Twiggs History

Twiggs was opened in 1992 by composer and arranger Michael Roth and his wife, artist Jill Moon. In pre-opening days, Jill was driving through Old Town and saw a street sign for "Twiggs Street." She thought the name was perfect for a coffee house, and so Twiggs Tea and Coffee was born.

 

After 5 years of running the business, Michael and Jill wanted to pursue other interests, so they sold the coffeehouse in 1997 to Dan Stringfield and Bernie Horan (that's us!).  We've owned it ever since.

 

For the first year, we purchased all our products from other bakeries.  Dan, however, is a professionally trained pastry chef.  After a year or so when we had enough money, we opened a commercial bakery spot about a half a block away from Twiggs.  Soon thereafter, we opened a retail bakery outlet attached to the bakery. 

 

In 2001, we built out a second coffeehouse / cafe location at the base of the El Cortez.  At that time, we decided to close the retail bakery outlet since our original coffeehouse location was only a half a block away.  We ran the El Cortez location for 5 years and then sold it to two of our customers there.  They've since reinvented the place as a wonderful Italian bistro called Soleluna.  They still buy our morning pastries and we deliver them fresh daily to them right before they open. 

 

We're currently building out another location at Adams and Idaho.  This new location will house both our bakery and a retail cafe -- satisfying our long term goal of having the bakery attached to a retail spot.  We anticipate a July / August 2008 opening.

 

 

For many years, our original location had a performance space which was near and dear to many in the local music scene.  Alas, a live music venue on the ground floor and 18 apartments above it don't mix.  We had to end all live music performances in early 2007. 

 

The space is still utilized heavily, however.  Over twenty 12-step groups meet there during the week and Twiggs has become an important place for many in recovery.  We're proud to be part of those lives.

 

 

Our philosophy has always been to provide fresh, delicious food in a cozy, neighborhood setting.  We value our place as a community center in a world that's increasingly disconnected from itself.