Interval Is Closed Indefinitely
Lower East Side and Bay View cafes closed abruptly this week, with staff citing lack of payment.
Interval Coffee Shop, 1600-1602 N. Jackson St. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva
Interval’s two locations abruptly closed this week after employees did not open the cafes, instead posting signs stating they had not been paid.
“Staff does not know when or if we will be open again,” reads one sign from the cafe’s barista and kitchen teams. “We have not been paid,” they added, punctuating the message with a frowny face and a request for Venmo donations.
By Friday morning, those signs had been removed and replaced with a vaguer, handwritten message: “Closed until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience!”
Interval runs two cafes in Milwaukee: its flagship at 1600 N. Jackson St. on the Lower East Side, and second location in Bay View at 2268 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
While the closures came abruptly, court records show Interval had been facing financial challenges for years. The business, according to public tax records, had delinquent tax warrants filed against it by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue almost monthly dating back to 2019, though many have been satisfied. A public Wisconsin delinquent taxpayer database shows the company currently owes more than $49,600 in payroll and sales tax payments.
Owner Ryan Hoban has been a player in the local coffee scene since early 2017, when he co-founded Pilcrow Coffee. In 2018, he opened Interval’s flagship cafe on Jackson Street, bringing a modern, minimalistic space and high-quality brews to the Lower East Side. Hoban sold his interest in Pilcrow amid the pandemic, and shifted Interval to serving beans from his own brand, Neighborly Coffee Roasters.
The business later expanded to Bay View, although the location’s summer 2023 opening was delayed. Interval also operated at the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network space in the Historic Third Ward for two years before exiting the space in 2023. In 2024, under the Neighborly name, Hoban opened a roastery on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Interval is known for its specialty drinks, including seasonal offerings like mochi matcha, cold brew negroni and violet-flavored lattes. The cafe also serves light bites and pastries.
Hoban did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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