Popular coastal NC coffee shop is expanding into the Triangle with 2 new cafes
A coastal coffee brand is expanding into the Triangle this spring with a pair of all-day cafes.
The popular Wilmington-area coffee shop Drift Coffee & Kitchen will open new cafes in Raleigh and Chapel Hill shopping centers this year. Drift’s first coffee shop and restaurant will open in Raleigh’s Ridgewood Shopping Center on Wade Avenue by the end of spring. Two months later, Drift plans to open its second all-day cafe in Chapel Hill’s Village Plaza shopping center off of Elliott Road.
Drift started in 2014, opened by brothers Michael and Ben Powell with a cafe on Ocean Isle, where they grew up surfing.
Michael Powell said he and his brother didn’t grow up with the aromas of coffee filling their house in the morning, that their parents never brewed pots at home. It wasn’t until he started traveling the world as a professional surfer that Powell began to encounter coffee culture.
Powell said that his drive as a professional surfer was all-consuming and unending, but that while living and surfing in Australia and Southeast Asia he started to find moments of relaxation in a cup of coffee.
“I always felt I have so much to achieve in sport to be a person,” Powell said. “In Australia I just wanted to sip coffee and sit there and read....It was a lively environment, socializing on a consistent level.”
Over the last decade, Drift has grown to six locations, all in and around Wilmington. Four operate as coffee shops and restaurants, with substantial food menus alongside craft coffee options. The two others focus on quick-service coffee. All Drift locations brew coffee beans from Wake Forest roaster Black & White.
“We wanted to serve good coffee and inspire modern wellness, the holistic integration of health,” Powell said in a phone interview.
Powell said the new Triangle locations will be the full-service restaurant model, with a full restaurant menu, coffee, and drinks in the evening.
“The highest priority is serving our guests, but that looks different for different people,” Powell said.
Moving into the Triangle is the first expansion for Drift beyond the Powell’s familiar coast. Powell said the Triangle stood out compared to Charlotte or Washington because of its long history with craft coffee and that it is only a day trip away.
“We’re not growing for the sake of growing,” Powell said. “Raleigh is a more mature coffee market, there are great shops like Jubala and Sola who have been around for well over a decade. There are already great experiences built around coffee and dozens of cafes that are doing things really well.”
Powell said that Drift looks to set itself apart among Raleigh’s coffee shops with its food menu, which includes Nutella French toast, a lineup of eggs Benedicts, a burger and chicken sandwich.
“We’re more focused on the food,” Powell said. “We want a lively restaurant with great coffee.”
