More taps, later hours and the same coffee shop feel that has made the downtown business successful: that’s what’s in store for San Juan Coffeehouse… soon to be rebranded as San Juan Brews once again.

New owners took over in the past few weeks, and they bring with them a wealth of knowledge in the industry.

Daniel Richards, who owns Corkscrew Coffee in Ouray and has 14 years experience in the restaurant industry, will run the business side of things and invested in purchasing the business from previous owners John and Davina Pope (they retain ownership of the airport San Juan Coffeehouse location and the San Juan Coffeehouse location in Olathe).

“Sara and I have known each other a long time. Often we talk about doing something together,” Richards said Wednesday. “This one popped up, and we started looking at it.”

The business is already successful, so they looked at it as a good investment.

Sara Doehrman and Patrick Hurtt, who formerly owned and operated a local catering company together, will run the day-to-day operations.

They will retain the current kitchen manager, but Hurtt and Doehrman expressed excitement in what they can offer in the form of food and drink, both having some experience as chefs.

Everything is still in development, but Hurtt will work on curating a menu for evenings. Doehrman has coffee experience, as well.

“We’re going back to San Juan Brews,” Doehrman said. “We’re going to bring back the taps. So we’ll have a bunch of different local microbrews. We’ll also have maybe some kombucha, and just focus on local and fresh and organic where we can.”

Richards said they will keep the same community atmosphere of the coffee shop, but will expand in the evenings.

Eventually, they want to have later hours, with an evening food menu, and they want to host entertainment from time to time.

“Forage,” the name of the kitchen, will go away, and everything will simply fall under the San Juan Brews name.

“The previous owners were easy to work with,” Richards said.

The Popes started their business as a coffee food truck. The side gig expanded eventually, and they were able to open a permanent brick-and-mortar space with former business partners Kevin and Chelsea McHugh at 512 E. Main St. Originally, the business was a brewery and coffeehouse, with guest beer taps as well.

The McHughs branched off and got out of the coffee business, starting Pomona Brewery.

But the Popes continued to grow the business and rebranded and expanded last year, adding the locations in Olathe and Montrose Regional Airport.

The new owners look to keep up the success the Popes saw.

Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.