Owners of downtown staple David and Dad’s to launch coffee shop

Over more than three decades downtown, Kathy Brady has made a life’s philosophy out of showing up. “You’ve got to be here,” said Brady, general manager and co-owner of David and Dad’s Café. Brady comes to work no matter the weather, no matter how she’s feeling.

That unwavering consistency has helped make David and Dad’s a staple of Baltimore’s downtown, offering breakfast and lunch at a time when many others in the area have shut down. Customers nearby, be they judges, jurors or tourists, rely on the quick-service shop for homemade sandwiches, soups and salads.

Now, Brady and her boss, David Cangialosi, are preparing to give downtown a new destination for coffee. Tentatively called Perk It Up, the shop will open in late January or early February 2027 at 10 Light St. The art deco building, which houses the Arrive Inner Harbor apartments, is a landmark of the Baltimore skyline and one of the city’s tallest structures.

“I think downtown Baltimore is in need of some nice kind of neighborhood coffee shops,” Cangialosi said. A former Mrs. Fields executive, Cangialosi hired Brady in 1993 to help him run the precursor to David and Dad’s at its first location in Brown’s Arcade. In 2016, the shop moved into its current home, a former bank building at 115 N. Charles St.

Cangialosi hopes the new coffee shop venture, a partnership between him and Brady, will become a local chain, with additional locations coming to the city or possibly the suburbs.

It’s not Cangialosi’s first attempt at branching out. In 2010, David and Dad’s began adding express locations, including ones at Kennedy Krieger’s offices in East Baltimore and at the former T. Rowe Price headquarters at 100 E. Pratt St. All have since closed.

While it might seem a less-than-ideal economy for starting out a new business, Cangialosi said he’s protected his investment through smart negotiations with his future landlord. When opening new branches, Cangialosi said he looks for property owners who are willing to share the cost of the build-out.

It’s a lesson he encourages other small business owners to follow. “You have to open up a business with as little debt as possible,” he said. “And you need to have a willing partner of a landlord who wants their space leased out.” The Perk It Up address was previously home to a Starbucks branch, which operated in the northeast corner of the building. Perk It Up is set for the building’s southern side, facing Redwood Street. The space was previously occupied by a juice bar just off the Under Armour Performance Center gym, but has sat vacant for years, Cangialosi said.

From a financial perspective, specialty coffee beverages carry higher profit margins than food, which is more expensive than ever to buy or sell.

Cangialosi says David and Dad’s does business “the old-fashioned way,” with an eye toward the long term rather than short-term profits. Other places might look to reduce overhead by cutting back on labor, but that can backfire, putting stress on workers, owners and the business itself. “You can’t be consistent,” he said.

David and Dad’s, he noted, has about 20 employees on the premises at any given time, dealing with customers and working in the kitchen. “Everything’s made from scratch here,” Cangialosi said. Once Perk It Up opens, the shop will likely carry grab-and-go baked goods and sandwiches made in the kitchen at David and Dad’s, as well as items from other local bakeries.

And in many ways, the flagship David and Dad’s Café is a throwback to the pre-COVID dining landscape, when downtown was fuller with office workers. In recent years, large firms like T. Rowe Price have relocated to newer buildings along the waterfront. Today, the streets surrounding David and Dad’s feature empty storefronts and fewer pedestrians than ever.

But even as traffic declines, there are always people who will need to come downtown, particularly to visit the courthouses in the area. And most of them need to eat. During a recent visit, many tables at the café were occupied by people wearing juror badges. Brady said customers include local judges, police officers and sheriff’s department staff.

Soon, they’ll have one more spot to grab a cup of coffee.