The Ripon Coffeehouse, which was formerly known as the Ripon Cafe, now has a new owner, new menu, and a new style. Owner Harish Patel is bringing his ideas from his other coffee shop in Tracy called Barista’s and bringing them to the smaller town of Ripon.

After successfully opening and running his business in Tracy, Patel decided to retire. After a little bit of time went by, Patel grew bored of retirement and decided that he wanted to open up another business in Ripon.

“ I missed the atmosphere, the service, the people, and just the job in general. I retired too

early so when this became for sale it was the perfect opportunity to get back into the business,” said Patel.

Patel has removed all of the items from the old menu and incorporated the recipes from his old business.

“I have a lot of recipes from my other coffee shop so I just bought my recipes over and just added more to it,” said Patel

The old menu had a lot of breakfast and lunch options, but the new menu focuses on the coffee rather than the food.

“It’s still a coffee shop just more on the coffee side. That’s really the only big change I made,” said Patel.

The Ripon Cafe had been an establishment in Ripon for quite a while and some people are concerned that the changes will be unpopular.

“It’s a proven system that I installed here. It’s not like I’m just doing it out of the air. I’ve done it before and made it very successful,” said Patel

Patel believes that even though his market is much smaller than the one in Tracy, his system will still be successful.

“Obviously this is a smaller town than where I’m from so it will be a lot slower pace but the quality of the drinks are there so I do expect it to bring people in,” he said.

Local Ripon businesses are known for contributing a lot of their time and money to the community and local organizations. Past owners of the Ripon Cafe have also helped contribute.

“I’ve always been involved in the community,” said Patel. “But I have to limit myself so that I can continue to run the business and not go broke.”