Why did King State St. Pete close? And what could come next?

For nearly five years, coffee lovers and beer nerds have flocked to King State in Tampa. But the brand’s new St. Petersburg location in the COhatch building only lasted about three and a half months before closing.

At the beginning of April, the King State St. Pete Instagram page announced the closure with a post that read simply “BRB” — short for “be right back.” Shortly after that, the rest of the content on the social media account disappeared.

What’s going on with the beloved coffee shop and restaurant’s new location? The Tampa Bay Times chatted with one co-owner to find out.

The future of King State

If King State St. Pete does reopen, it won’t be the same as it was when it closed. Instead, owners want to turn it into a late-night bar and eatery that can host events and serve the evening crowd.

“There’s bars in St. Pete, and there’s so many restaurants in St. Pete, but there’s rarely like, really, really good bars with really, really good food,” said co-owner Tim McTague.

McTague and his brother-in-law Nate Young first started the King State coffee brand a decade ago, then opened their first location out of a former car wash and garage at 520 E. Floribraska Ave. in Tampa. They were inspired by the third-wave coffee shops they visited in other cities as touring musicians; Young plays drums in alternative/emo group Anberlin and McTague plays guitar in Tampa metal band Underoath.

McTague imagines a spot where people can grab a bite after a night out at the Bends or watching a show at Jannus Live.

“The lights need to be lower, the music needs to be louder. An environment for people, rather than just another place to go eat,” McTague said. “If St. Pete can’t be what we want it to be, then we don’t want it to be anything for us. And that’s really where we’re at.”

Troubles started in Tampa

King State St. Pete was in the works for nearly three years before it soft-opened on Dec. 8, McTague said. Delays in building out the space pushed back the opening for roughly a year and a half.

By the time St. Pete was finally ready to open at 15 Eighth St N., the brand was already struggling with the original Tampa location. As part of the Floribraska Avenue Complete Streets Project, a city initiative to replace old water pipes and improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians, the entire road in front of the business was closed off. Many patrons assumed the restaurant was closed, too.

King State posted pleas for support on social media and spoke about the road closure at a Tampa City Council meeting. The construction impact, they told council members, had been more economically devastating than the entire COVID-19 pandemic.

Owners spoke directly with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and the city’s head of transportation. While construction is done for now, they hope communication and at least one lane will remain open during the next phase later this year.

“You almost need to bat a thousand and shoot bull’s-eyes 365 days a year to even make it,” McTague said. “When you have four to six months of just devastation, so to speak, whether it be access or bulldozers in front of your patio, it just makes a challenging business almost impossible... It was one of the most insane, tense times I think I’ve ever had in my life.”

What led to the pause in St. Pete

If you come to King State in Tampa when it opens at 8 a.m., you’ll find a third-wave coffee shop that serves waffles and breakfast plates. If you swing by around lunch, you can order a pizza and a pint of something from their beer program. By nighttime, it transforms into a cocktail bar where you might find a Bucs watch party. All of it has the same rock ‘n’ roll King State attitude.

When McTague and Young opened their St. Pete location, they brought over their beer, plus new menus for each meal of the day. They were excited to offer breakfast.

“It just turns out that there’s a reason why there’s not a lot of breakfast spots in downtown,” McTague said. “People are not going out to breakfast.”

They scrapped breakfast and leaned into dinner and drinks. But while McTague and Young were busy trying to keep Tampa afloat, St. Pete’s atmosphere and prices started to drift from the brand’s values.

“We’re very approachable. We’re kind of a punk attitude on the food and beverage industry,” McTague said. “(King State St. Pete) almost felt (like) hybrid fine dining, and that’s something that we never really wanted. Looking at the approachability of the menu, from a cost basis all the way down to some of the food offerings, we felt like it wasn’t King State.”

King State Coffee LLC filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 2.

“Our head executive chef ended up stepping away during our attempts to reorganize the concept,” McTague said. “It wasn’t the deciding factor amidst other things, just like, ‘OK, how did we get all the way here in a matter of two months?’”

Young and McTague decided to pause King State St. Pete for a month or two to reimagine the space.

This was not their first foray into St. Petersburg. In May 2022, McTague and Young opened the Brutalist Temple of Beer at the former Flying Boat Brewing Co. space at 1776 11th Ave. N.

The brewery and taproom struggled to find a consistent food partner and footing in the neighborhood, McTague said. They closed the space in October 2023 to focus on distribution. King State’s beer is now sold in seven states, including every Trader Joe’s in Florida.

“That was just a very easy decision once we realized, like, ‘Oh, all of this can still exist in a much, much more nimble and flexible way,’” McTague said.

They’re ready to pivot again in St. Pete. But only if it feels like King State.

“We are working with our landlords. They’re fully aware of the situation. They’re very supportive and our hope is to kind of reimagine what that concept is in a way that fits that space,” McTague said. “We’re at a very peaceful spot amidst the chaos.”