Lyrics Cafe Prepares to Open in November

Rob Hankins speaks in grandiose terms when describing his venture, Lyrics Cafe, which is soon to open in the former Coffee Cottage building at 808 E Hancock St. in Newberg.

And then, he’s quick to recognize that he’s speaking in grandiose terms. And then, quick to say that no matter how grandiose those terms may sound, they truly capture his excitement and feelings toward what the forthcoming cafe can become.

“Listen, I was a lit major,” he said, chuckling. “All of this sounds really grandiose and bombastic to me as I say it out loud, but it’s truly how we feel.”

After a long summer of fixing, shifting, reorganizing, permitting, and cleaning the former Coffee Cottage Coffeehouse, the Hankins are ready to reopen Newberg’s first coffee shop under the new name in November.

Lyrics Cafe Owners: Rob and Lindsey Hankins

Dr. Lindsey Hankins, Rob’s wife, became an Assistant Professor of Theology at George Fox University in 2021. While she was commuting from the East Coast, Rob wrapped up their life in New Jersey and prepared to move the family out West. After 20 years working in the Young Life religious teen support organization, he felt ready for a change. And Newberg could provide that opportunity.

Once he arrived, he and Lindsey started exploring the possibility of opening a cafe. And then, Coffee Cottage was listed for sale.

“Throughout this process, I’ve learned how much this particular place means to this community,” Rob said. “And now, I’m really trying to steward that.”

For example, Rob needed to remove the large fireplace in the middle of the dining area. But something so striking would be noticed upon reopening. So, he and his demo team (his father-in-law) are removing and cleaning each brick to build back into the space as an homage to the old Coffee Cottage fireplace.

Rob hopes his efforts to retain the building’s history will honor the many memories locals and tourists made at the coffee shop over the years and encourage them to continue supporting it for many more.

“Every time the door is open as we’re working on the building, people from out of town heading out to the coast come in — it was obviously their stop,” Rob said. “I think learning that has been a really fun part: there are so many people who love this space.”

Rob Felton, Chief of Staff for the President of George Fox University (the university purchased the building in early 2023; see more below), said Rob Hankins was the right fit for the building. The team at George Fox interviewed over 10 potential operators, and the Hankins stood out.

“Rob has the vision and enthusiasm,” Felton said. “We really liked his vision a lot. Plus, you’ve got to have a fire in your belly to do this properly, and he absolutely has that.”

Coffee Cottage to Lyrics Cafe: The Changes

While Rob hopes to retain some of the charm of the Coffee Cottage, his work this summer has been as functional as it has been aesthetic. The kitchen was moved entirely to encourage faster and more seamless service. They made several updates to the building to bring it up to code. But also, they’ve been developing an aesthetic that continues the building’s reputation as “Newberg’s Living Room.”

Rob said that Lindsey has a unique eye for interior design, developing mood boards and swatches for a modern, cozy feel. In fact, Lindsey says that if she wasn’t teaching theology at George Fox, she’d likely be an interior decorator.

“Walking into a room and trying to find out how to make beauty out of chaos, how to create something that feels like a home, like a place where you can put your feet up where you feel absolutely loved,” she said in a Meet the Professor video produced by George Fox. “It’s silly how much good lighting, not ugly paint color, and the right place to put a couch actually matters.”

The interior will still feature comfortable, plush chairs alongside classic cafe tables. The outdoor area and surrounding gardens are also being maintained.

One of the biggest changes, Rob said, will be to the menu.

“The menu is going to shift, and it’s going to shift enough that I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling this place Coffee Cottage anymore,” Rob said. “We’re going to put a lot more emphasis on food. We’re going to do coffee really well — my guess is that people will still call us a coffee shop — but we’re going to be a full-service fast-casual restaurant.”

Rob hired a cafe in Chicago called Blackberry Market to help out as consultants. “Blackberry Market is a fast-casual cafe and bakery… offering up daily handcrafted meals, dinners to-go, premium coffee drinks, memorable baked goods, and a robust catering menu,” according to the Blackberry Market website.

The Lyrics Cafe menu is still being finalized, but Rob said one thing is for certain: they are going to have breakfast options.

“There’s a line in the NBC show, Parks and Rec: ‘There has never been a sadness that can’t be cured by breakfast food’,” Rob said. “I like the joke of it, but I mean it fairly earnestly too. Going out and getting breakfast with someone can be a really special thing.”

George Fox University’s Purchase of the Coffee Cottage Building

Coffee Cottage was nothing short of an institution in Newberg, and Hankins knows it. The shop opened in 1990, serving Newberg some of its earliest cups of specialty, second-wave coffee.

Previous owners Sally and Dave Mehler sold the Coffee Cottage business to Demetri Tsohantaridis, a local attorney, in 2018. The Mehlers then sold the main building to George Fox University in December 2022, and Tsohantaridis sold the annex drive-thru building in January 2023.

However, the university purchased the land and building, but not the Coffee Cottage name or the underlying business.

“The business was shutting down, and not a single operator we interviewed wanted to operate under the Coffee Cottage name,” said Felton. “So we didn’t buy the business, but we bought the underlying property, and we’re very hopeful and excited about the new partnership.”

Felton said the building was important for the George Fox community, and they had a vested interest in keeping it not only open but operating as a fun, casual business where students, professors, and community members could gather.

“It’s an asset right at the edge of our campus,” Felton said. “Students use it all the time as a meeting place, professors use it as a second office. It makes Newberg a better place to live.”

George Fox operates as a standard landlord, said Rob Hankins. They own the building, help make tenant improvements, but otherwise, they’re handing the keys over to Lyrics to execute his vision.

“They bought this place because they saw it as an important place for the community, and a place they could keep running as a bridge to the community,” Rob Hankins said. “It seems like they went with me because I was going to keep it operating the way it was — as a community space — and I think that was important to them.”

Lyrics Cafe does not have a hard opening date, but encourages the community to stay tuned at lyricscafe.co and on Instagram. Lyrics is currently hiring staff! If you’re interested, stop by and ask for Rob.