A veteran restaurateur has opened a donut and coffee shop right in the heart of King.
Cup of Joe is the brainchild of Joe Looz, whose family has run Little Italy in King since 2000. The family has three other Italian restaurants, too – in Rural Hall, Burlington and Dobson.
Looz said he decided to branch out for two reasons. “There aren’t any donut places in King,” he said. “And it was always a dream to have a little café with Italian espresso – it’s a culture thing.”
So, though Cup of Joe’s name sounds like just another coffee shop, Looz and manager Gus Ramirez – a longtime friend and former Kernersville police officer – have a lot more going on there.
Cup of Joe makes yeast donuts from scratch and fries them in beef tallow. “We don’t use any seed oils,” Ramirez said.
“The donuts are made fresh daily until we sell out,” he said. “If we have any left over, we donate them – to the fire, police department or employees.
Donuts are available in all the usual flavors, plus the Italian – drizzled with a Nutella icing – and the “Joenut” with an espresso icing.
The shop uses espresso beans imported from Italy for the espresso and Fortuna Coffee, based in Greensboro, for its other coffee.
The shop offers a full line of hot and cold coffee drinks, including cortado, Americano, caramel lattes and more.
There’s also hot tea, Pepsi drinks, smoothies and milkshakes.
The shop also has a lot more sweet treats. Some, like the limoncello or ricotta pistachio cakes, come frozen from Italy. Others, like the croissants and “lobster tail” pastries, come frozen but unbaked from Italy and are baked in the shop. There’s also gelato and ice cream.
Cup of Joe also sells bagels and bagel sandwiches. And it is beginning to branch out into other sandwiches for lunch, including tuna and chicken salad sandwiches and ham and cheese croissants. “We do real good at breakfast, but we’re trying to bring up lunch,” Looz said.
The other day, he even was trying out some Sicilian-style pizza by the slice.
Cup of Joe is housed in a brand-new building that Looz had built after purchasing land at the corner of Pulliam and Main streets – and the shop actually faces Main. The entrance features automatic sliding glass doors. There is seating inside and outside on a covered patio. There also is a drive-thru.
Looz said the building was built with all local companies, including contractor Jonathan Cox, Sprinkles Brick Work, and Hartgrove Lawn Care.
“I want to thank the community for all the support,” Looz said. “We’re a local family business. We’re really tied to the community, and we all try to help each other.”
mhastings@wsjournal.com
336-727-7394
@mhastingswsj
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