Lelo’s Coffee Co. opens in McKinney’s repurposed grain silo

Lelo’s Coffee Co. has turned one of McKinney’s most unusual pieces of real estate into a test of whether a small coffee business can grow without giving up its identity. The stand opened May 30 at the north end of the Tupps Brewery property, where customers can order at a service window, sip outdoors and see a repurposed grain silo now serving as a storefront in the Historic Mill District.

The project is more than a novelty. Owned by Sandy and Derek Davis, Lelo’s is blending an online wholesale operation with a brick-and-mortar presence in a part of McKinney that has become a magnet for redevelopment, entertainment and food and beverage concepts. The grand opening celebration was set for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 6, on a day when Tupps’ calendar also listed goat yoga, a Summer of Soccer launch party, a brewery tour and live music later that evening.

Lelo’s fits into Tupps Brewery’s Build-Your-Own-Business program, an extension of the brewery’s earlier BYOB Courtyard concept. Tupps said the former grain silos were shipped to McKinney and installed as storefront spaces, and the brewery does not take a percentage of sales from the tenants. The goal is to give small businesses room to build for about one to two years before moving into larger spaces, opening the silos to the next round of operators.

That setup matters in a city where rents, development pressure and chain competition can make it hard for local concepts to get established. Lelo’s is already using the model to reach beyond the coffee counter. The business supplies coffee to local restaurants, and the Davises plan to host educational cupping courses so customers can learn about roasting and taste different varieties.

The menu is meant to separate Lelo’s from a standard caffeine stop. One specialty drink, the Dr. Love, mixes cane-sugar Dr Pepper with espresso cold foam. Derek Davis has said the shop wants customers to notice the differences in beans from regions such as Ethiopia and South America, where flavor can range from berry and chocolate notes to cacao and nuts. The emphasis on taste, not just speed, gives the business a niche in a crowded market.

The name also ties the shop to family history. Lelo’s honors Sandy Davis’ Puerto Rican heritage and is named for her grandfather, Luis Ayala-Bousono, whose family nickname was Lelo. That personal story, combined with the wholesale-and-storefront model, gives the business a broader significance in Collin County: it is a small local company trying to scale in place, using Tupps’ traffic and the silo concept as a bridge to something bigger.