Baileys Harbor Group Joins Forces to Buy Bearded Heart

Photo by Rachel Lukas.

Come November, the new owners of the Bearded Heart Coffee Shop in Baileys Harbor will take over the business operation. A group of Baileys Harbor residents and business owners came together earlier this year to buy the coffee shop and retail spaces at the corner of Highway 57 and Howard Avenue. 

The project reunites David Eliot, Baileys Harbor town chair and owner of the Peninsula Pulse; with Tom McKenzie, director of Björklunden and Eliot’s co-founder, in 1996, of the Peninsula Pulse. They’re joined in the effort by McKenzie’s wife Jill Newman, Peninsula Pulse minority owner Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Baileys Harbor residents Dave and Sally Smith. The property was purchased for $810,000. 

The group’s goal is to create a Baileys Harbor coffee shop that’s open every day, all year. 

“Every town needs a coffee shop,” Eliot said. “And not just for caffeine, but for community. A place to bring people together for conversation, for laughs and to cross generational lines.”

One of Eliot’s first jobs in Door County was as a barista at the late Leroy’s Coffee Shop in Ephraim, where workers would grab coffee before their shifts, visitors would get a latte and walk the village, and high schoolers would hang out after school. That vibe is one he hopes to re-create. 

Until November when the new owners take over, Matt and Mary Horton are continuing to operate the Bearded Heart Coffee Shop Saturday-Tuesday, 7 am – 2 pm. 

As part of the purchase agreement, the new owners will change the name of the coffee shop and are looking for a manager with whom to partner. The two-bedroom apartment above the coffee shop has been rented as a short-term rental, but it will be converted to employee housing and could be used as an apartment to house the new manager and/or shop employees. The retail shops behind the store will remain.

Those interested in managing or working at the coffee shop should email [email protected].