Cville’s Mudhouse Coffee to open long-planned Richmond cafe next month

Charlottesville-based Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters is planning to open a cafe at 418 W. Broad St. next month. (Jack Jacobs photo)

More than four years in the making, a Charlottesville-based coffee company’s long-planned downtown Richmond location has set its opening date.

Mudhouse Specialty Coffee Roasters is aiming to open its new cafe at 418 W. Broad St. in August.

The company has been working on the new spot since purchasing the building just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which James Hutchins, Mudhouse operations director, blamed for the delay.

“I went down with the owners and we were looking at the space in January 2020 and then the pandemic came along, which really slowed everything down. Not just our ability to move forward but also the ability of the city to move forward (with permitting),” Hutchins said.

He said Mudhouse is underway on hiring employees for the Richmond shop and taking care of a late bit of city approval needed to open.

“We have permitting, aside from the final health inspection. We’re rolling stuff in right now as far as supplies. All our equipment is there and ready and it’s really all about stocking it up and setting it up,” Hutchins said in an interview this week.

The Richmond location is expected to have indoor seating for 20 to 30 people. Hutchins said there are plans to open a patio space in the back of the building at some point. The Arts District building was previously home to Studio 418, near the intersection of Broad and Belvidere.

An entity tied to the company bought the 3,800-square-foot Broad Street building in December 2019 for $1.15 million.

Mudhouse serves coffee that the company roasts itself in Charlottesville. The new cafe also will sell baked goods as well as bagel sandwiches.

Owners Lynelle and John Lawrence started Mudhouse as a coffee cart in the early 1990s. The company has three locations in Charlottesville and one in nearby Crozet. The Richmond location is part of the company’s push to expand beyond its home city. Last year, it opened a location in Charleston, South Carolina. It also is planning an outpost in Alexandria.

In other local coffee moves, the Daily Coffee Co. truck recently began to operate, and franchised chain of drive-thru cafes 7 Brew is working on opening locations in Chesterfield.

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