James Benson and Scott Withers, Owners of Progress Coffee and Beer joined Rosie of Studio 512 to tell us more about the new hangout.

Progress Coffee, an Austin original founded in 2004, made their return to a brick and mortar location after over a decade. Progress Coffee’s new location is located in Central Austin and is open all day serving coffee, a full bar with cocktails, beer and wine, and all day fare from food trucks including Pueblo Viejo and Burro Cheese Kitchen.

Progress Coffee is located at 3421 N Interstate Hwy 35, Austin, TX 78722 and will be open on February 24th. Progress Coffee is conveniently located in the Cherrywood neighborhood on the I-35 frontage road, in a building built in 1951 that was historically a mechanic shop.

The new space will feature an indoor coffee bar with a walkup window for grab & go coffee; the location also boasts a large back patio with ample outdoor seating and space for food trucks. The full bar will feature signature cocktails, and local beer including Zilker Brewing and Meanwhile Beer.

Progress Coffee will roast all of their coffee fresh on-site and will be open from 7am-10pm daily. Progress Coffee also partnered with local artist Rachel Smith to create a large mural on the side of the building. Along with the new location, Progress Coffee is debuting a brand new look with updated branding and packaging by OSO Original.

Says co-owner James Benson, “We have missed the sense of community and collaboration that a café provides for a while now. This was only magnified during COVID and we can’t wait to see everyone in person again.”

Progress Coffee’s return to a physical location dates back to their original brick and mortar, which was located in the now Brew & Brew space on east 5th from 2004 until their closure in 2013, when they closed to begin focusing on their roasting program, distribution and e-commerce.

Progress Coffee was originally founded in 2004 by Joshua Bingaman, who solely ran the company until 2012 when James Benson came in to consult on roasting and distribution logistics. Benson’s background is in hospitality and restaurant operations consulting, as well as grant and copy writing for the Trail Foundation.

Progress Coffee has focused for the past decade on online presence, e-commerce, direct to consumer, distribution and selling to wholesale clients like Whole Foods. Benson teamed up with local hospitality professional Scott Withers in 2019 and they began the goal of opening their current brick and mortar in Cherrywood. James Benson and Scott Withers now co-own and operate the business.

For more information, visit progresscoffeeroasting.com and follow on social media @progresscoffee. Hours of operation will be 7am-10pm daily.

Their grand opening event March 11 will also include a crawfish boil and a live mural painting.