Beantowne Coffee House to End 26-Year Run in Kendall Square

A longstanding business in Cambridge’s Kendall Square ends its 26-year run early next month. Founder Ed Goyette announced over the weekend that Beantowne Coffee House (1 Kendall Sq.) will cease operations on August 1, while the cafe’s counterpart in Hampstead, New Hampshire, will remain in operation.

“We are going out on a high note and on our own terms, which is incredibly fulfilling,” Goyette told Eater in an email. Goyette, who has a long history of charitable events and projects run through his businesses, plans to focus his time on a new project called “Yours for the Asking,” which aims to facilitate connections between parents and children.

“BeanTowne has been a constant in my life since 1993, when on a whim, I decided it would be fun to open a coffee house. Now, 26 years later, and all that comes with life over two and a half decades, not only is it time, but the timing is right,” Goyette wrote in a public post on Beantowne’s Facebook page. He went on to thank his staff for their dedication and Beantowne’s customers for their patronage.

The Kendall Square cafe has had a lengthy tenure of serving finely tuned espresso beverages, sandwiches, soups, salads, and pastries. It was forced to close for a year in 2015 after a fire in the building caused significant smoke and water damage, but it reopened in August of 2016. Around that time, Goyette announced plans for a downtown Boston cafe, which debuted in early 2017 but closed in February 2018.

• Beantowne Coffee House Reopens in Kendall [EBOS]
• A Cambridge Coffee House Shutters Its Downtown Shop [EBOS]