After ten years, Jo Momma’s Coffee closed its doors, sort of. Though marked as ‘permanently closed’ on Yelp, Jo Momma’s is alive and well. It’s just in a different location. The reason for the closure was due to money. With new ownership of the property, the coffeehouse’s rent had doubled and though Jo Momma’s would have survived, owners Michael and Mary Kay Kidd, would not be able to continue doing what they started selling coffee for in the first place; giving.
Since its inception, all the profits of the shop were donated to help those in need.
“My wife and I inherited a little money and we didn’t really need it.” Michael Kidd said, “My mom had left it with the idea to give something back.”
Jo Momma’s has done just that. The shop donated $30,000 to build a water pump in Africa and helped build an outdoor amphitheater for Midland School in Santa Ynez. It has also raised $10,000 to aide in maintenance of the Bob Jones Trail, as well as, donated funds to schools throughout San Luis Obispo County.
“For the past 7 years, it made money and we were able to do it,” Kidd said,” but as the rents kept rising, we couldn’t do the fun part; we couldn’t give the money away. With the last rate increase, it was just impossible.”
Even the concept of the coffee shop originated from trying to fill a need for the Avila Beach community. After the Unocal oil spill clean up, the beach town was slow in recovering.
“We thought that if we had a coffeehouse, it would kind of bring the community together and give it a little hangout,” Kidd said.
Instead of closing up shop and laying off their employees, Jo Momma’s relocated to the Inn at Avila Beach’s rooftop where it will continue its philanthropic work. Unfortunately, it’s not open to the general public, but only for guests of the inn. Kidd says that it is his hope to, one day, open the rooftop to the public.
“I’m afraid we would be mobbed if we opened to the public,” he said. “We were busy before and I’m afraid we would be overwhelmed and the hotel guests wouldn’t get in. So, we’re going to open it for the hotel guests first, but with 10 years of experience in the community, we would like to open it up to regulars if we could.”
Jo Momma’s will still serve Intelligentsia coffee and will continue to sell baked goods from local vendors like the Back Porch Bakery and Splash Café. Despite some new amenities like a 50’screen TV and a fresh orange juice maker, the coffeehouse will remain the same.
Though skeptical at first of the stay-cation concept, Kidd has seen the idea gain traction. He believes that the hospitality industry is shifting away from luxury and moving toward providing experiences for their clientele. Kidd said that he spoke with a couple prior to this interview that had come up the road from Pismo Beach to stay at the Inn. Tote bags, an hour free rental of bikes, movies under the stars, and fresh baked pie and ice cream are all part of the experience the inn offers to help make that lasting memory, and now there’s the rooftop attraction.
“This idea that you have a neighborhood coffeehouse in the middle of a hotel on a roof with an ocean view is something no one else has in California,” said Kidd. “We looked.”
The Kidds encourage locals to come stay. Deals can be made for special events like anniversaries and birthdays if a guest is able to stay between Sundays through Thursday.
By Mark A. Diaz
