The Benelux Grand Cafe and Market will open around the end of the year in a building kitty-corner from the Milwaukee Public Market that formerly held the Good Harvest natural food store.
Diablos Rojos, operator of Trocadero, Cafe Hollander and Cafe Centraal, is the owner of the new cafe. Benelux will have rooftop and outdoor dining, according to co-owner Eric Wagner.
The Public Market owns the building where Benelux will be located. Diablos Rojos will undertake substantial remodeling for the new cafe and market, said Ron San Felippo, chairman of Business Improvement District No. 2, which owns and operates the Public Market.
The Benelux will offer dining in the western part of the building, on N. Broadway, with a food market in the eastern half. The market’s offerings will include Belgian chocolate, Dutch candy, Alterra coffee roasted specifically for the store, dipping sauces and more.
“All things from Lowland Europe,” Wagner said.
Both Wagner and business partner Mike Eitel are native Milwaukeeans, but they have an appreciation for the cafe culture of the low countries of Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Their restaurant menus reflect that interest.
The men started their restaurant business 10 years ago with the opening of Trocadero, on N. Water St. Their most recent addition was the Cafe Hollander in the village area of Wauwatosa. Their original Cafe Hollander is on N. Downer Ave.; Cafe Centraal is in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.
Good Harvest closed its doors in February, after just more than a year in operation. The store never achieved enough sales to turn a profit, according to the owner Joe Nolan. He and his wife, Jody, own another Good Harvest store in Waukesha.
