ELGIN – When the Pink Elephant coffee shop reopens this summer, owners Sarah and Tim Lile will welcome customers under a new name that reflects their faith.
The new name, Sarah said, will be Lev Coffee, which when translated means heart in Hebrew. But the word means more than a body organ to the Liles. The heart, they believe, is the place where they can make sense of the world, feel emotions and make wise choices.
“We are believers in Christ, and we want to honor God and our faith,” she said.
The couple also believes they’ll be reopening the coffee shop sometime this summer, although Sarah said she’s not sure on a specific date yet. Still, she’s certain the new coffee shop will be an improvement to their former, smaller coffee shop in Elgin.
The new location, 627 A Street, will be about 1,800 square feet, which will be five times bigger than its previous spot. The new building will have indoor and outdoor seating and a small conference room for meetings. The Liles also will be offering new menu items including more breakfast options, salads, sandwiches and wraps.
The brick and mortar work will begin this week as Sarah meets with an interior designer on new concepts for decorating.
In the meantime, the Liles continue to operate the Pink Elephant snow cone stand out of a shipping container. Operations for the summer months started this week, Sarah said.
“We’re doing what we can every day,” she said. “Elgin loves its snow cones.”
The Liles are offering 60 flavors this year with some specialty items. The couple began the snow cone business in 2015 with 6-year-olds as their target market, Sarah said. The Liles added coffee to the menu a year later, but their business journey didn’t stop at the first location which was an 8 x 12 movable building.
Sarah, who is from Edmond, used to meet with friends at various coffeehouses in the metro area and “fell in love with specialty coffee” and wanted to bring it to Elgin.
The couple has moved their coffee and snow cone business four times, including to the new location. In one instance, a 1968 Companion travel trailer that served as the location for both business ventures, was swept away by a storm.
“We’re very excited (about the new building). We’re here to stay,” Sarah said. “We’ve got quite a bit of construction to go, and I’ve got to go over the theme and artwork. We just want to get it built.”
Lev Coffee will offer seating for about 30 people.