Onyx Coffee Lab
Designers | Jon Allen & Bradley Edwards
Location | Bentonville, AR, USA
Launch date | February 27, 2020
Our newest cafe is located in the atrium of The Momentary, a contemporary performing arts space. The building was formerly a cheese factory, and our cafe is located in the old milk receiving bay.
This cafe is a space that juxtaposes high end, handmade beverage service, enjoyed in-house, against robotic made to-go drinks. The seating is within the actual coffee bar, which is composed of beautiful, pink and cream terra-cotta tiles and soft hues that compliment it. All these pinkish, papaya and peachy hues shine right through the coffee bar, which is made entirely of glass and contains two Modbar group heads and steam wands with custom heat-resistant plexiglass tops for the modules that live under the bar.
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The coffee bar itself was designed to be transparent, offering a look inside the machinery. We wanted to minimize the barrier between customer and barista, as we find it creates a different attitude and conversation in the cafe.
We serve oat milk based beverages as a default and up-charge for dairy, flipping the script on the traditional cafe approach to espresso and milk drinks. It saves us costs and energy in refrigeration because oat milk can be stored unopened without refrigeration, unlike dairy milk.
The conveyor belt was installed for food and drink delivery of to-go items and as a little futuristic nod to the building’s industrial production past. The belt we repurposed was originally made for the manufacture of small electronics. We re-coated it with food-safe latex, and it runs from the kitchen, through the cafe and into the museum lobby, where guests can pick up their food & drink.
