Coast Roast Coffee has quietly entered the Port Royal scene, taking over and rebranding the former Corner Perk.
New owners Camie and Ryan Messick bought the coffee shop from Josh Cooke, who, while running two other locations in Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, decided to sell this Corner Perk outpost.
“My mom actually worked at the one in Bluffton. She found out he wanted to sell this spot and knew that we always wanted to come back to South Carolina. My parents threw the idea out,” Ryan told What Now Charleston.
The Messicks met in college in South Carolina but moved to Michigan after graduation, where they ran a bakery in Ann Arbor.
“His parents retired down there, and we’re like, ‘We either do it now or when the kids graduate high school.’ We have two little ones, so we just bit the bullet and did it,” Camie told What Now Charleston.
“We talked about it and decided, ‘Let’s go!’ We sold everything out there [in Michigan] and moved down here, and now we’re doing coffee full time,” Ryan said.
The name Coast Roast cleverly nods to both the duo and the coastal location.
“Coast Roast is like Camie and Ryan. We’re also on the coast and we’re roasting,” Camie said.
The interior features light blue accents and highlights local artists, while Camie also contributes her own work, painting an outdoor mural with coastal-inspired designs.
Housed in a rustic, historic building that once served as a train ticket booth, the storefront sits next to a caboose where Ryan will soon roast all the coffee beans. He is currently sourcing coffee from Jacksonville and Wisconsin.
Like Corner Perk, the menu features classic coffee and espresso drinks, along with breakfast burritos and sandwiches. Drawing on his bakery experience, Ryan will put his own stamp on the offerings by baking all the pastries, including muffins, scones and biscotti.
“We made a couple of tweaks to the menu,” Ryan said. “Homemade syrups, we’re still doing that which is great. We make all our syrups from scratch. It’s so good and we can have fun with it and make new flavors.”
Camie continued, “We just added the caprese toast to our menu. It’s a pesto aioli, mozzarella, tomato, and a balsamic reduction. It’s nice and fresh, not heavy.”
The duo said the community has been very responsive to the rebrand.
“I feel like everybody’s been very supportive with all the changes. I think they’re very happy to see us here. We’re the owners, and we’re here, and we care. Everybody’s been so nice and welcoming,” Camie said.
The team is also getting to know the regulars.
“That’s what I like about the area–all the regulars. They come in, we know them by name, and we joke around with them,” she said.
Looking ahead, Ryan hopes to place Coast Roast products in other small bakeries, cafes and local grocery stores to “slowly expand the coffee.”
Visit the Coast Roast Coffee website and follow along on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates.
