STRAFFORD — Before this year, Phoebe Mix had no experience running a cafe.

The Strafford resident, who turns 75 on Sunday, spent most of her career as a tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service. But recognizing a need in her town, which has been without a cafe for years, Mix opened the Occasional Rooster in the annex of the Strafford Village Post Office in late May.

“It seemed like there was a real community for that,” she said of the cafe.

Mix is among two other Upper Valley residents opening businesses in towns where daytime dining options are slim. This week, seasoned chef Dana Hansen was putting the finishing touches on The Brick House, his new breakfast and lunch spot in the center of Chelsea, while across state lines, in Enfield, Tom Morrill renovated his cafe, Carpenter’s Cup Coffee.

Their experience in the industry may vary, but what the three business owners have in common is their shared determination to build a gathering spot in their community.

In Strafford, it seems residents are already catching on. On Thursday morning, the long communal table in the center of the Occasional Rooster was occupied by a group of relatives, while two pairs of patrons nibbled on pastries at seats by the shop’s front windows.

In an interview at the cafe, Strafford resident Kate Bass said she’s glad the town has a place “to gather with friends over a nice cup of coffee and some good food.”

“A lot of people missed it,” she said, sipping from a mug of decaf.

Over the past two decades, multiple efforts to operate a cafe in Strafford have come and gone. The shuttering of the celebrated restaurant Stone Soup Restaurant, a Strafford staple, during the coronavirus pandemic further limited options.

Mix joked that the most popular gathering spots in Strafford — which has a population of 1,094 according to 2020 census data — are the parking lot of Coburns’ General Store in South Strafford and the recycling center.

“My mother was on the Selectboard and recycling was a major point on her calendar. She went every Saturday because she kind of kept a pulse on the community,” she said.

Mix’s mother, Kendall, bought the historic post office building, or “Brick Store,” about 25 years ago.

In 2015, a year after her mother died, Mix purchased the building from her mother’s estate. Today, Mix lives in an apartment above the post office.

Without rent or a mortgage to pay, “it seemed to me I had a cushion in which to try this out,” she said, noting that the lack of financial burden is part of what makes her think the cafe could be a sustainable enterprise.

Designed by Mix’s son, Michael Rosenthal-Mix, the Occasional Rooster’s interior is bright and cheerful, with a checkered floor, exposed wooden beams, and red and yellow chairs.

The cafe is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends.

The business’ name is inspired by a friend who observed that everyone Mix has consulted about the store was a woman, except for Rosenthal-Mix, who was “the occasional rooster.”

True to its name, the cafe is dotted with an assortment of rooster decorations that range from a large stuffed sculpture to a metal bird adorned with a pair of kids’ glasses.

“He’s a very serious rooster without his sunglasses,” said Mix, who added that much of the bird decor was given by friends.

People “have been very enthusiastic about the project,” she said.

That enthusiasm extends to Mix’s two employees, 15-year-old Tallulah Nietzel, of Plymouth, N.H., whose grandmother lives in Strafford, and 19-year-old Lila Waxman, of neighboring Vershire.

“I was so excited when I heard Phoebe was going to open a cafe,” Nietzel said. “I’ve always wanted to work in a cafe.”

Bass’ partner Paul Harwood said he admires that Mix chose to hire teenagers.

“It’s a great learning experience for them,” he said.

Waxman thinks the cafe will be a “jump-start for Strafford.”

A student at Bard College, she’s been managing the cafe’s social media presence, and most of the baking. “It’s like a creative project,” she said.

Working at the Occasional Rooster is a summer job for Waxman, and Mix said she’s on the lookout for new staff to take up her position in the fall.

Thursday’s offerings included mixed berry muffins, chocolate chip cookies and mini egg quiches known as egg bites.

Strafford resident Tom Ward stopped in for a breakfast sandwich (an egg bite between slices of a toasted English muffin) and a chocolate chip cookie.

He acknowledged that, in Strafford, coffee shops “don’t stay open too long.”

“I hope this one does,” he said.

Aiming for smiles

Later Thursday morning, 11 miles away, on Route 110 in Chelsea, Dana Hansen was at work on his new eatery in a 200-year-old red brick building in the center of town.

Hansen, 57, has spent decades working in Upper Valley restaurants, including a gig as executive chef at 506 Bistro and Bar in West Woodstock about a decade ago.

For his own business, Hansen plans to keep the menu simple, and affordable for customers, with American dishes such as pancakes, waffles, burgers, chili, chowder and plenty of Vermont maple syrup.

Hailing from Bethel, he admires the way the owners of Babes Bar brought new life to the town when it opened in 2018.

“I want to bring that to the community in a way that brings a smile and a laugh to everybody,” he said.

As someone who’s struggled with alcohol addiction since he was a teenager, and who was homeless for part of last year, Hansen also hopes he can provide employment and mentorship for people who are struggling with addictions of their own.

“We have to lift people up rather than trying to put them in jail, take them out of jail, put them back on the street,” said Hansen, who quit drinking a year and a half ago.

Hansen said he initially hired several employees who were recovering from heroin addiction, but their employment at The Brick House didn’t last.

Now Hansen is back to searching for staff. He’s had a couple pop-up days over the last few months, but hopes to open officially this weekend.

At the moment, Hansen lives above the restaurant, which he leases from a Chelsea family.

To help finance the restaurant, Hansen took out a $10,000 bank loan and set up a GoFundMe, which has received $1,980 in donations. Starting on July 1, he’ll pay $2,500 in monthly rent, which will be reduced to $2,000 in 10 months’ time.

“We’re excited to have a restaurant in town,” said Taylor Katz. In 2020, Katz, with her partner Misha Johnson, opened Free Verse Farm Shop, just around the corner from The Brick House and across from the town green.

Other than the farm shop, which has an assortment of indoor and outdoor seating where patrons can enjoy a cup of tea or an empanada, the Chelsea Public Library and Will’s Store — a general store — the town of about 1,200 people has few communal gathering spaces.

She said it feels like “things are coming back to Chelsea.”

Building community

Meanwhile, in Enfield, resident Tom Morrill is aiming for a July opening for Carpenter’s Cup Coffee, his new specialty cafe located at 64 Main St.

“I’m opening it because there’s a need in the community,” Morrill said in a Thursday phone interview.

The cafe’s hours will likely be 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. every day except Sundays, Morrill said.

Like Mix, Morrill, a contractor by trade and pastor at New Beginnings Church in Lebanon, has never owned a coffee shop before, but he “loves visiting coffee shops and always wanted to see what I could do with one.”

Carpenter’s Cup Coffee’s menu will include a selection of espresso drinks, pour overs and lemonade, along with an array of pastries baked in house and paninis a little later down the line.

The cafe will feature a rotation of beans from New England roasters so that customers can sample the region’s coffee offerings, Morrill said.

Morrill is self-financing the project, and the cafe’s website also has a section for people to donate money in exchange for gifts ranging from a box of coffee beans to admission to a private pre-launch party.

Morrill envisions Carpenter’s Cup Coffee as more than “just a little coffee shop,” but a catalyst for building community in Enfield’s downtown, which in his memory has never had a coffee shop, save for the Dunkin’ on Route 4.

To that end, part of the 2,000-square-foot interior will include a “community room” for group activities. 

Morrill also imagines doing “phone-free Fridays,” where patrons turn in their electronic devices at the counter while they enjoy their coffee in exchange for a coupon or a free treat to incentivize people to take a break from screens and to grow repeat customers.

For him, the goal is to “show care and concern for our customers and co-workers. We want to have that as a prevailing attitude,” he said.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.