26-01-2025
New coffee bar with 'New York City feel' opens in downtown Taunton. What's on the menu?
TAUNTON — The pieces appear to have fallen into place for Pastor David Stratton and his wife Michelle.
It's been nearly two years since the Strattons told the Taunton Daily Gazette that their plans for relocating their New Hope Christian Chapel from Easton to downtown Taunton would incorporate both a youth-oriented 'community center' and a separate, for-profit coffee bar.
Their non-denominational Christian church, now known simply as New Hope, has been holding Sunday services since July of 2023 inside the former Forman's men's clothing store at 49-53 Main St.
But it wasn't until this past year's annual Lights on Festival, held on nearby Taunton Green the evening of Dec. 7 — as part of the city's traditional 'Christmas City' celebration — that both The Center on Main community center and a coffee-and-sandwich business called Identity Coffee Co. were introduced to the public.
'It was crazy busy — a real festive mood,' said veteran Taunton City Councilor David Pottier, describing the scene that night inside the Main Street building where Identity Coffee Co. is now percolating.
Pottier said he's impressed with the extensive renovation that was undertaken during the past couple of years to completely transform what, for more than half a dozen years, had been the single largest, vacant storefront property in the central business district.
'It's a great space [and] a great addition to the downtown,' he said.
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The Identity Coffee Co. menu includes more than a dozen espresso and in-house coffee creations; half a dozen tea selections; and a frozen drink section chock full of smoothies and 'refreshers' with ingredients such as watermelon, elderberry, cucumber and açaí.
Hungry customers — who either can carry out or stay and relax on Art Deco-style couches and cushioned chairs — also have the option of ordering breakfast and lunch sandwiches and wraps.
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Manager Joshua Silver said hours of operation, for the time being, are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. He also anticipates the inclusion of an outside, walk-up ice cream window next spring.
Silver described his meal staples as 'simple sandwiches' that don't require a separate kitchen: 'We just have a small oven and toaster,' he said.
He currently manages a staff of 12, three of whom are full-time employees.
More varieties of coffee, Silver said, will eventually be available to augment the bolder Ethiopian, Peruvian and Columbian blends that have been poured since the Taunton business officially opened on Dec. 16.
Identity Coffee Co. operates its own roastery in the town of Westminster in Worcester County.
Silver, 44, says his professional background includes stints from Attleboro to Boston working as a cook, chef and bar manager.
He foresees occasional live music eventually being played using the stage area where New Hope church services are held each Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon.
Silver estimated that 80% of his customers have been dining in as opposed to picking up takeout orders.
'It's a pretty unique place,' he said.
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Customer Sean Andrews of Taunton was among a group of six who on a recent Saturday afternoon patronized Identity Coffee Co. for the first time.
'I started following it on Instagram,' Andrews, 54, said. 'It doesn't feel like Taunton. The space has kind of a New York City feel.'
His friend Tim Hebert agreed and said that Identity Coffee Co., in tandem with the non-profit The Center on Main — with its ping pong and pool tables upstairs in the building's elevated loft area — 'I started following it on Instagram,' Andrews, 54, said. 'It doesn't feel like Taunton. The space has kind of a New York City feel.'
Silver said he met co-owner Jonathan Cashman — who, with his wife Britney, owns Identity Coffee Co. and its six New England locations — through Taunton-based Christian music recording artist Eric Lee Brumley.
The Cashmans, who previously lived in Nashville for 14 years, at one time toured as a duo performing as 'contemporary Christian' musicians and songwriters. Jonathan, a Rhode Island native, and Britney, who grew up in the Bay State, have since moved back to Massachusetts.
The couple, in 2022, bought what was then a single coffee shop called Identity Coffee Lab in the small town of Rindge, New Hampshire.
Since then, and before expanding into Taunton and Bristol County, they opened Identity Coffee Co. locations in the town of Meredith and ski resort Waterville Valley, both in New Hampshire, as well as Fitchburg and ski destination Wachusett Mountain in Massachusetts.
Downtown business and property owner Jose Bejarano bought the vacant and rundown Forman's building in 2017.
Bejarano is sole proprietor of a haberdashery at 40 Main St. known as TuxTowne by Bejarano, which sits directly across from the former Forman's site. He also owns buildings and storefronts on the same side of his tuxedo shop, as well as commercial property on Cedar and Trescott streets.
Bejarano says he has a sublease agreement with David and Michelle Stratton whereby they are entitled to collect rent from Identity Coffee Co.
He said he was less than enthusiastic when David Stratton initially approached him about leasing the building for another 'storefront church.'
But the parties subsequently came to a rent-to-own agreement after the Strattons told him about their plan to include a teen-centric community center and a for-profit coffee bar.
'There's a trend now for coffee businesses to lease space from a church,' said Bejarano, who added that he likes the idea of providing a safe haven for teens without displaying traditional religious symbols.
Bejarano says the arrangement should prove mutually beneficial in another way: When prom season rolls along he expects some of his high school customers will venture across the street to the coffee shop and community center while waiting to be fitted.
Michelle Stratton said that she and her husband, Pastor David Stratton, got a helping hand from Taunton's Office of Economic and Community Development in applying and qualifying for a $225,000 MassDevelopment grant as part of its Underutilized Properties Program.
Stratton says she and her husband intended to buy the building from Bejarano, but in order to comply with the terms and requirements of the state grant were obliged to sign a five-year lease with an option to buy.
'They don't want you to flip it for a quick profit,' she said.
She said in addition to paying for an ADA-compliant elevator lift, the money went towards a major overhaul of the building including heating and air conditioning, a new sprinkler system and electrical upgrades.
Other sources of funding, Stratton said, came from donations and the sale of the church's property in Easton. The final price tag for code upgrades and renovations, she said, easily surpassed $500,000.
'It took us two and a half years,' she said.
Stratton said that she and her husband decided to leave Easton for a larger urban center in order to reach more people.
They initially considered Brockton but opted for Main Street Taunton on the advice of their friend Becky Piscitelli, a devout Christian and owner of Cards and Pockets, which now occupies 64 Weir St. that once was home to the BaHa Brothers Sandbar Grill.
'We felt it would be integral for people to gather around food and drink, and we knew we wanted to be in a city,' Stratton said.
Colleen Simmons, executive director of the Taunton Business Improvement District, which charges property owners a small fee for year-round beautification and cleanup services, is convinced Identity Coffee Co. will not adversely affect the nearby Maria's Place breakfast and lunch restaurant.
She also doesn't think it will draw business away from Neighbors Coffee & Co. on Weir Street.
'When you have multiples of the same kind of business it's an indication of a thriving downtown,' Simmons said.
Local historian, author and Bridgewater State University professor Bill Hanna says the building at 49-53 Main St. was owned and occupied by J.C. Penney Company (now known as JCPenney) from 1931 to 1960.
Two years later, in 1962, it became known as Forman's, Hanna said.
City Councilor David Pottier, 60, says he remembers when Forman's was still thriving: 'I think I got my first suit there,' he said.
This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Identity Coffee Co. opens in Taunton's Center on Main. What's on menu?
