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January 13, 2025
GREEN BAY – There’s a new coffee shop putting down roots in the Olde Main Street District in the City of Green Bay, but siblings Kaylor Zimmerman and Keifer Melchior said they aim to be much more than a place where people can grab a cup of joe.
“We want this to be a community space more than anything,” Melchior, who along with her brother co-owns the space, said. “We first decided to put in a coffee shop, but we envision it growing into much more. We feel that a coffee shop is the ultimate place for people to come in, feel welcomed and stay for a while.”
Because the coffee shop – Kompound Cafe, located at 1429 Main St., Suite C – only takes up a portion of the old Green Bay Canning Company, the siblings said there is room for more growth in the building, which they purchased in March 2024.
They said the new coffee shop marks the start of a larger project to revitalize a building in the Olde Main Street District.
“Things have been going well so far,” Melchior said. “I feel each day we’re getting more attention and more people are sharing about it. In the beginning, we were kind of stressing about being busy – making this or that – but then after a while, we’ve gotten way busier. Through the whole process, my time management has also gotten better. I’m better understanding the role, so it’s getting easier. Opening during the holiday season was a bit crazy, but we’re hoping (the momentum we have) will continue going forward – I think it will.”
Zimmerman said for now, he and his sister haven’t done much traditional advertising.
“It’s been all word of mouth and social media,” he said.
Currently, the coffee shop is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“We have gluten-free and dairy-free bakery items,” Melchior said. “We also have a few different pasta salads available, and we’ll be adding to the menu as time goes on and we can manage the next steps in the business. We currently have two additional employees as well.”
Not a typical path
Unlike a lot of coffee shop owners, the siblings said they didn’t have any background in the industry – “but we’ve learned along the way.”
“We didn’t buy this building to open a coffee shop,” Zimmerman said. “We bought it more for the possibility of it becoming an event venue space.”
“Things happen for a reason,” Melchior said.
“Six months ago, we hadn’t even thought about selling coffee,” she said. “I was selling insurance, and Kaylor was getting back into real estate, so he found this building. It’s a busier road to be on, and when we pulled up to the building, I said, ‘This is it.’ The building had way more character than we were anticipating.”
Shortly after securing the funding needed to purchase the 40,000-square-foot space, the siblings said one of the tenants of the building, Flowerama, shut down.
“That threw us a curveball,” Zimmerman said. “That’s essentially what pushed us to do more because we lost half of our revenue from the building (when Flowerama shut down) to help us pay the rent.”
To do more and help with finances, Melchior said they began holding vintage and makers markets in another part of the building.
“We were trying to make some money because the coffee shop wasn’t open yet, and we weren’t making any money,” she said. “We were hoping that by having the markets here, it would make people more familiar with the rest of the space. The markets really helped with things, and we plan to continue them at least once a month going forward.”
Zimmerman said they also hope to take advantage of the tens of thousands of visitors who will be flocking to the Green Bay area for the 2025 NFL Draft April 24-26.
“I think it would be cool to have some sort of Packers/NFL vintage memorabilia-themed market during the draft,” he said. “We could have a ton of vendors throughout the building and have a big block party with a bunch of different vendors. That might be a nice draw.”
Though not having any experience in the coffee industry, specifically, Melchior said their parents were business owners.
“We’ve learned a lot in the process,” she said. “We’ve become commercial property owners, we became contractors and we became baristas. Both of our parents were in the restaurant industry, and my sister does plant-based meals in Florida, so she came up to help us with some of the recipes. Every one of our family members has been super helpful.”
Because of the family’s willingness to help, Melchior said that’s why they used “Kompound” in the coffee shop’s name.
“Growing up, we always used to say we should just live on a compound,” she said. “Kaylor and I obviously both have ‘K’ names, as do our cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.”
Melchior said they hope every business that comes into the space will help each other.
“(We hope) they flow well together and bounce ideas off each other – just like a big family,” she said.
Melchior said there are a couple of other tenants in the building currently.
“The Art Garage and Kickass Cheese also have space in the building,” she said. “We also have a couple of tenants moving into the space vacated by Flowerama. The new tenants hope to be up and running in February.”
More than 100 years of history
According to the Wisconsin Historical Society website (wisconsinhistory.org), the Green Bay Canning Company began operations in 1907.
Part of the canning company facilities were destroyed by a fire in 1915, and the main processing building in existence today – which now houses Kompound Cafe – was built in 1943.
Earlier wooden and metal-clad wooden construction at the site was either demolished or built over, although some brick remnants remain.
Three additional buildings have been added since 1945.
Production figures show the firm turned out 166,000 cases of vegetables in 1945, 182,000 in 1946 and 174,00 in 1947.
“There’s so much history in this building,” Zimmerman said. “One of my uncles has a trucking company that hauls corn all over the Midwest, and my mom told me that this location used to be a place he’d bring loads to. The building has been a lot of things since the canning company left. There’s been quite a few visions for it, and things have come and gone, but nothing has stuck. We’re hoping to change that and be a part of the revitalization.”
Zimmerman said they have a goal to make the building a big draw for the city.
“We want to help develop this area to be more walkable,” he said. “We want to be a light in the city. If we have success with this building, that will help the city a lot. We want to contribute to that.”
Renovations needed
With the building being 100-plus years old, Zimmerman said a lot of renovations were needed before Kompound Cafe could open for business.
He said it helped that the space the coffee shop occupies already had HVAC and working electricity.
“There was an epoxy gray speckled floor in here,” he said. “We did the concrete counter, finished a (stone) wall, put a tree and planter in here, painted the floors, made all the tables and got a railing from the old Green Bay courthouse (from before it was remodeled).”
He said working with the city and doing all the remodeling took north of six months to complete.
Additionally, Melchior said they have plans to renovate the second floor of the building.
“We want to turn the upstairs space into an event venue,” she said. “Getting the quote to build it out was expensive, so that will take some time before we dive into that.”
For more information, visit Kompound Cafe’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
