Something’s Brewing at Spring Lake Coffee House

Rob Yanosey decided to “fast-track” his retirement plan – at the tender age of 29.  The Spring Lake Heights resident recently opened Spring Lake Coffee House at 1309A Third Ave., following a stint as a bond trader in Philly.

“I’ve always loved coffee shops and wanted to open one up down the road, maybe after I retired. Since I had already quit my job and felt like I could take my life in any direction, I thought this was as good a time as any to try my hand at running my own business, specifically a coffee shop,” he stated.

The modest shop is definitely making a small carbon footprint with most of its products coming from local distributors, not shipped nationwide.  Mouth-watering baked goods like muffins, cookies such as chocolate-covered Oreos, crumb cakes measuring close to four inches, and cupcakes are made right down the street at Chocolate Carousel, Wall.  Beans for Spring Lake Coffee House’s awesome coffees are from Jersey Shore Coffee Roasters, Leonardo, who imports and roasts them before sending them to Yanosey.  OK, the bagels aren’t necessarily “local,” but are trucked in daily from Staten Island – close enough.  Popular Hampton’s Cookies from N.Y. are also available.

Entering the café you are surrounded by the great aroma of java, in a soothing, serene setting with several birch-top tables and plenty of seating.  A 30-foot birch counter displays baked goods, fresh beans available by the pound, and an iPad cash register – which customers consider a pretty cool little piece of technology.  Slate menu boards display the menu which begins at $1 for cookies and $1.25 for bagels, and runs to $14.99 for Panama Boquete Classico or Espresso Blend coffee by-the-pound.

Why open yet another coffee shop; isn’t there one on almost every street corner?  Not necessarily, at least in Spring Lake.

“There isn’t really a Starbucks too close – you have to get out to the highway to get there. I’m not intimidated by other coffee places,” stated Yanosey.

He also did his homework, sampling – OK, maybe just trying to stay awake ­– hundreds of cups of coffee during his country-wide travel post-bond trader and prior to opening, although, he admits this wasn’t “test-tasting,” rather “fun and adventure.”

Following his journey came time to get down to brass tacks.  A convenient commute wasn’t why Yanosey settled on Spring Lake.

“I chose Spring Lake as a location because I wanted to open a coffee shop near the beach, and after looking around, decided that I should do it in a nice area with good foot traffic – and I was familiar with Spring Lake because I already had friends in the area,” stated the laid-back Yanosey.

He compliments Spring Lake in his somewhat standard name for his café, and noted “I didn’t want to go with an overly witty name or anything that would grow stale with time, and I figured that the name Spring Lake is a name that conjures up nice images anyway, so why not use it?”

Nothing is growing stale at Spring Lake Coffee House, thanks to the premium, fresh ingredients it uses, about which Yanosey stated, “We hope that the quality of our ingredients is what separates us. We use high-quality coffee and espresso beans for all our coffee drinks and we use fresh lemons for making our lemonade. I'd rather spend a little extra to make a very good drink than go cheap and try to capture the discount coffee market.”

Consistent foot traffic – all ages and genders – obviously approves of this, and in the short time frame of two months, Spring Lake Coffee House has expanded to a staff of eight.  The shop not only brings in tourists, but has already established a loyal fan base of several regulars, mostly people employed on Third Avenue, and Yanosey noted, “There actually haven’t been any celebrities that I know of, but I’m sure they’ll start flooding in soon.”

Celebrities or not, Yanosey aims to please, and while he may add more to his menu during the off-season, when things are slower, has already taken the bull by the horns – pardon the pun to his former vocation – and added requests from clientele as he’s gone along.  Bagels, hot chocolate, lemonade from fresh-squeezed lemons – all additions from customer requests.

Yanosey isn’t the typical boss merely overseeing Spring Lake Coffee House, rather he gets right in there with his employees, stating “I like making café lattes.  I don’t really despise making anything. This coffee shop is definitely my passion right now, but it goes beyond just coffee. I’m really enjoying running a small business, getting to know all the customers, and dealing with the various problems and headaches that pop up.”

The café owner does get to know all his customers primarily in the early morning to noon, then later in the afternoon, which he noted were the busiest times.  Early afternoon on a recent Thursday, customers were steady enough that a line formed along the counter, and included java lovers from as far away as Shrewsbury.  Most took advantage of the comfy seating and were just there to relax, although they could have also taken advantage of the coffee shop’s free WiFi.

While it’s still too soon to tell exactly what brew is most popular, Yanosey did allude that iced coffee seems to be the “signature drink.”

“A lot of people love our strong iced coffee – it’s a little more expensive than the regular iced coffee, but it’s worth it if you like coffee,” he noted.

Hot coffee or iced, the café accommodates any and all unique requests for java.

“We do take special orders.  I don’t know if this request was ‘bizarre,’ but I was impressed with one customer’s caffeine intake when she ordered our strong iced coffee – which is already brewed with twice as much coffee – and then asked to add two shots of espresso to it,” he commented

The subdued Yanosey may indulge in an iced coffee – or shot or two of espresso – himself, during what he commented was the best part of his day, “When things are running smoothly and I can just get some things done on my laptop sitting on the couch in the coffee shop, while my employees take care of any customers coming in.”

He may own and run a coffee shop, yet his life’s not all coffee, and Yanosey admitted, “I like to sit outside and enjoy the summer weather while having a cigar and a glass of whiskey with my friend Ray – I was his best man at his wedding this past Friday.”

Although it seems beans are in his blood for now, “I’d like to think I’ll do a lot of things in my life – I’m still young,” Yanosey said, and continued, “As for if this is a starting point or not, I’d like to take one thing at a time.  I’ll worry about additional things once I have this running exactly how I want it.”

The coffee house’s website is presently being tweaked, but it has a Facebook page.

Spring Lake Coffee House is open Monday-Sunday from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Its phone number is 732-449-4612, and Facebook address is www.Facebook.com/SpringLakeCoffeeHouse.