Daily Bird Officially Opening Riverwest Cafe
The coffee shop, which started as a pop-up, will open in former Fuel Cafe space.
The Daily Bird, 818 E. Center St. Photo by Graham Kilmer.
The Daily Bird is opening its new brick and mortar cafe Thursday Dec. 2.
The coffee shop began in April 2021 as a pop-up operating out of the front windows at Cafe Centro at 808 E. Center St. in Riverwest. In October, it began its move down the block into the former Fuel Cafe space at 818 E. Center St.
Fuel closed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Less than a year later, the Daily Bird opened its pop-up coffee shop and quickly became a popular fixture in the community.
Owner Dan Zwart previously told Urban Milwaukee there were plans to open a cafe in another location. “But once Fuel became available, it was kind of like, well, we should move in there.”
“We’re super stoked to be setting down roots in Riverwest,” Zwart said. “We love this community.”
The new Daily Bird cafe will have everything it’s pop-up predecessor had and plenty of things the pop-up didn’t have; like “Indoor seating, heating, air conditioning, wifi,” Zwart said.
It’s still waiting on delivery of a commercial ice cream cooler. But once that’s in, Zwart said the cafe will have Scratch Ice Cream, a Milwaukee-based small batch ice cream producer.
In October, Zwart told Urban Milwaukee that the past six months have been a “super positive experience” as well as “so much work.” Zwart said he couldn’t have done it without the help of the Daily Bird staff and the owners of Centro Cafe, Patrick Moore and Peg Karpfinger, who let him start a coffee shop in their front window.
Construction Photos
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