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Co-owners Stephanie DeFina, Kayla Gates and Matt Gates opened Ludlow Coffee on East Street in this former mill town with a vision.
They wanted to give the community a comfortable place to gather.
“Everyone goes home, they go to school or they go to work. There’s two locations in people’s lives,” DeFina explained. “They need a beautiful third location that’s not just a bar or a restaurant. They need a place to hang out and connect with their community.”
Coffee may be their commodity, but fellowship is their focus.
“The community part was something we all felt was really important,” said Kayla Gates. “It’s part of the reason why we have couches. You know, a lot of times now you see places opening up with just the tables and chairs, and it meant a lot for us to provide comfy seating so people feel like they can stay and hang out for a while and connect with other people, and we see it coming to fruition, which is really special.”
Kayla said they often see regulars meeting up and spending time together over coffee.
The shop offers plenty of places to sit and chat, from the ample number of tables for two to the trio of couches arranged in a friendly grouping before a picture window. A bookcase overflowing with novels and boxed games and a low coffee table offering local newspapers provide more reasons to sip and linger.
The coffee, however, from their classic drip cup of joe to their espressos, cappuccinos, macchiatos, and signature lattes, is the shop’s ultimate draw. The brand of beans — and the handcrafted specialty offerings made from brewing those beans — are all carefully selected to set the independent shop apart from popular area chains. Ludlow Coffee exclusively serves George Howell Coffee, which is based in Acton, Massachusetts.
“George Howell has been around for years,” DeFina said. “They, more famously, are in the Boston area. So, we decided to bring really high-quality coffee out to Western Mass at much more affordable prices.”
For example, a small drip regular or decaf coffee at Ludlow coffee is priced at $2.75. A small espresso is $2.99. A classic cappuccino or latte is $4.99. The shop’s signature latte, which boasts a selection of flavors, is $5.99.
And the coffees they pour aren't the only items Kayla and DeFina have worked to source locally. As a small business, their goal has been to support other local vendors.
Kayla shared that the regular milk the shop uses is sourced from Maple Line Farms in Hadley. Their alternative milks — oat and almond — are from Esselon Café and Coffee Roasters, also from Hadley. Their baked goods are sourced from Chmura’s bakery in Indian Orchard and Morning Glory Bakery of Belchertown. The maple syrup used in their maple latte is from the Hardwick Sugar Shack in Hardwick. The chouriço the shop uses in their newly introduced sandwich menu, along with other sandwich choices, comes from Katie Street Market.
“It’s locally owned, right here in Ludlow,” Kayla said of the Portuguese sausage purveyor.
They also offer candles and company-branded sweatshirts from La Vele by Mimi, a fellow business located a few doors away.
“They’re small, they just opened up,” Defina added.
But sourcing as many supplies from fellow small businesses isn’t the only way DeFina and the Gates work to support the community.
Beyond their menu offerings, Ludlow Coffee also regularly sponsors numerous in-café events- from vendor pop-ups and monthly romance and sci-fi book clubs to creative gatherings such as a recent paint and coffee sip - as well as supporting fundraising for community-based causes, such as the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which takes place in Holyoke in October.
“We fundraised over $1,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association last year and hopefully, more this year,” DeFina said, adding that the shop’s now popular blueberry pancake latte and iced matcha were originally introduced last fall to help support that fundraiser because the drinks had a purplish color.
It’s just one of a rotating selection of signature lattes that have been inspired by customers, DeFina said, adding that a regular customer had mentioned having a blueberry pancake latte at a shop on the West Coast and perhaps the shop should try the flavor. The current trio of banana-inspired drink offerings - including a banana split flavor choice- all came from a customer’s suggestion as well, Kayla added.
Drink flavor choices rotate weekly and monthly. But at the beginning of each season, the café lets the customers help decide the next signature drinks, DeFina explained.
“So, we do a kind of like a tournament bracket-style, with four-to-eight beverages, like flavor drinks for lattes, and the customers get to vote on what they want as our next signature,” Defina said. “So, we always have one customer-voted signature, which is a fun way to bring them along with the journey.”
From idea to successful startup
DeFina and Kayla have known each other since they were undergrad students at Simmons University in Boston. But when that friendship formed nine years ago, neither had the dream of being a coffee shop owner.
In fact, both have gone on to successful business careers, with Kayla working full-time for MassMutual in Springfield and DeFina working for TIAA Financial Services Institution in New York. It was Kayla who had what DeFina described as an “amazing idea” to get into the coffee business about a year ago.
“The idea to start a coffee shop was mine, but then we all came together to make it what it is,” Kayla explained.
“Matt and I had been talking about it, and then, because Steph and I we’re best friends, we hang out all the time, I talked to her about it because I wanted her thoughts on it,” Kayla explained, adding she asked DeFina, “What do you think about this? Wouldn’t it be so cool?”
And then, DeFina said, Kayla put a PowerPoint pitch deck up on the TV, outlining her plans.
“And she said, ‘Yeah, let me get in on that,’” Kayla said.
The decision to site their new business in Ludlow was easy. Kayla and Matt had grown up there, their families had been in the town for generations, and they had plans to start a family in Ludlow.
The trio started talking seriously about their coffee shop concept in November of 2024. From initial concept to open-for-business was about eight months, including finding the location, a former restaurant, at 135 East St., renovating and redecorating the space, and securing the necessary permits to open their new coffee shop.
Ludlow Coffee officially opened its doors in July of 2025, with Matt, whose previous careers involved music and managing people, overseeing the day-to-day operations, Kayla working on financials and recipe development, and DeFina handling the marketing and social media for the new business.
According to Matt, business has been good, with a steady, loyal clientele that results in about 80 to 90 drink and food purchases during weekdays, with up to 150 daily purchases on the weekend.
“We made our menu to compete with, I mean, honestly, the only local coffee originally when we opened, was Dunkin and Starbucks, so we wanted to take a more traditional approach to what we offered,” DeFina explained. “So, our macchiato is a macchiato and not a latte. No shade but yeah, we wanted to have a very traditional menu,” she added, describing the slate of coffees that include not only a true macchiato but also a cappuccino, espresso, Americano, cortado, red eye, café au lait, latte and mocha, as well as steeped tea, chi latte, dirty latte, matcha latte and hot chocolate. All beverages but the hot chocolate are available hot or iced.
“We wanted people … especially the old Portuguese folks that may live here, [to get] a good cappuccino,” DeFina said. “We just have a blast making different concoctions.”
Ludlow Coffee, located at 135 East St., is open 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The coffee shop is closed on Monday. Check its website at ludlowcoffeeco.com for the shop’s full menu and upcoming special events.
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