Friday August 14th was the Kasson Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting recognizing the Sandbox Coffee Shop in town. The business was the brainchild of James Stein and Burt Kleckley. The two work at AOS Home Solutions, a builder in Pine Island, where Burt is the general manager. One morning last October, James commented, “I want a cup of coffee”. Burt responded, “Lets build one”. From that moment they began to explore the possibilities. The idea was born to mix excavators and coffee. With a third partner from the Faro family, they started on this venture and had a soft opening of the coffee shop earlier this summer.
Their idea for the business was coffee, community and indoor sandbox excavator experience. One of the interesting draws is the two sandboxes inside filled with sand and 1/16 scale remote control dirt moving equipment. Anyone can operate a front end loader or excavator moving materials in the sand box. The rates for kids 5 – 12 years old is $5.00 for 15 minutes or $10.00 for half an hour. Ages 13 years and up is $8.00 for 15 minutes or $15.00 for half an hour. They will be adding Midwest Marbles in the sand soon, where one may uncover the marbles with the bucket and load them into a toy dump truck and keep them. In the future they are looking into 3-D items to add to the sand to search for. This is a pastime that grandparents and their grandchildren enjoy doing together.
The Sandbox Coffee Company has a drive thru window for ease of picking up your coffee and a pastry on the way to work in the morning. Their # 1 seller is the Sand Box Latte. They also serve their signature coffee, classic espresso, refreshers, specialty and Italian sodas, tea, matcha and smoothies. Bakery items are made fresh on site daily including cinnamon rolls, pastry tarts, muffins and various flavors of scones. They also feature baked goods from local cottage bakers.
There is a loyalty program where you can get your seventh drink free and a birthday club membership with discounts, free rewards and many other options.
The Sandbox Coffee Company is open Monday thru Friday from 6am to 6pm and on weekends from 8am to 6pm. They are located at 408 West Main in Kasson across the street from Kasson Mayo. Conveniently located to pickup a coffee while you wait for your appointment. You may order online or call in at 507-634-7263.
