Champaign-Urbana Espresso Royale Coffee will remain open

Espresso Royale Coffee’s parent company in Michigan announced Thursday that the organization would permanently close doors due to the pandemic, but an announcement Thursday afternoon by local management states that Champaign-Urbana locations will “live on.”

“Master roaster Ken (a UI alumnus who got his start as a barista at the Espresso Royale at 1117 W. Oregon Street!) and a small group of people that have been slinging coffee in CU for Espresso Royale since it was called ERC (Espresso Royale Caffe, with two F’s!!!) have opened a new roasting company and re-opened the Champaign-Urbana cafés that we all have known and loved for years,” a Facebook post says.

Under new ownership, the organization will be known as Espresso Royale CU.

“We will still be roasting, bagging, blending, and baking the Espresso Royale coffees, drinks, and pastries and providing the wonderful customer service that you have grown to love,” the statement reads.

Currently the Neil Street location is open with the drive-thru, in addition to walk-up ordering and a new expanded patio seating.

The Village at the Crossing location is open with online ordering ahead and patio seating — both open daily from 7am to 5PM. The Urbana flagship store on Oregon Street should be opening within the next few weeks.

Michigan ownerships released a statement on their website earlier that read:

“Sadly, our company has not survived the coronavirus pandemic. On March 20, 2020, we closed all of our cafes hoping the closure would be temporary. However, as the closure continued, it became impossible for our company to remain viable. Therefore we have permanently ceased all operations, those being our cafes in Champaign/Urbana, Ann Arbor, East Lansing and Madison, as well as our roaster, bakeries, catering, grocery and on-line sales.

The owners say that the closure of the business does not mean it has failed. 

“Since 1987, Espresso Royale has served excellent coffee to millions of customers, has provided good work for thousands of people, and has purchased millions of dollars of goods and services from businesses around the country. We think that’s a success.

“We thank our wonderful baristas, cafe managers, bakers and the entire Espresso Royale family for your excellent and tireless work.

“We thank our customers for favoring us with your business and friendship over the years.We thank our vendors, service providers and landlord partners for your consistent support of our business.”