Expansion for Rise Up Coffee
Severna Park shop will be 13th location for chain
For almost 10 years Brandon Bartlett, co-owner of Rise Up Coffee, has been serving the Anne Arundel County area.
Bartlett started in Edgewater and expanded to Parole, Arnold and downtown Annapolis. Last Monday, the coffee business opened a new location in Severna Park at 522 Ritchie Highway, next door to Homestead Gardens. It’s the company’s 13th location.
The coffee shop is 2,300 square feet, the largest location west of the Chesapeake Bay. It’s also the first on this side of the Bay Bridge to serve customers through a drive-thru.
Bartlett wasn’t necessarily looking to expand but said the opportunity to move into such a great location wasn’t something he could pass up. It didn’t hurt to connect with Brian Riddle, the owner of Homestead Gardens.
Riddle “reached out to us about cross-pollinating with the house plants and coffee connection,” Bartlett said. “They go together well; hopefully we can expand to other parts of Homestead Gardens.”
The Severna Park location opened to little fanfare. Even though there was no sign on the front of the new building late Monday morning, , the coffee shop had plenty of customers coming and going and some walking through the double doors that lead directly into Homestead Gardens. Bartlett believes brand recognition allowed for the word to spread so quickly.
“Its nice to be recognized in the Annapolis area and around Maryland, too,” he said. “We are excited to continue making coffee easy for our customers.”
One of Barlett’s goals for Rise Up is to help build community wherever their coffee shops are located.
“This location, especially with so many people around here, is going to be cool,” he said. “With schools and the sports teams and the clubs, there’s just a lot of ways to give back. Each of our locations has a great community
that we can support.”
Bartlett and his wife, Caite, have been co-owners of Rise Up Coffee since 2014. The business was founded by Bartlett’s best friend, Tim Cureton, in 2005. Cureton runs seven Rise Up locations on the Eastern Shore from Rehoboth Beach to Salisbury.
Last September, Rise Up was voted the county’s best coffee shop in Capital Style magazine, recognition Bartlett believes is a testament to his staff.
“Our staff is what keeps people coming back, he said. “Everyone is friendly, and we make it our goal to make sure every guest has a great easy experience at any of our locations. Nobody has to feel awkward trying to order even if they don’t know coffee. We help you through it.”
He isn’t sure when or even if more Rise Up locations are coming but mentioned Crofton as a potential location since his partner Cureton grew up in that area.
The new location will be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Mad Eggs kitchen will serve made-to-order food from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.