OCEAN CITY – The Coffee Beanery is spreading its wings across the shore with a new Ocean City location as its first standalone café and with plans for more to come.
Dana Gottlobe opened the first Coffee Beanery in the Salisbury Mall over 20 years ago. He later introduced Steve Marcalus to the Coffee Beanery, which led Marcalus to opening the second location on Atlantic General Hospital’s campus in Berlin.
Marcalus explained the Coffee Beanery in Berlin was opened as a concept store inside of the pharmacy, offering coffee, tea, food and gift items.
“It goes back to the maturing of the soda fountain, or the lunch counter in the old time pharmacies. We updated that concept, and it has been fairly successful considering we don’t have a prime location,” he said. “While the pharmacy coffee shop concept has been good, our desire for the last two years was to have another location, to have a standalone coffee shop.”
The two-year search led them to the vacant Susquehanna Bank branch in the 94th Street shopping center parking lot, and Gottlobe and Marcalus signed a 10-year lease in February, beginning construction in May and opening the doors on July 18.
A few key highlights at the Coffee Beanery on 94th Street is its stand-out color scheme of white with black accents as it catches attention while sitting back from Coastal Highway. Also, there is a front porch with outdoor seating, an indoor fireplace with lounge and table seating and new innovative technology with electronic menu boards.
“The most important thing, the bank had a drive thru already, so we kept it and now we have the only drive thru coffee shop in Ocean City … it is very convenient,” Marcalus said.
Gottlobe and Marcalus are currently seeking additional locations from Ocean City to Rehoboth as they plan to open five more Coffee Beanery stores in the next five years. They are currently in negotiations to open a location in front of Wal-Mart on Route 50.
“We really want to build a brand for the Coffee Beanery down here on the shore,” Marcalus said. “What is nice about the Coffee Beanery bean product is it is a high quality product. We work within all rain forest protection organizations and Fair Trade.”
Fair Trade brings products from far-away farms to the shopping cart. According to Fair Trade, products come from 
farmers and workers who are justly compensated. They help farmers in developing countries build sustainable businesses that positively influence their communities.
“The Coffee Beanery franchise model is very good about providing a high quality product and keeping that product fresh,” Marcalus said.
The different types of coffee blends, origins and flavors for sale by the bean, ground and even K cups for Keurig coffee makers include the Beanery Blend, Breakfast Blend, Columbian, Costa Rican, Espresso Perfecto, Ethiopian, French Roast, Guatemalan, Hawaiian Kona, Italian, Jamaican Blue, Kenya AA, Mocha Java, Pacific Dark Roast, Sumatra, Banana Nut Cream, Butter Rum, Café Caramel Cream, Crème Brule, Chocolate Raspberry, Cinnamon supreme, Coco-Mocha-Nut-Delight, Double Dutch Fudge, English Toffee, French Vanilla, German Chocolate, Hazelnut, Hawaiian Coco, Irish Cream, Amaretto, Toasted Almond, Sinful Sundae, Swiss Mocha Almond, Vanilla Nut Cream, Caramel Pecan Pie, and Macadamia Nut. There are also seasonal blends, such as Pumpkin Spice.
Coffee beans are sold by the pound or can be ground upon purchase per the customer’s specific needs, such as French press, electric perk, drips, etc.
Upon entering the Coffee Beanery, a variety of coffee options are available. Usually there is the Beanery Blend, a straight blend, which is a darker roast, decaffeinated and a flavor of the day that is posted on the coffee shop’s several different social media outlets.
The 94th Street location offers on-premise prepared breakfast and lunch sandwiches and baked goods. The other locations have baked goods and other food items delivered, such as muffins from New York or Smith Island cakes made locally.
Other Fair Trade items offered is a wide variety of The Republic of Tea, Koppers, which are chocolate covered espresso beans, chocolate trio malt milk balls, dark chocolate covered pistachios and tiramisu almonds. Additionally, also offered are Ginny Bakes, a gluten free cookies and crackers line.
Coffee Beanery on 94th Street will also be open year-round and plans on hosting open mic nights where locals can come and share their talent. In the off-season, there are plans to stay open into the late evening and in the summer later into the night for patrons to visit and enjoy after dinner coffee and dessert.
To stay up to date with Coffee Beanery, visit their social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Yelp.