TEA, S.D. (KELO) — The coffee bar tucked away in Tea may look unsuspecting… but inside is a community staple.
“So, it happened during COVID and shortly after, I started working on it. It was about an 18-month process for me. I just knew that we needed something here in our community. And so, I thought, well, I’ll just start working on it and see if it comes together. And it did,” said current Zooks Coffee Bar owner and operator Linda Kokenge.
Zooks Coffee Bar was opened in 2021 Kokenge, who says it was always a dream of hers to open a coffee shop. Luckily for Sharif Welch and her husband Vince, it’s also been their dream to buy a coffee shop.
“It’s kind of been a dream of ours. And the timing was just right in our season of life,” said new co-owner Sharif Welch.
Kokenge says she’s been thinking of selling the shop for a while, but it’s been hard to let go of. Finding new owners who are the right fit has helped the process.
“And training and talking through all the things with the new owners has been really enlightening for me to, kind of it made me look back at what I’ve created outside of it, and I’m really excited about that and I’m really proud of it,” said Kokenge.
As far as changes for the shop, the Welches plan to keep the Zooks that its customers know and love.
“I want to change as little as possible on the front end because I think the community would want everything to stay as much the same as possible,” said Vince Welch.
But the new owners aren’t the only ones who hope to keep the shop the same. Dave Roetman has been coming to Zooks almost every day, starting around the time it first opened.
“Well, I’d say that as long as it remains comfortable and relatively quiet so I can do my work. And if the coffee changes, it’ll have to be good,” said Roetman.
