The Sandbar Cafe is Taking Coffee on the Road in South County

The Sandbar Cafe is Taking Coffee on the Road in South County

There’s a new coffee shop coming to South County - in a trailer.

Narragansett native Brady Hazard is launching the mobile Sandbar Cafe to meet what he says is a market opportunity, with rising brick-and-mortar rents in the community. 

“The idea to even open a local business was one that did not come very easily, I can tell you that,” said Hazard. “I have been toying with the idea for years now to have a breakfast place in Narragansett.”

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“But as someone who lives in Narragansett, I’ve seen over two dozen local restaurants close in the past year due to rising prices and I've seen a local coffee shop that I've been going to since I was four - Cool Beans - just close its doors because [their rent was tripled] and they couldn't manage it.”

So Hazard, who works with Danny Biller at Daisy’s on Point Judith Road, approached his boss with the proposal for a coffee truck. 

“It’s given me a really great opportunity to not only build it from essentially the ground up for us, but to be able to see what is struggling in the market and be able to fit in where people have been losing money in a lot of instances,” said Hazard. 

 

Turning the Dream Into Reality 

Hazard, who is the youngest of three boys raised by a single mom, thought that he might want to pursue teaching - but “due to unforeseen circumstances,” he left URI to take classes online at CCRI while working at Daisy’s. 

“Yeah, it was a breakup,” laughed Hazard. 

And when he started eyeing the idea of launching his own business concept, it was his family that provided some “food for thought.”

“My brother works in Galilee at Champlains in their seafood market. My father used to be a fisherman as well,” said Hazard. “In that area, you can have close to 3,000 tourists a day. And there’s no breakfast. So I said to Danny, let’s capitalize on a market that’s failing. We’ll go down there at 5 AM. [Sell to] fishermen, people taking the ferry, and then we’ll move to the URI area.” 

Hazard said he’s currently “going through a lot more hoops” than they did with Daisy’s for all the required permitting. 

“The town and town council…yeah, they’re sticklers,” laughed Hazard. 

But Hazard is undeterred in his mission. 

“Take places like Nitro Bar…they started off as a cart and now they’re brick and mortar [in Newport] and killing it,” said Hazard. 

There will be baked goods, says Hazard, and everything will be local, right down to using Dave’s Coffee as their supplier.

“So yeah, breakups suck, but I just love that I’ve picked myself up by the bootstraps,” laughed Hazard. “But I own my own company now.” 

Follow the Sandbar Cafe on Instagram to keep an eye on its upcoming activity.