The owners of COPA, a cocktail, wine, and tapas bar that opened in fall 2019 at 1047 Central Avenue in the EDGE District, are taking over the adjoining property at 1045 Central Avenue — formerly home to Italy Bottega, an Italian restaurant — and plan to open a daytime café in the space.

“We have some really exciting plans and cannot wait to debut it to everyone,” co-owner Sébastien Thurière said in an interview with St. Pete Rising. He owns and operates COPA along with his brother, Maxim Thurière.

“We want to not only grow our current concept in the evenings,” Sébastien added, “but we’ll be using that space to introduce a new concept in the morning that we're calling Café COPA.”

Café COPA, however, should not be thought of as a separate entity from COPA — more of an “expansion of our current concept and establishment,” Sébastien said. “The expansion will give us the opportunity to offer breakfast, lunch, and café service throughout the majority of the day.”

The café’s menu is still in development, but the brothers said it will feature breakfast sandwiches, pastries, empanadas, smoothies, and a robust selection of small-batch coffee and tea varieties.

Being of Haitian descent, the Thurière brothers also plan to offer items with a Caribbean or Latin American influence.

“We’re trying to keep it small, quick, and efficient,” Sébastien said. “But everything will be made fresh. Other than our sandwiches, we plan to offer locally sourced Caribbean delights such as Brazilian pastels, Argentinian empanadas, Jamaican patties, and more. A full-service coffee and tea bar featuring a variety of Caribbean and Central American espresso beans is also in the works.”

Building on the menu’s theme, Café COPA will showcase a collection of Caribbean and Latin-inspired artwork that will be available for purchase.

“So many people reach out on a weekly basis about our Haitian canvas paintings inside COPA,” Sébastien said. “So we wanted to continue to decorate the new space with original pieces from artists throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.” 

As they’ve done with COPA over the past five years, Sébastien and Maxim want to grow a loyal and local customer base at Café COPA.

“For breakfast and lunch, we want to attract the homegrown people we see day in and day out,” Sébastien said. “We want that repeat customer. Customer acquisition is so difficult and expensive.”

He added, “What we've seen over the past few years given COVID and everything that's happened, is that our customer base has been so loyal. And those are the people who are going to make sure you stay in business. So, we really want to cater to those people and make sure that our prices are at a fair market value so people can afford to visit frequently.”

The new space will also allow COPA to host private events.

“We’ve always said no to event requests because it doesn’t financially make sense for us to close the entire restaurant for a night,” Sébastien said.

Once the cafe is up and running, the second phase of the expansion will include a new cocktail bar that will mirror the same hours of COPA’s current bar and offer a space for additional seating, private parties, and live entertainment. The cafe will have a full bar with all COPA’s favorites as well as a curated cocktail list and extended selection of craft tequila and mezcal.

“With COPA already having a large selection of aged rums,” Sébastien said, “we thought to dive into the world of agave and bring a modest homegrown approach to an industry dominated by so many mainstream labels. We hope to introduce smaller, single-estate labels and offer quarterly spirit tastings in the new space.”

For now, the two COPA entities will retain separate entrances, but the Thurière brothers said they may want to eventually install an internal doorway that will link the two properties.

While COPA as a dark and moody vibe, Café COPA will have a brighter look. “It’s a café,” Sébastien said. “People come in with computers and work and have coffee. We want to create more of a workspace atmosphere where people can hang out.” 

Having the added space will also allow the brothers to offer hookah service indoors. At present, guests can only enjoy hookah on the outdoor patio. “But it’s not always the perfect weather to sit outside,” Sébastien said. “Whether it’s raining, too hot, or too cold. It’s always something.” COPA is one of the few bars in downtown St. Petersburg that offers hookah but it can’t be smoked inside because the bar has a kitchen.

Café COPA doesn’t yet have a firm opening date but the brothers said they expect to be up and running by mid-April.

For more information and updates, follow COPA on Instagram.