One of the best benefits of working from home is the opportunity to choose not to do so—for example, taking your laptop to a local coffee shop for a change of scenery and a fresh drink. And for those stuck at their desks, Raleigh’s surplus of top-rated bars makes it easy to find a happy hour spot after a long workday.
But what if you could have both amenities at once? Enter the rising number of transitional cafés—“dual spaces” that serve coffee by day and flip to serving alcohol by night—that have popped up around the Triangle over the last several years.
Across the Triangle area, these businesses have transformed remote-work culture by offering patrons the best of both worlds in an all-in-one package.
“Many of our regulars are folks who work remotely and will come in, work on their laptop, and enjoy some coffee and a pastry,” says John Paradiso, who co-owns the Daily Beer Bar in Durham with his wife Rosa, “and once five p.m. rolls around, the laptop will close and they’ll order a drink.”
The convenience of being able to consume a full day’s worth of food and beverages at one location is certainly a major factor in why people are drawn to transitional cafés, but it’s far from the only reason. With remote and hybrid jobs still popular (a 2024 U.S. Career Institute study found that 26 percent of American households had at least one member working remotely for one day a week minimally), many people miss the experience of working alongside others.
Once five p.m. rolls around, the laptop will close and they’ll order a drink.”
Paradiso puts it simply: “Folks are looking for community spaces.”
Since it opened its doors on Main Street in 2022, the Daily Beer Bar has focused on providing such a space. From 8:30 a.m. to noon, guests can enjoy locally sourced pastries and coffees provided by Durham’s Yonder Coffee, and in the afternoon, they can lunch on sandwiches and salads before picking up wine or beer to wrap up the day.
Laptop use is allowed until the shop’s nine p.m. closing, just not at the main bar (and only if customers avoid overly loud Zoom meetings).
“While we definitely have guests who visit us for either coffee or beer,” Paradiso says, “we tend to find that most folks come in early, stay for most of the day, and end up experiencing the full spectrum of what the Daily has to offer.”
In Raleigh, Sir Walter Coffee has been serving up both morning and evening beverages since its 2016 launch on Davie Street. At the time, “coffee and cocktail bars were few and far between,” owner Kevin Frazier remembers. “We decided to create a space that catered to being a social spot with a beverage choice for anyone, whether you want coffee, tea, or beer.”
Not that you have to choose; one of Sir Walter’s unique features is the number of coffee-infused cocktails like espresso martinis and “hush money” martinis on the menu. The options are even wider at the shop’s new Fayetteville Street location, which has a full cocktail bar separate from the coffee counter.
Other dual spaces in Raleigh include NoRa on Strickland Road, which serves wine and beer in addition to a plethora of coffee drinks. Co-owners Matt and Colleen Gross opened the café in 2020 with the goal of creating a space that felt like “a cross between your grandmother’s living room, the public library, and the neighborhood pub,” says Matt. Over the years, the couple has stocked NoRa with a wide selection of books, artwork, games, and puzzles for customers to peruse when taking a break from their laptops.
“These are all just things we wanted to have to make the space feel warm, welcoming, and comfortable for a visit of any length,” Matt adds.
Some entrepreneurs have embraced the trend due to potential financial and logistical benefits. When Joe Choi, owner of Namu in Durham, decided to expand his Korean food truck into The Can Opener, a full space featuring both a coffee shop and a beer hall, the potential for more revenue was a main factor.
“We saw that there was an opportunity to expand on the usage of the space without paying for more space,” Choi explains. He estimates that since the pandemic, Namu has seen a 25 percent increase in customers coming in early for coffee while they work and staying until evening to wind down.
Over in Cary and Apex, meanwhile, coffee shop/brewery Vicious Fishes has established itself as one of each area’s foremost transitional cafés, which its cofounders say was always intentional.
“It was evident from the start that there was an opportunity to serve the community from dawn to dusk,” explains Ken O’Berry, who opened the first location with Paul Miller in 2019. Indeed, customers use the space for a range of needs all day long, much to the duo’s satisfaction.
“We love serving as the community’s living room, where people gather around the day to enjoy business meetings or friendly catch-ups over coffee, beer, wine, cider, and nonalcoholic beverages,” says O’Berry.
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