94.3 The Point: Turnstile Coffee in Belmar Opens Takeout Window

Not only do I love supporting local business (especially during this virus crisis) but this coffee house on Rt. 71 & 16th Ave. is one of my absolute favorites.

The beloved Turnstile Coffee Roasters roasts and makes amazing coffee. And they are an important part of our community.

When the social distancing began, they were doing 'to-go' orders but still felt too many customers were entering the store at once and didn't feel they were, in fact, able to keep that safe distance between people.

So they closed for a couple of days to regroup, and decided to literally create a take-out window! Now THAT'S going above and beyond in order to remain open!

Although you would have to 'off-road' to actually pull a car up, this is the next-best thing: A walk-up, take-out window so that you can still get a hot cup of locally roasted coffee (or the coffee drink of your choice) and you can pick up some coffee beans for your home, too, if you like.

They even had new signs made, courtesy of Ahern Printing in Manasquan.

This is the kind of amazing ingenuity our local business owners are creating in order to continue to serve a community that is missing so many creature comforts these days. With many other local favorites closed, it is downright comforting to know that Turnstile Coffee has adapted to the times.

I spoke with the owner, Mike Ayars, last night and he is just a wonderful human who wants to do good in our community and I am so happy to support him. Here's how he describes the changes to Turnstile Coffee:

"We took a window by our roasting machine and bought and set up a mic/speaker setup like a drive through bank and placed the credit card reader outside of the window for a contactless experience for the customer while ordering.

We then built a temporary swinging door with sliding glass panels that swings into place after we open our permanent door in the morning. That is our pickup window.  It even has a fold out shelf."

Well, Mike, I know I'll be stopping by for another breve cappuccino soon! All my best to you during this difficult time.

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