Mugs on Main opens second café inside Quogue's Schmidt's Market

Mugs on Main is bringing its Churro Latte to Quogue, opening a second café inside Schmidt’s Market on Friday, June 5, in a move that shows how East End food businesses are expanding with more caution and more local tailoring.

The new shop, called Mugs at Schmidt’s Market, will operate seven days a week inside the long-running market at 146 Jessup Ave. in Quogue. The Riverhead coffee business was launched in 2023 by Kasandra Watkins-Schaeffer and Jeff Schaeffer, who built its reputation on signature lattes, pastries, a cozy setting and a strong neighborhood following.

The Quogue café will not be a stripped-down clone of the original. It is set to carry many of the drinks that helped define the Riverhead location, including the Churro Latte, along with seasonal beverages, pastries and other menu favorites. That kind of menu mix matters on the South Fork, where demand can swing sharply between summer traffic and the quieter off-season, and where businesses often rely on a year-round customer base as much as beach-season spillover.

Jeff Schaeffer said, “Kasandra has poured her heart into every detail of this place,” a reminder that the brand has been built as much on personal involvement as on coffee itself. The partnership with Schmidt’s Country Market also gives the café a ready-made audience inside a business that already serves daily breakfast, lunch, sandwiches, catering and specialty snacks.

Schmidt’s Country Market says it has served Quogue since 1980, and the Village of Quogue lists it as a village location. That existing foot traffic is part of the appeal for a café like Mugs on Main, which is choosing to grow inside an established destination rather than start from scratch. For a small-business owner on the East End, that approach can be less risky than opening a standalone storefront in a high-cost market.

The expansion also reflects broader trends in Suffolk County’s food economy. Independent operators are leaning into identity, design and repeat customers, rather than trying to outscale national chains. In Riverhead, that same logic has helped support downtown revitalization efforts around Main Street, the Peconic River corridor and proposed parking and riverfront improvements meant to draw more people into the core. Mugs on Main’s move to Quogue suggests that a loyal local following, paired with the right village setting, can still fuel growth one café at a time.