Southdown Coffee Is Moving On Up
/By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
Mark Boccard, owner of Southdown Coffee, provides only organic coffee and high-quality ingredients for egg sandwiches and burritos.
For a fresh start to a long day, Southdown Coffee in Huntington has got you covered, with organic coffee and high-quality ingredients for egg sandwiches and burritos.
“I’m just very passionate about the product,” said owner Mark Boccard, 32. “I get really excited to come in and roast and taste every single coffee we’re serving.”
Selling high-grade specialty coffee from seven or eight importers, Southdown gets its grinds from farms in Honduras, Colombia and Kenya, said Boccard, of Huntington, adding that the Costa Rican coffee called Magdalena Vega is a trending brew.
Committed to providing pork with no growth hormones, serving a steak burrito carne asada with grass-fed beef, Southdown also uses cage-free organic eggs from Raleigh’s Poultry Farm Inc. in Kings Park and gets its milk from Battenkill Valley Creamery in upstate Salem, New York.
Southdown also sells products from local vendors, such as pastries and baked goods from Huntington’s Fiorello Dolce, Hometown Bake Shop, and Reinwald’s Bakery, and full-press juices from Om Organics Grab & Go, also in Huntington.
Southdown is open 6 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Thursday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
“Somebody’s in here early at crack of dawn to get the coffee brewing…and then people trickle in,” said Boccard, who is overlooking about 10 employees. “It takes a lot of work.”
The shop, located at 210B Wall St., has been open for more than a year. Boccard said he wanted to open in Huntington because the town lacked a good specialty coffee roaster.
“I wanted to do something good for the whole town and it seemed like it could fill the void,” Boccard said.
The holiday season is the busiest time of year for the 700-square-foot shop, which sells cups of regular coffee at $2 and sandwich items at less than $10.
“I think we’re reaching full mass just with building month by month for the first year,” Boccard said.
In addition, Southdown offers and online store and occasionally offers home brewing classes and coffee tastings.
“This year, the goal is to really expand wholesale and distribute to as many bakeries, diners, supermarkets,” Boccard said.
Recently, Boccard made plans with Patrick Nolan, owner of Raquette River Baking Co., to sell his product at the Book Revue’s new Café Revue, which is set to open in January.
“I’m excited for that,” Boccard said. “Patrick is a great baker, so he’s going to take over that space and put our coffee in there. Should be a win-win.”
After that, Boccard hopes to continue to spread his product, specifically in Huntington.
“I love the customers [and] serving a community is really special, especially out here,” Boccard said. “People are really rooted, so already I feel like we have such a deep regular customer base that’s not going to change.”
