Finca to Filter’s Adair Park Location Will Merge Coffee With Community

Finca to Filter, a queer-owned and operated coffee company, opened a mobile coffee bar in Adair Park last week, with more plans in the works for the historic neighborhood. Later this summer, the owners will open another coffee bar inside Adair Park co-working space CreateATL. The original location at Wild Heaven West End will remain open.

The two coffee bars will serve two very different purposes. Finca to Filter founder Kayla Bellman sees the Flyer as a drive-thru style coffee bar, while the CreateATL bar intends to serve members and businesses that are headquartered on its campus. Since CreateATL is designed as a community-oriented space, non-members may access the indoor coffee bar; however, amenities such as internet access are limited to members.

“We’re hoping that the Adair Park and surrounding neighborhoods will schedule their orders prior to their commute, days or minutes in advance, to pick up their coffee, their pastries, their breakfast as they head out,” says Bellman. “For folks who want to stay and work from the CreateATL location, we will have a full-service coffee bar inside the building as well.”

CreateATL

Since its inception in April, the Finca Flyer, a revamped trailer, has been traversing Atlanta for various events and farmers markets. While it was always intended to roost at the Adair Park location, the Flyer is still ready to be booked all across town.

“Our hope is that we can bring our ethos of coffee and our expansion suite of specialty coffee roasters that we work with from all across the Southwest, to every inch of Atlanta through the Finca Flyer,” Bellman says.

That same ethos echoes loudly throughout Adair Park, which Bellman calls small, but mighty. She cites Adair Park Today, the neighborhood homeowners association, as an enterprise she admires: “[It’s] the only HOA that has a built-in network to support renters” she says. “It’s people and actors like this in the Adair Park neighborhood that made us confident in opening our second location there. We want to see micro-entrepreneurs have spaces that they can afford to thrive.”

CreateATL celebrates these values as well. The membership is $30 a month for Adair Park residents. “We have a full suite of amenities for professionals while keeping it affordable,” Bellman says. The space, which was once home to a scrap metal facility, will feature a Precious Plastic recycling center on campus.

Photo by Andrew Lyman, styling by Lisa Grady

CreateATL and Finca to Filter also strive to make Adair Park, an area with many physical barriers, such as railroad that’s almost always occupied by a parked train, walkable.

“This is the first time we’re seeing this historic street, Allene Avenue, become pedestrian-friendly, and we’re hoping that others will lead the charge. Most folks who look at a map and see the proximity between the two locations wonder how that would be possible. It’s the same premise [for] why the Beltline in Atlanta is successful.”

Aside from coffee, Finca to Filter will also host events, such as the weekly night market highlighting neighborhood creators, makers, chefs, and artisans, which begins Thursday, July 14.

“We love the Southside. We’ve had fantastic traction, have met a lot of neighbors, and it very much aligns with our goals,” Bellman says. “As a proudly queer-owned and operated company, we wanted to be in a space that was ready to support our vision of how specialty coffee should operate.”