Brewing and baking: Black Cap opening soon inside train station

November 21, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti

Black Cap Assistant General Manager Maria Cabezas and General Manager Danielle Dolisie are getting things set up inside the cafe at the Waterbury Train Station. Photo by Gordon Miller

Renovations are in the final stretch at the Waterbury Train Station where Black Cap Coffee & Bakery of Vermont is looking to open the doors on Sunday, Nov. 27. 

Owner Laura Vilalta said staff have been hired and construction, set-up, etc. is nearing completion with the opening scheduled for the end of Thanksgiving weekend. 

Going forward, Vilalta said Black Cap’s hours will be daily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the winter and could be adjusted depending on demand and staffing.  

The opening will mark more than just the arrival of a new coffee shop and bakery in downtown Waterbury, however. The historic train station since its restoration in 2006 has been a popular hub of activity that shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

Mixers, ovens, coolers: Black Cap's bakery setup comes together. Just beyond through the open door is the Community Room used by Amtrak train passengers. Photo by Gordon Miller

For nearly 14 years the station was the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Cafe and Visitors Center that combined a coffee shop, retail store, and seating for patrons to linger amidst exhibits telling the story of Vermont’s largest coffee company with local roots. Its location made it a destination for Waterbury residents, workers in town on weekdays, and tourists. Foot traffic was estimated at 200,000 people passing through each year before 2020. 

Following the closing in March 2020, Green Mountain’s parent company Keurig Dr. Pepper announced in January 2021 that it would not reopen and run the cafe any longer. In the summer of 2021, Amtrak resumed its passenger train service to Vermont which briefly twice each day uses the small community room section of the building when the trains come through.

But the main space has sat closed to the public for two and a half years. Activity began there this summer after Black Cap in March stepped up to lease most of the building. The transaction involved ending a 20-year lease with Keurig. Representatives of Revitalizing Waterbury which owns the station have not said the new lease with Black Cap is longer than 10 years. 

Built in 1875, the train station has long been a focal point in Waterbury’s downtown but had fallen into disrepair by the late part of the 20th century. Its restoration was Revitalizing Waterbury’s second major undertaking after it spearheaded the restoration of the Stimson and Graves building on Stowe Street. The nonprofit economic development organization began the train station planning around 1997 and through fundraising and grants, the restoration was completed in 2006. 

Last year while the station was closed and before Amtrak resumed service, the exterior of the station was painted and some brickwork restoration was done.  Once Black Cap signed on this year, construction began to modify the interior creating a kitchen and bakery that will produce food for the Waterbury location as well as Black Cap’s cafe on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington. 

The company also operates cafes in Stowe and Morrisville. Going forward, the Stowe location will supply that store and the Morrisville location, according to General Manager Danielle Dolisie who was setting up inside the train station on Friday. 

The bakery space is open so customers will be able to see staff at work. Photo by Gordon Miller

The space inside the main entrance looks much like it did when Green Mountain Coffee Roasters ran the cafe. The former operators left tables, chairs and stools that Black Cap will continue to use. There’s a fresh coat of paint on the walls and a new menu over the counter where customers will be able to order coffee drinks, smoothies, breakfast and lunch items. Black Cap serves Brave Coffee which is roasted in Waterbury. 

Dolisie has been with the company for more than seven years and has been part of each of Black Cap’s expansions from Stowe to Morrisville in 2017 and to Burlington during the pandemic. Its original cafe in Stowe opened in 2012.

She said the Waterbury location will have many similarities to the other spots – the menu, the atmosphere, company-branded merchandise as well as maple products, and eventually Vermont-themed cards and gifts supplied by partner Stowe Kitchen Bath & Linens in Stowe. The Waterbury location at this time will not be selling beer like its other stores, she said, noting that offering alcohol involves special permits and training for staff and Waterbury already has many beer retailers. “It’s not a large part of what we do,” she said. 

Assistant General Manager Maria Cabezas said each location has two managers on site and some staff are shared. The Waterbury store will likely have about a dozen staff working there to operate seven days a week.  Black Cap’s Head Baker Ashia Messier, who has been with the company for five years, will work out of the Waterbury bakery, Cabezas said. Dolisie added that the operation would look to add catering once it’s established, too.

Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

Customers familiar with the Green Mountain cafe will remember the large seating area in the middle section of the train station previously. That space now is Black Cap’s bakery that will be open for patrons to see staff at work. Half-walls of burnished wood are topped with clear panels and the space is open above to the ceiling. Large commercial mixers stand ready beside shelves stocked with new utensils, pans and packages of flour, sugar and other ingredients. Blodgett ovens line the far wall. 

Interior seating for about 30 people is near the cafe counter at tables and counters lining the walls. In warmer months it will include the train station’s platform outdoors. “I can’t wait for us to use that porch, it’s beautiful out there,” Dolisie said.