City’s newly-opened Aroma CT Cafe has plenty to offer
WOONSOCKET — There is a new spot to grab a coffee or maybe something cold to eat or drink at the corner of Cumberland Hill and Mendon roads with the opening of the new Aroma CT Cafe there.
In the works as a major renovation of the old Getty gas station at the location, Aroma Cafe kicked off business with a soft opening last Wednesday and is open from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
In addition to coffee and doughnuts, espressos, and iced coffees and teas, Aroma also offers an inside ice cream counter featuring Ice Cream Machine products from Cumberland.
The shop is the third Aroma CT Cafe to be opened by Chaouki “Charlie” Khalil and Toni Germanos in the city and nearby North Smithfield.
Jerrica Saez was working the counter at the newest Aroma on Wednesday, and things have been busy during the startup since last week.
“It’s been really good,” Saez said while noting the business is still getting things organized at the new location and taking applications for prospective employees. A grand opening for Aroma CT Cafe at Cumberland Hill and Mendon will be held in the near future, she noted.
Matt Rivard of Woonsocket was one of Saez’s customers Wednesday and said he was initially surprised to see a coffee and doughnuts business at the location.
“My grandfather used to live in a house next-door and when we would come by it was always a garage,” he said.
Khalil and Germanos completely gutted the building when they acquired it and installed a new exterior design of windows and doors where the old garage bays had been located. The interior was also completely renovated with new wall partitions, restaurant furnishings, and the service counters for the cafe business and the ice cream set up.
The parking lot was also repaved and a drive-through set up for the triangular corner lot.
“It was a little bit of a surprise at first but change is different,” Rivard said of the new look of the business, one that includes glowing fuchsia signs and outdoor fuchsia trim. “It came out really, really nice.”
The original Aroma Cafe was created by Khalil and Germanos in the former Donut X-press coffee and doughnuts shop at 17 Front St., not far from their CT Convenience Store business. They also operate an Aroma Cafe inside their CT Gas Station and store at 503 Smithfield Road in North Smithfield.
The new Cafe offers breakfast sandwiches and other fast foods, donuts, muffins and pastries and New England Coffee brand coffee. The shop also has an espresso machine for espressos, cappuccinos and lattes.