Midnight Coffee is Expanding Over the Iowa Horizon

All images courtesy of Midnight Coffee.

After an ownership transition, the popular Iowa-based specialty chain Coffee Emporium has officially become Midnight Coffee, with four locations in and around Iowa City. 

The company has also added the former St. Kilda Cafe & Bakery location in Clive, marking a fifth shop under the Midnight Coffee brand. 

Midnight Coffee is one of numerous ventures owned by the married couple Alex and Jordan Nelson, who own The Midnight Gem wedding venue in Swisher and the Little Gems baby boutique in North Liberty. 

The Nelsons began developing The Midnight Gem while searching for a wedding venue of their own and pivoting from Jordan’s previous work as a teacher. The venue business also leaned into Alex’s background in real estate and finance.

The couple subsequently bought the four Johnson County locations of Coffee Emporium from founder Abby Ochs in 2024, rebranding them as Midnight Coffee this past March. 

“It came with some great loyal customers that loved the coffee but the shops themselves needed a lot of work,” Alex Nelson recently told Daily Coffee News. “We came in and remodeled all the shops, and with the fresh new looks we wanted a fresh new name that stuck out to people and they could see how much work we had put into them.”

As part of the rebranding, each cafe was redesigned inside with local touches, plus a unified aesthetic inspired by the wedding venue, where a dark exterior opens to a warm and inviting interior. 

“We went for a similar look across all the shops but not copy and pasting them like a franchise would,” Nelson said. “We wanted to keep that local shop vibe — because we are — and each shop has its own touch. [The Iowa City location] had a local artist do a mural [and the North Liberty location] has a really cool merch pegboard wall.” 

Coffees for all the shops come from North Liberty-based roasting company Capanna Coffee Roasters, which also supplied Coffee Emporium. Capanna continues to work with Midnight Coffee for branded, custom blends, according to Nelson. 

With the rebranding, the new owners also overhauled the food program across the Johnson County shops, with new sandwiches, pastries and other breakfast options. The shops also offer new seasonal drinks.

“We have been coming out with a lot of new drinks and are in the process of launching our new craft signature specials, where we are really taking it up a notch,” said Nelson.

Among the new creations are the Driftwood (milk, maple syrup, oak and applewood-smoked salt), the Midnight Cold Brew (brown sugar, molasses bitters and heavy cream) and the Wild Bloom (matcha, milk, house hibiscus berry syrup and blueberry powder).

The newest Midnight Coffee location arrived through the acquisition of St. Kilda, representing the brand’s first entry into the Des Moines market. 

“This shop is a bit different for us as it has a full kitchen and is a bit more of a cafe style,” Nelson said. “Food-wise, we are keeping things similar to what St. Kilda had — as their food program was great — but we knew we could add value on the coffee side. It’s about two hours away from our other shops, but Des Moines is a big market and we knew that was our next target.”

While they have no immediate plans for expanding Midnight Coffee through franchising or moving into other states, the Nelsons do plan to keep pushing the concept at home in Iowa. 

“Being a local, community driven coffee company it makes sense to keep hitting it hard right in our backyard,” said Nelson. “We of course dream of going to other states but right now it makes the most sense to double down on Iowa and build up a loyal following of customers here.”

The newest Midnight Coffee location is now open at 12695 University Ave #140, Clive, IA 50325.

Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.

Related Posts