearby gyms such as Orange Theory and Momentum Climbing Gym. Slowpokes will also build on some of Maven\u2019s existing events, such as the monthly Cars & Coffee gathering and a weekly run club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a phenomenal brand that can get to 25-plus locations in the Houston area and throughout the state,\u201d de Aldecoa says about Slowpokes. \u201cI think they do a great job. They\u2019ve figured out how to do it at scale. I\u2019m excited for them, and they have a great model.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Houston hospitality group is shifting from operating cafes to selling coffee products to as many people as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":487675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[22790,10319,4345,12212,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-491164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-closings","9":"tag-desserts","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-news-you-can-eat","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115835409748820042","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}