CROWN HEIGHTS — Since it first opened three years ago, Franklin Avenue's Breukelen Coffee House has been among the go-to hangouts in Crown Heights, the kind of place where rabbis sip Stumptown next alongside aspiring screenwriters.
Soon, those same customers could be sipping Stella.
The coffee house announced plans to expand its offerings as well as its hours this winter, looking for a license to pair beer and wine with music and comedy.
"So many people want to hang out longer and finish their work around the time that we close, and financially it doesn’t make sense to stay open unless we have something else," said owner Frank Warren, 31. "A lot of us drink coffee at 7 or 8 at night, but if we have music or some event it seems like it would be easier to draw people in with beer and wine."
The coffee house currently closes at 7p.m., but Warren said evening events were always part of the plan.
"This is our first business, and we’re learning on the job," Warren said. "[The beer and wine license] took way longer than we anticipated it would."
The Breukelen team will present their plans to Community Board 8 for approval this week. If all goes well, they hope to put in an official application with the State Liquor Authority later this month, and begin serving alcohol later this year.
"My total vision of the shop is more than just a coffee shop," Warren said. "It’s not just music, not just open mike — maybe comedy, maybe movie night. The sky’s the limit."
