Totalus Cafe to close physical store in June, will become traveling food truck
Four years after opening its doors to the public in June 2022, Totalus Cafe — a locally-owned boba tea cafe on East Jefferson Street — announced through Facebook on Saturday, March 28, that it would close its physical location following the annual Bantam Jeep Festival, scheduled for June 12 through 14.
“This past year has been one of the hardest we’ve faced. We truly gave it everything we had,” reads the closure announcement. “Unfortunately, despite all of our efforts, we just haven’t been able to bring in enough to keep up with the rising costs of bills while also supporting our family. That said, these last four years have been nothing short of incredible.”
According to manager Kayla Fleming, the cafe simply couldn’t absorb any more losses.
“We weren't making the minimum that we needed to cover rent and utilities on top of the normal costs of restocking,” Fleming said.
However, this isn’t the end for Totalus, as Fleming also announced on Facebook that after the closure, the business would transition from a brick-and-mortar store into a pop-up trailer.
“We need to do a few things to it for it to be able to get inspected and be on the road,” Fleming said. “But we're hoping to get it up within the next year.”
According to Fleming, the decision to close the Jefferson Street location came after months of painful discussion with her co-owners — including her mother, Gretchen Heavner, and her husband, Stephen Fleming — before officially notifying the landlord.
“It's been a conversation that we've had for probably the last six months,” Fleming said. “We were just hoping to see things get better and they just haven't, so the last couple of weeks, we really started talking about it. And then the decision was officially made over the weekend.”
During its four-year life span, Totalus Cafe did more than just serve boba and baked goods. In the back of the store was a “community pantry,” which offered nonperishable and frozen food items, as well as hygiene products, Narcan kits and morning-after pills.
Last year, the federal government was shutdown while state budget talks were gridlocked, which led to a temporary suspension in SNAP benefits. The pantry was available as a lifeline for those who found themselves unable to purchase or access their usual supply of food.
“It'll disappear when we close, unfortunately,” Fleming said. “If (items are) not taken by the time that we close by the families that come in and use it, then we would just donate it to another place or whoever can use it.”
Fleming said Totalus is far from the only business in Butler’s downtown that is experiencing financial difficulty.
“Almost every business member that I've talked to this year has been the worst in a very long time,” Fleming said. “I know Keffalas (Designs) has posted that they're struggling. And we put posts up on social media that we're struggling. And people will come in for like a week or two and it'll help sales, but then it always just falls back down. So I think a lot of it is just, the economy is so hard right now for everybody.”
