‘A local hangout’: New cafe opens in Surfside Beach, serving fresh coffee and pastries
A new coffee cafe has opened in Surfside Beach — bringing a much needed business to the area.
Milk and Honey Coffee Bar opened on Dec. 13, and is located at 351 US-17 BUS in Surfside, next door to The Original Valentino Italian restaurant and LA Nails.The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day except Monday.
The cafe is run by Mason Zeglen, a Surfside Beach resident and two-time winner of “Guy’s Grocery Games” on the Food Network, as well as a former contestant on “The Big Brunch,” a cooking competition show that aired on HBO Max in November.
Milk and Honey will become a “local hangout spot.”
Milk and Honey Coffee Cafe is bringing unique pastries and coffee drinks to the location, such as an espresso tonic and cruffins — a pastry made with croissant dough in the form of a muffin with filling inside.
Since opening last week, the feedback from the community has been “phenomenal,” Zeglen said.
We’ve had a really strong following already,” Zeglen said. “We’ve had people come in multiple times, you know, even in the first week.”
Only have of the cafe is currently open, leaving a large open space on the other side. Zeglen said he was leaning towards putting a plant store on the other side in the future. For now, the cafe aims to grow for a little longer and become a place for the community.
“We really want this to be that local hangout spot,” Zeglen said. “We want to offer up this cool space to hang out, sip a cup of coffee, eat a little bit of food, get a good start to the day.”
Zeglen said he chose this location for affordability and lack of competition, after traveling the U.S. three times in the last six months trying to find a location for a business.
“I kept falling into the same situation of not being able to afford a place that I really love or there not being any opportunities to get my foot in the door,” Zeglen said.
Local shops in the area have shown their support already, Zeglen said. An employee at Delta Dispensary said that it was nice to have someone in the area open during the mornings, since most businesses on the block have only night hours.
“It’s nice to have them in the area,” Sabrina Papotto, owner of Delta Dispensary next door said.
While not hiring at the moment, Zeglen said he was looking to hire more kitchen staff and another barista in the future.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 8:00 AM.