Pensacola's iconic Coffee Cup restaurant under new ownership

Pensacola's iconic Coffee Cup restaurant is operating under new ownership.

Local restaurateur David Hambrick, owner of Jaco's Bayfront Bar & Grille and V Paul's Italian Ristorante, recently purchased the popular diner at 520 E. Cervantes St.

Tony Hobbs, a friend and business associate of Hambrick's, said Hambrick doesn't plan to change the 73-year-old eatery.

"It is a good business and a storied place. David likes history and saw it as a good opportunity to invest in Pensacola," Hobbs said.

Other than a fresh coat of wax on the restaurant's floor, everything in the Coffee Cup will remain as it has been for decades, he said.

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The Coffee Cup last changed hands in 2000 when brothers Roy and Bobby Cooley bought it from Oliver Darden.

The Coffee Cup originally opened in 1945.

Pensacola historian John Appleyard recalled frequenting the Coffee Cup in the 1950s. Appleyard was a friend and neighbor of John Henry Cagle, who bought the restaurant in 1947 and operated it for decades.

"They had a wonderful dinner menu and they attracted the same people over and over so it was like going to a party whenever we went," said Appleyard, who added that he was pleased to learn the restaurant wouldn't change under new ownership.

"It is wonderful that someone has bought it who is vowing to continue the tradition," he said.

Back in the 1950s, Appleyard said the Coffee Cup was well known for its omelets and chicken pie. A meatloaf plate was 60 cents and the morning breakfast plate was 35 cents, he said.

The Coffee Cup was frequented by local politicians and community leaders.

"There were a lot of young attorneys in town who were there for breakfast every morning," he said.

In a 1969 news article, the Pensacola News Journal wrote about Tommy Ernde, who had served as the restaurant's baker for more than 20 years.

"Ernde gets to work daily at 2:30 a.m. and bakes doughnuts, cakes, breads, biscuits and about 125 pies. His workday ends at 8 a.m. He turns out 24 dozen biscuits Monday through Friday of each week and doubles that on Saturday when the BB breakfast is demanded by so many customers," the article stated.

The BB breakfast was named for Pensacola News Journal Publisher Braden Ball and included salt meat, grits and biscuits.

Nowadays, the Coffee Cup is still known for grits and biscuits and gravy and for its T-shirts with the slogan "No Grits! No Glory! "

"It is an iconic Pensacola restaurant," Appleyard said.

Melissa Nelson Gabriel can be reached at mnelsongab@pnj.com or 850-426-1431.