People who live or work in northern St. Petersburg’s Carillon neighborhood will be able to enjoy a locally owned breakfast and lunch spot when The Brothers Thomas Bespoke Café opens in December on the ground floor of the WaterView Echelon City Center apartment building at 176 Carillon Parkway. 

The owners are — you guessed it — brothers Luke and Matt Thomas, who hail from Zephyrhills. Luke, 33, is a Principal at Third Lake Partners, a Tampa-based investment advisory firm, while the 35-year-old Matt, who returned to the United States in January after a few years living abroad, will be the café’s primary operator.

The Brothers Thomas Bespoke Café will offer traditional-style coffee beverages — such as espresso, lattes, and flat whites — in portions more in line with how coffee is served in other cultures.

“There will be some sweet drinks, for sure, because a lot of people are going to come in and want them,” Matt said in an interview with St. Pete Rising. “But they are going to be in addition to the mainstays. The focus is on a quality coffee drinking experience, quality over quantity.”

The café won’t have a kitchen but will offer a limited menu of pre-prepared snacks and grab-and-go items such as sandwiches and wraps. But Matt hopes that customers will sit and stay a while.

“There’s such a focus here in the States on things to be fast and immediate, whereas in places like Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, it’s slower,” he said. “There’s more care put into the production and service and attention to small details.”

For non-coffee drinkers, The Brothers Thomas Bespoke Café will have plenty of java alternatives, including cold-pressed juice, tea provided by Tampa-based supplier TeBella, and a style of beverage made from mushrooms called MUD\WTR, which Matt described as “a healthy alternative to coffee that also gives you a little bit of mental focus.”

Matt, who majored in classical studies at the University of Florida, said he’s always enjoyed café culture and would spend his weekends in coffee shops while his classmates partied at bars and nightclubs.

“I’ve always wanted to open a café but always imagined it would be a later-in-life thing,” he said, “after I figured out where I wanted to settle down.”

Matt didn’t settle down for quite a while, moving to Georgia and then North Carolina before heading abroad to China. He was living in Wuhan when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He said his apartment building was “literally across the street” from the wet market where the novel coronavirus is believed to have made the jump from animals to humans.

“Mine was the first apartment building to be locked down,” Matt said. “I was in Wuhan and was just kind of stuck there through all of Covid.”

Finally, when China briefly lifted its travel ban in December 2022, he was able to make his way out of the country, grabbing a flight to Hong Kong. From there, he traveled to Japan and then back to Tampa, crashing at his brother’s apartment until he could figure out his next move.

“I kicked around the idea of going abroad somewhere else, maybe teaching in Europe, maybe trying to open a café,” Matt said. Luke asked him if he would be interested in opening a café in the Tampa Bay area, and the idea for The Brothers Thomas Bespoke Café was born.

The coffee shop, according to Matt, will have a “French countryside” look and feel, with antique clocks fixed up by his grandfather, and a custom table built by a St. Pete woodworker.

“I am more inclined to having things that are original, that have history and a bit of authenticity,” he said. “Things that are real and have weight to them.” 

The Brothers Thomas Bespoke Café hopes to open in December at 176 Carillon Parkway on the ground floor of the WaterView Echelon City Center apartment building in north St. Pete.

The cafe is currently hiring for barista and cashier and interested parties should email a resume to hello@thebrothersthomascafe.com.

For more information and updates, follow The Brothers Thomas Bespoke Café on Instagram.