New on Tap

Progress Coffee to close and make way for beer and coffee concept Wright Bros. Brew & Brew

The decade-old East Side staple, Progress Coffee, will soon be no more. Owner Joshua Bingaman sold the Progress space to Grady Wright, Matt Wright and Matt Bolick who will open Wright Bros. Brew & Brew in a few months' time, specializing in craft beer and coffee.

"After over a year of touring spaces, meeting some whacky property owners and being generally frustrated, the Progress space found us," Bolick tells CultureMap. "The Wright brothers and I couldn't be happier. I have lived in the neighborhood for almost ten years and wouldn't rather set up shop anywhere else."

Bingaman says in an email to CultureMap that though he's closing the Progress locations on East Fifth Street and within TreeHouse, the Progress Coffee Roasting portion of the business "is still going full throttle" and "the Lakeway location is chugging along."

The closure comes at a time when Bingaman is refocusing on his other project, HELM Boots, which just opened its first storefront earlier this month.

As for the budding business taking the keys to the shop, Grady recently told Austin360, “The plan after we launch as Wright Bros. Brew & Brew is to bring in Handsome and Flat Track, two roasters with local origins that we have close ties to. We’ll also offer a rotating selection from other roasters, local or national, that are roasting great coffee.”

On the beer side of the coin, Brew & Brew plans to have more than 40 options on tap, canned and bottled. Bolick says, "With so much great beer being brewed in our home state its easy to dedicate a number of taps to local favorites. The remainder of our line-up will be a rotating number of seasonal, rare and unique beers."

The Wrights and Bolick will run Progress as is for a few months before they rebrand and reopen as Brew & Brew. There are no plans for Brew & Brew to take over other Progress locations.

While waiting for Brew & Brew to officially open sometime this summer or fall, visit Flat Track's small espresso bar in the back of Farewell Books, run by Bolick.

---

Progress Coffee is located at 500 San Marcos Street, Suite 105.

unspecified

Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.