Carabello Coffee Named Newport's 2014 New Business of the Year

An unexpected thing happened to us while we attended the annual Newport Business Association Awards Banquet: Carabello Coffee was named the 2014 New Business of the Year!

This is certainly the type of thing you can never plan for, and we are very humbled and grateful for the way the business community and the City of Newport have embraced us.  

Those of you who have followed our story from the beginning know that we never set out to create the kind of shop we have in Newport.  Sometimes I think Emily and I are the most surprised of everyone as to where we have ended up, knowing the behind-the-scenes conversations we had for years about where this was all going (or not going).  

After moving to Newport's East Row historic district in 2010, we fell in love with the city and began dreaming about someday bringing Carabello Coffee to Newport.  Three years later, the perfect spot opened up for us and we made the move, not really sure how all of this would go!

So, there we were, standing on a stage at the Newport Dueling Piano Bar with Mayor Jerry Peluso and NBA liaison Bev Holiday, accepting our award and making a speech.  To God be the Glory, great things He has done! 

In a city that boasts some very large businesses, several of which moved to Newport the same year we opened, this honor is not lost on us.  

The River City News did a very nice story on the entire evening, which ended with the mayor and Tom Guidugli (one of the commissioners) lip syncing to a boogie-woogie piano rendition of a Blues Brothers tune.  

Only in Newport!  Read about it here!