Empty Barrel Distillery: Crafting history in every sip
If you bury it, they will come
February 2, 2026
STEVENS POINT – David Lewis said he has built his career by spotting opportunities.
For the past 25 years, he has owned and operated Extreme Home Arcades, a niche business that ships custom arcade systems around the world.
In January, Lewis said he added a very different, much more local venture to his portfolio: Lolli & Pop’s, a coffee shop located at 3041 Michigan Ave. in Stevens Point.
Located next door to Extreme Home Arcades in a space that has previously sat largely unused, Lewis said the aptly named Lolli & Pop’s is a nod to his and his wife Amanda’s new roles as first-time grandparents as of December.
Open for business
Opening the doors to the shop, Lewis said, was no small feat.
Though the idea of a coffee shop has been brewing in his mind for about a year and a half, he said taking action required time as well.
Lewis said the renovation required ripping the space down to the dirt, running new plumbing, upgrading the electrical, installing new HVAC and adding a triple-osmosis water system, all to convert the space into a modern, fully equipped coffee operation.
The focus on coffee, Lewis said, was born out of opportunity.
“I love coffee – I’m passionate about food in general and love all the things we make – and I figured [why not], if I can sell them and have fun doing it,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the building’s location on Michigan Avenue has proved to be ideal for a high-traffic-focused establishment such as a coffee shop.
Michigan Avenue, he said, runs parallel to the very busy Division Street, which many drivers avoid because of the traffic.
As a result, Lewis said everything from school traffic, commuters and even emergency vehicles drives down Michigan Avenue every day.
He said it was his own experience leaving the parking lot one day that planted the idea of a coffee shop.
“It dawned on me one day during rush hour, when I was trying to get out of here, that there isn’t a coffee shop in the vicinity,” he said.
Though there is a small, one-car-at-a-time coffee “hut” nearby, and a convenience store offering coffee, Lewis said there wasn’t a real coffee shop in the neighborhood.
“I thought there had to be a better answer,” he said.
Lewis said the combination of the location and nearby traffic got him thinking not only about serving great coffee but also about how it would be delivered.
As a result, he said Lolli & Pop’s is designed around a pull-up, car-side delivery model.
Customers can order online, reserve a five-minute window for their order, pull into one of roughly 15 parking spots in the one-way lot and have their drinks brought directly to their vehicle.
Though the system is still being refined, Lewis said the goal is to make morning coffee as easy and efficient as possible.
He said he intentionally kept the coffee offerings simple – even as the shop has a slew of syrups at the ready – while prioritizing quality.
‘Mixing things up’
Lewis said Lolli & Pop’s sources its beans from Longbottom Coffee Roasters in Oregon, a choice influenced by both product quality and customer service.
“They run it like how I run my business,” he said, adding that Longbottom has been willing to go above and beyond, even offering overnight shipping when needed.
Though there are local coffee bean suppliers, Lewis said his vision for Lolli & Pop’s included mixing things up in the market’s offerings.
“Longbottom came highly recommended, and because I wanted to be unique to what’s in the area, to do something different, [we chose them],” he said.
Lewis said the shop focuses on a dark roast that works equally well for drip coffee and espresso-based drinks, with the shop’s syrup selection allowing for the creation of a wide variety of beverages.
The standout, he said, is The Millie – a latte made with brown sugar, caramel and half-and-half, named after the couple’s granddaughter.
“It’s our signature drink,” he said.
In the shop’s first weeks alone, Lewis said Lolli & Pop’s sold about 600 drinks despite operating just four hours per day – and roughly 70% of those drinks have been The Millie.
Those first weeks, Lewis said, challenged not only the shop’s unique recipes but also the full team of family staff and their equipment.
One of the biggest surprises, he said, has been the popularity of iced beverages, even in the height of winter.
Not even a week into the store’s opening, Lewis said it became clear that the 100-pound icemaker he had purchased wasn’t going to cut it.
“I thought, ‘Who’s going to order iced drinks in the dead of winter?’” he said. “But we quickly learned that about 80% of drink [orders] are for iced drinks.”
Lewis said that recognition prompted an investment in an icemaker three times the original size to meet the increased demand for ice.
Customers’ passion for iced coffees, he said, also led him down the path to an innovation in the form of sealed can cups for iced drinks.
The cups, he said, are filled with ice and ingredients, sealed with a can-style lid and handed to the customer for easy transport.
Lewis said the thick plastic keeps drinks cold for quite a while and works well with car-side delivery and other transport.
“You take an iced coffee drink with ice and ingredients and seal it like a soda can and then shake it and take it and don’t have to worry about spilling,” he said.
In addition to coffee, Lewis said Lolli & Pop’s offers cookies, scones and other baked goods, with plans to expand the selection.
“We knew we wanted to do something more breakfast, and [these] are high-profit margin [items] and not a lot of work to make, even though we make them from scratch,” he said.
Lewis said that means he starts every day at 5:30 a.m., turns on the equipment and puts the scones in the oven by 5:55 a.m. – with the first batch ready around 6:15 a.m.
He said he and his daughter, Annalise, prep side by side while early customers wait at the door for the 6 a.m. opening.
And though the surge of orders for carside delivery is popular – especially as the temperatures dip – Lewis said Lolli & Pop’s is designed to encourage customers to stay a while.
The main coffee area, he said, seats about 12 people with additional seating on both sides of the shop, including in an adjoining room referred to as Lolli’s Clubhouse – which features couches, chairs, tables and a cozy atmosphere and is open for general use if it’s not reserved by groups.
“Amanda is the one who created the room’s warm, home-like feel,” he said.
Family-focused growth
Family, Lewis said, remains at the heart of the operation – not just in running a business together, but in considering how growth affects their lives.
Though they are already exploring expanded baked breakfast offerings and occasional Detroit-style pizza nights, Lewis said any new ventures will be balanced carefully with family time.
“I’ve been experimenting and hope to do a good Detroit-style pizza with the sauce on top, and there’s nothing like that in Point,” he said. “But when you’re an entrepreneur, you can only do so much with your time.”
Currently, Lewis said he spends weekdays – from 5:30-10 a.m. – working at the coffee shop before transitioning to work next door for Extreme Home Arcade.
He said he credits capable managers at his other business with enabling him to focus on Lolli & Pop’s on those mornings.
Lewis said he is also extremely grateful for the response from the community that has exceeded all expectations.
Support, he said, has come not only from friends and family – including their homeschooling network – but also from local businesses, city leaders and residents he has never met.
“People just keep coming back to our coffee shop because of how we treat them,” he said.
Personal service – free lollipops for kids, welcoming seating for families and customers greeted by name – Lewis said defines Lolli & Pop’s.
The coffee shop, he said, has allowed him to reintroduce himself to many people in his own community.
“My other business ships all over the world and is a whole different endeavor,” he said. “I knew this would be a totally different thing, talking to people face to face and spending a lot of time with [area residents]. I didn’t realize the community would come out in droves. I could not have imagined this level of support.”
Check out Lolli & Pop’s Facebook page for more details.
