There’s a new coffee shop in downtown Orillia.
Starlight Cafe recently opened and has quickly become a place to gather for “superb” coffee and fresh baked goods.
Tiffany and Nicholas Leicht opened the coffee shop on Oct. 8 at 125 Mississaga St. E., in the building formerly occupied by 125 Breakfast Club.
It’s the young couple’s first retail business venture, after Tiffany started a home-based baking and specialty coffee business about a year ago.
“We’ve been wanting to have a cafe for quite a while. It’s been our dream,” said Tiffany.
Nicholas’s barber told him the store was available after the restaurant closed March 31. The Leichts signed a lease in April and got to work in early May renovating “everything.”
“We did a whole makeover of this place,” said Tiffany.
“It was quite a venture,” said Nicholas.
They replaced the flooring, wainscotting, chair rail and trim. There’s all new cabinets and counter tops and freshly renovated bathrooms.
The former entrance bench was cut and sanded and fitted into the window space and a glass wall partition was added at the entrance.
Nicholas designed all the lighting including accent and overhead fixtures. There are receptacles near every table and the cafe has free, fast WiFi, Nicholas said.
“We want it to be a welcoming community space for people to come and feel comfortable to do their work and coming here to meet people and friends for coffee,” Nicholas said.
Starlight Cafe is sourcing its fresh roasted coffee beans from Mark IV Brothers Roasters in Orillia. They are making all the specialty coffees in a hot or cold format, caffeinated or decaffeinated. Beverages include espresso, cappuccino, Americano, soft whites, lattes, matcha and chia.
The fall menu consists of apple pie latte, maple latte, pumpkin spice latte and spice pear matcha. There is a choice of whole milk, skim milk, lactose-free milk and oat milk.
Tiffany also makes some of the flavoured syrups, including the apple pie syrup, which is the shop’s most popular flavour currently.
Starlight is a nut-free facility, but Nicholas said they can’t control some ingredients that “may” contain nuts.
Tiffany does the baking. During the soft launch period, she’s been making muffins and cookies, but she said she has plans to expand the menu to include scones, loaves and squares.
“We are equal parts bakery and cafe,” said Nicholas. “We are always evolving. Now that we have a larger space to do things, we can experiment with a larger menu.”
Starlight has a fridge in the front of the store and they are developing sellable items such as pasta salad, drink options and other grab-and-go items.
The shop is also open to local vendors and artisans. They have partnered with The Makers Circle of Orillia, which is supplying local art for a large wall space. The collection will be rotated on a regular basis.
So far, the store is selling scented candles and crocheted creatures.
Starlight is open seven days a week. Monday to Thursday they are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday they are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Currently, it’s just Nicholas and Tiffany, but they are looking to add staff as they grow.
“We will want to continue with the longer hours. We want to build up the business to where we could step away if needed,” he said.
For more information, visit their Instagram page.
