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A few weeks into the fall semester, as University of Michigan students returned to daily life on campus, the former Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Co soft-launched as a newly-renovated space, now an East Asian-inspired cafe called ONDO Bakery.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, ONDO Bakery owner Min Kyu Kim said he officially changed the storefront Sept. 13 after buying the location in February.
“I took over the previous Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting space in February of 2024,” Kim said. “I did construction over the summer, then we officially opened (Sept. 13), but honestly, it’s not like a grand opening. We’re still working on developing the menu and making baked goods.”
ONDO Bakery introduced signature drinks, such as the Biscoff latte and the black sesame cream latte, while maintaining much of Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Co.’s original drink menu. Kim said these drinks are inspired by East Asian cafes and he wanted to bring these tastes to the local community.
“A lot of the drinks are more Korean and Asian-influenced because the way Asian coffee shops in LA and New York are heading towards right now (is) the heavy cream on top (of coffee),” Kim said. “It’s more aesthetically pleasing for Instagram and tastes good. That is stuff that’ll be incorporated into the old Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting menu to bring it up to the modern day.”
Amy McEwen Goller, former co-owner of Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Co., declined to comment on the cafe’s closure. Kim said he did not know why the previous owners decided to sell. He added that he kept Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Co.’s branding as he completed renovations, as well as its staff.
“They basically closed,” Kim said. “I just kept the staff, and I kept the name for the last five months or so.”
LSA junior Varsha Shankar told The Daily she went to Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Co. frequently during her freshman year but ultimately stopped going after finding other, more affordable cafes in Ann Arbor.
“I went there freshman year, and I started going pretty regularly before I knew about the coffee scene in Ann Arbor,” Shankar said. “And then I tried other places in Ann Arbor, and I just felt like the price for the other places was a little more reasonable…. Overall, the coffee was pretty good, but I just thought it was a little expensive for the quality and the quantity that I got.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Anika Deshpande said she first found out about the transition in March when she saw a sign on the door advertising Kim’s other restaurant Kimchi Box. She said she was relieved the space would continue to be used as a coffee shop.
“I saw a sign out on the front door that had a different restaurant on it, and I was a little bit confused,” Deshpande said. “So I went and asked one of the baristas. … Are you guys closing down, like what’s going on? She said, ‘No, the poster up front is just another restaurant that the new owners also have, so they’re advertising their other restaurant here.’ I was really happy that it wasn’t closing down.”
Kim said he believes that the new name and brunch concept he is trying to implement give the ONDO an inviting atmosphere.
“ONDO is Korean for ‘temperature,’” Kim said. “I thought it was a nice play on words with how we’re looking for the correct temperature for baking (and) coffee, and just the whole bakery-brunch concept, it gives a warm feeling to consumers as well.”
Kim expressed his hopes for the future of ONDO Bakery and said he sees the menu developing beyond strictly coffee and baked goods.
“So in my mind, the future of ONDO, it’s more brunch and pastry heavy,” Kim said. “Currently it’s 90% coffee. However, I developed a new brunch menu to kind of cater to the college taste of things. Even (though) brunch is a little bit outdated in Michigan, and I thought I could bring a new twist to it.”
Deshpande, who visited ONDO Bakery recently, said she believes the Ann Arbor community has reacted well to the changes at the cafe.
“I think the space still kind of has the same vibe that it always did,” Deshpande said. “It is a little bit busier now. I think because it’s new, a lot more people are … definitely more attracted to it right now.”
Daily Staff Reporter Eilene Koo can be reached at ekoo@umich.edu. Daily News Contributor Emma Sulaiman contributed reporting to this article.
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