Kennesaw couple opens downtown coffee house

KENNESAW — Bob and Susan Milani met in a dog park near Washington, D.C. He’d brought a black Labrador retriever; she, a blonde one.

Now, more than 20 years and five labs later, the couple has opened Lazy Labrador Coffee House in the city’s downtown, in a painstakingly renovated historic property.

“They” — their labs — “fell in love before we did,” Bob Milani said with a laugh, amid the hiss of an espresso machine and the chatter of a steady stream of customers.

A 2015 study conducted on behalf of the city and the Atlanta Regional Commission surveyed members of the community. Asked what downtown was missing retail-wise, almost 80% said it was missing a coffee shop.

And yet, the couple's original target was Roswell. But when the property off Cherokee Street became available, they considered their hometown. Nearby, Depot Park was being expanded. Breakneck development meant Kennesaw would soon be welcoming thousands of new residents.

“I didn’t know how much effort the city is putting into really harnessing the growth potential of this city,” Bob Milani said. “It’s going to be awesome when it finally comes to fruition.”

The couple has a passion for coffee: Bob Milani drinks 10 cups on an average day, while Susan Milani enjoys a more modest five.

“Our guiding principle is that we want to be a very traditional coffee house that’s really focused on community,” Bob Milani said. “We’re really trying hard to get the little things right. We want the coffee to be the reason why you come (a first time), and even if it isn’t, it may be the reason why you come back.”

Renovation was long and expensive, marred by cost overruns and delays.

“Two or three times I said to my wife, ‘I think we screwed up,’” Bob Milani said. “But we persevered, and got through it.”

The building itself is two stories, features a wraparound porch and is scattered throughout with labrador retrievers: a painting of them, little lab statues, and a framed picture of Bob Milani from the 1990s posing with the dogs that brought him and his wife into each other’s lives. (Accompanying that picture: a cutout from a 1995 issue of Cosmopolitan recommending women look for their dream partner at a dog park, where they’ll find men who’ve “already come to terms with commitment and responsibility”). The property includes an outdoor seating area and miniature dog park dubbed “Kirby’s Kingdom,” named after their lab, who makes the occasional appearance on the cafe’s social media pages.

A little more than a month after its opening, the cafe has been popular with Kennesaw residents.

“It’s been crazy busy,” Susan Milani said, while fixing a drink behind the counter. “We decided we were going to soft open, and are now realizing that we need more people behind the counter to service all the capacity that’s coming in, which is a great problem to have.”

Customer Alyxandra Paige, of Marietta, said the cafe was a welcome alternative to her usual coffee purveyors: Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts.

“I like supporting small businesses,” she said. “It kind of feels more cozy, and more — feels more like home.”

Susan Milani said opening the cafe was “Bob’s dream.”

“But it actually has been really fun,” she said. “Like, working on it together — we’ve been married 27 years right, and I don’t know that many people after 27 years of marriage who decide that they’re going to open a business, but we did.”