Business Ins & Outs: Bitty & Beau’s, SkinSpirit, Noosh
By • April 27, 2022 0 2094
In: Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Opens Saturday, April 30
Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, the North Carolina-based company that “reinvented the coffee experience,” will open its 24th store at 3207 M Street NW on Saturday, April 30, with a 10 a.m. ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony in front of the Georgetown shop.
Named after their two children with Down syndrome, the brand was launched by the Wright family in 2016 to change the way people see people with disabilities, especially in the workplace.
“80 percent of people with disabilities don’t have jobs — and we’re out to change that. Not just by providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities, but by showing our guests what’s possible,” said co-founder Amy Wright. “Bitty & Beau’s Coffee has created a path for people with disabilities to become valued, accepted and included in every community — we’ve said it from the start — it’s more than just a cup of coffee.”
Wright added, “With the support of the community behind us, we are energized to bring Bitty & Beau’s Coffee to Washington, D.C., where we know that our store can positively impact the entire community.”
Bitty & Beau Wright. Courtesy Bitty & Beau’s Coffee.
In: SkinSpirit Debuts May 10
SkinSpirit, a “leading destination for medical grade aesthetic skin, face and body care in the U.S.,” it tells us, will open on May 10 in one of the street-level stores that is part of the Safeway building at 1855 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The new clinic will be the company’s 23rd location in the U.S. and has 2,500 square feet of space with seven treatment rooms.
SkinSpirit offers cutting-edge technology and a luxurious spa-like setting, supervised by Stanford-trained, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Dean Vistnes, and adds, “As the number one provider of Botox Cosmetic and dermal fillers in the U.S., SkinSpirit currently serves over 20,000 clients in California, New York, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington each month with an extensive menu of medical grade treatments, including award-winning facials and leading-edge aesthetic skin, face and body services.”
“Following our New York City clinic opening late in 2021, we received an overwhelming amount of interest from the community, and we know there’s a growing demand on the east coast. Our desire is to create a space where our Washington D.C.-area neighbors can feel their best with the help of our award-winning comprehensive services,” said SkinSpirit CEO and Co-Founder Lynn Heublein.
In: Feta Cafe and Bakery
Feta Cafe and Bakery opened at 2805 M St. NW. The location which previously housed Freshbee’s American Grill and, before that, Bibibop and a ShopHouse by Chipotle. It was the longtime spot for the beloved Furin’s Bakery which closed its doors in 2011 after 27 years in business.
Feta Cafe is a colorful and cheerful spot with outdoor sitting. M Street neighbors include La Chaumiere and Taj of India as well as the upcoming Afghani restaurant and Kabul Grill Kastle around the corner on 28th, across from the infamous George’s King of Falafel and Cheesesteak.
In: Sandlot at M & Penn.
Sandlot Georgetown reopened on the empty lot at 2715 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, between the Four Seasons Hotel and Das restaurant.
Created by Suite Nation owner Ian Callender, the outdoor eating and event space with the shipping container bar made its debut in 2021. Sandlot features local Black-owned restaurants and caterers who sell food from a food truck — Federalist Pig and Little Miner Taco — on the property owned by EastBanc. The bar offers beer, wine and cold-pressed juice cocktails along with whiskeys, rum, tequila or vodka. (Restrooms are available onsite.)
Named after Callender’s favorite movie, “The Sandlot,” the outdoor space is open Thursday through Sunday.
Sandlot Georgetown at 2715 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. in 2021. Courtesy Ian Callender.
Out: Noosh Gives Up … for Ghosts
“At Noosh, Persian and Mediterranean Dishes Delight,” announced The Georgetowner in December of the new restaurant by chef and co-owner Tarek Diab at 1719-1721 Wisconsin Ave. NW, which garnered favorable reviews last fall. Alas, it did not flourish and has given up the ghost.
Curiously, there are plans afoot to make the former Noosh space into a ghost kitchen — also known as a delivery-only restaurant, virtual kitchen, shadow kitchen or commissary kitchen.
Plans were recently filed with the D.C. government to renovate and convert the upper Georgetown property for use as a commissary or ghost kitchen. “The proposed commissary kitchen will provide food preparation and cooking facilities, and related support, to license to entrepreneurs and chefs,” the filing read. “These chefs/restaurateurs will be provided a platform for their businesses to prepare meals without the large expense and risk of opening a traditional standalone restaurant.”
As first reported by UrbanTurf, “the kitchen will have space for 16 chefs and there will be a small front lobby space with touch-screens for orders and limited seating. The chefs will sell meals directly to customers via online ordering and third-party delivery services. The applicant, which operates similar concepts in New York, anticipates that most of the customers will be within a two-mile radius, and most orders will be delivered by third parties.”
