A sandwich-coffee shop chain is percolating plans for spreading out in the Naples area.
After first showing up last year as a customized 1958 Volkswagen bus camper transformed into a coffee kiosk on wheels, Winfield Coffee is putting down roots in Naples with its coffee van and two sandwich shops.
It’s VW-camper-turned-coffee-shop rolled into Coastland Center on Dec. 15 as a permanent fixture in the mall’s food court. The retro vehicle is parked in the interior space of the food court that was occupied for many years by Induus newsstand.
The trailer kiosk initially set up shop last year at Park Shore Plaza, but despite having a lease, business tax receipt and state permits, Naples’ city restrictions on trailers and food trucks drove them from that parking spot after two weeks. Winfield Coffee catered some private parties and visited residential communities and churches with its beverages, baked goods and sandwich platters, while Donatti scouted for permanent locations in Naples for about a year.
“We got a great response. That’s why we decided to go all in on the stores,” said founder and owner Breno Donatti. “Finally, a couple of locations showed up. We decided to open all of them at once.”
In addition to the mall location, Donatti also plans to launch two locations of Winfield Sandwich Shoppe this quarter on U.S. 41 in the Naples area, where Donatti, his wife and their two young sons relocated from the Northeast in December 2020. “We tell our neighbors we are New York refugees,” Donatti said. “We think this is paradise.”
At 18, Donatti left his native Brazil without speaking English and moved to the United States to study and work. A year after graduating from the University of Connecticut in 2014, he started his business with the purchase of Winfield Street Deli, which has operated in East Norwalk, Connecticut, since 1925. Donatti then opened three other coffee shops in Connecticut and one in New York with plans to soon launch four more in New York, including the first coffee shop on the subway line.
“They are very coffee-centric, but depending on the location they have their own little niche,” he said.
On Christmas day, Donatti purchased the longtime M&G Farm Stand café and catering in the North Trail Building at 1250 Tamiami Trail N. in Naples. He plans to launch Winfield Sandwich Shoppe there on Feb. 4, while retaining some of Matthews & Gardner’s top-selling items during its 25-year run. For instance, sandwich choices will include M&G’s chicken salad on croissant, a turkey club and Fred’s fried chicken salad.
“We are planning to open as soon as possible as soon as permitting and renovations are done,” Donatti said.
About a month later, the second area Winfield Sandwich Shoppe is targeted to open with the same menu in a former Subway shop at 13800 Tamiami Trail N. in North Naples. It will be in the same retail strip with Ristorante Limoncello on the corner of U.S. 41 and Old 41 Road. Both Winfield shops will offer breakfast, lunch and catering daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Coastland Center location now serves breakfast sandwiches, muffins, croissants, cinnamon rolls and doughnuts with a variety of coffees, teas and other beverages. Winfield Coffee is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
