Jessica-Lee Sabine opened the Rose Room Cafe in 2018.
5 hours ago
The Rose Room closes Providence location, eyes Webster expansion
Photo I Courtesy of The Rose Room Cafe
Outside The Rose Room Cafe's now-closed shop in Providence, Rhode Island
The Rose Room Cafe has closed its Providence, Rhode Island location as the Webster-based coffee shop is looking to shift its focus back to its flagship site.
The Rose Room closed its location at 460 Wickenden St. in Providence on Friday after opening the shop in March 2024.
“We decided to close because the Providence location was simply not as profitable as we wanted it to be. We were unable to find our footing in the community there due to distance from Webster. The Providence location was a perfect little gem but ended up not being a fit for our goals and values long term,” Jessica-Lee Sabine, the cafe’s owner, said in an email to WBJ.
In addition to its Webster shop located at 4 East Main St., which opened in 2018, The Rose Room operates two pop up cafes in Connecticut: one in Logee’s Greenhouse in Danielson and another inside Little Dipper Farm in Brooklyn, according to the cafe’s Instagram account.
“Our Webster location is busier than ever, so much so that we are at capacity on the weekends - both for seating and for what our small kitchen can reasonably produce. By closing Providence, all of our attention can be focused on further dialing in our systems and processes, maintaining quality standards, training the team, and making sure our Webster guests are getting the best experience possible every time they dine with us,” Sabine said.
In May, The Rose Room launched an investment campaign with Honeycomb Credit to raise up to $70,000 for three key initiatives, including refinancing high-interest, short payback loans the company incurred while bootstrapping its startup; growing the catering leg of the business; and investing in social media, website management, and team development, according to the company’s social media and Honeycomb page.
The Rose Room ended up raising $41,135 from 50 investors with a 10.5% interest rate. The effort is part of an overall trend of small businesses like restaurants asking customers to invest in improvements.
“The reason why we did this is because we didn’t want to go to the bank and just pay back the bank, we want to pay you back. In turn, you get to help us grow and help Webster become a really vibrant community,” Sabine said in an Instagram post.
Focused on locally-sourced ingredients, The Rose Room’s menu offers a variety of baked goods, breakfast and lunch food in addition to coffee and alcoholic drinks, including scones, egg sandwiches, flatbreads, lattes, and cocktails.
“Closing the Providence location is completely in alignment with our goals and values as a business, which are to provide local, sustainable, scratch-made food and high-quality beverages to our community and to create a welcoming third space where people feel at ease, at home, and seen,” Sabine wrote in her email. “In order to do that in Webster for years to come, we had to make a decision to close our Providence location. It was not a decision made lightly, and comes with many mixed emotions. Ultimately it was the right decision for the future of our business and we are very excited about what’s to come!”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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