Downtown Credo, the fair-trade coffeeshop that famously featured a “pay what you want” policy, will close its last remaining location, in downtown’s North Quarter District, on Aug. 25. The reason, according to a post on the company’s Instagram page, is that the landlord of the space, in the Nora Apartment building, declined to renew the lease.
The NoDo location’s closing follows the shuttering of the original Credo in 2020 and another near the AdventHealth medical campus in 2023. Downtown Credo also had a very short-lived outlet in the Downtown YMCA last year.
Downtown Credo was founded in 2011 by Ben Hoyer. The business was purchased earlier this year by Nathan Fields and his wife, Avery, who instituted changes, including set prices for the coffee products.
Rion’s Ocean Room and Gyukatsu Rose will take over the space recently vacated by Skyebird Juice Bar at East End Market. The two-fer concept is from Sonny Nguyen (Domu, Edoboy). Rion’s will feature poke by the pound. Skyebird was one of East End’s charter businesses when it opened 11 years ago.
Upstairs at East End, the space that has been known the past few years as The Neighbors, which featured local retail merchandise and a rotation of food concepts that made use of the incubator kitchen, will now be known as…um…The Neighbors. The Orlando Sentinel’s Amy Drew Thompson wrote that The Neighbors’ current owners, Jacob and Brittany Zepf, will collaborate with East End’s owner, John Rife, and Matt Hinckley of Hinckley’s Fancy Meats in the downstairs market of stalls. Zepf and Hinckley recently opened Mid Drive Dive in College Park. Hinckley will consult and serve as executive chef with Leah Cordova as chef de cuisine. The menu will feature “lighter, brighter fare in shareable plates.” My favorite quote from Thompson’s story is from Rife regarding Hinckley: “Matt has the experience and the chops.” I’ll say, not to mention the steaks, cutlets and, if it’s not being too personal, the loins.
Buca di Beppo, the Orlando based family-style Italian restaurant, this week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This follows the closing in June of several locations, including Maitland, which was Central Florida’s first. Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize while still conducting business. BdB has said it will continue to operate its remaining 44 restaurants – including at Florida Mall and in Celebration – and indeed has another that it plans to open soon. Buca has more than $10 million in dept, $1.36 million of which is for gift cards that have not yet been redeemed. So, tick-tock if you’re holding one of those.
Buca di Beppo joins Red Lobster and Tijuana Flats in bankruptcy court, so it hasn’t been a stellar year for Orlando chains.
You never hear anyone talk about Chapter One bankruptcy. It there a Chapter 12?
