Chabad Intown Brews a Warm Welcome with Milk & Maple Coffeehouse

A sweet new addition is brewing on the Beltline. Chabad Intown will open Milk & Maple Coffeehouse on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 730 Ponce de Leon Place, bringing a café, workspace, and gathering place to one of the city’s busiest walking corridors.

The concept grew from a simple growth challenge. Chabad Intown builds spaces for people to feel like they belong, are comfortable enough to ask questions, explore Jewish learning, and grow on their own terms. Getting more people through the door was a motivational factor.

Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman said, “The biggest challenge has never been what happens once people walk through the doors. The challenge is getting them to walk through the doors in the first place. What if people came because they needed something?”

The Schustermans chose caffeine as a “jump starter.” The location helps. Close to 200,000 people pass the back Chabad Intown entrance every month, making Milk & Maple a new expression of an old Chabad idea: meet people where they are.

Although not attached to a Chabad facility, the newish Honey and Challah Café at The Dupree in Sandy Springs is riding on this sociological phenomenon of gathering spaces around Kosher food. At breakfast and lunch peaks, those tables are alive with kippahs, couples on a first date, and those there for the convenience of the food with no special regard for kashruth.

Similarly, Schusterman, always on trend, is touted for having the real estate (sechel) foresight to buy the Intown building in 2018 and imagined it one day as offering kosher food or Judaica for sale. The path was not linear. Partnerships were explored, plans stalled during the pandemic, as the vision took a circuitous route.

In late 2024, Schusterman’s daughter, Mira Levy, began molding the idea into something tangible. Working with Pimsler Hoss Architects, Atelier Davis, Justine Rubin, Sara Elan, Sara Dworcan, and Berri Dworcan, Rabbi Schusterman and wife, Dena, the team spent countless hours mulling over the details.

The result is a coffee house designed to invite people to linger. Inside the clean modern aesthetic are specialty coffees, pastries, comfortable workspaces, abundant outlets, high-speed Wi-Fi, and shelves of books begging to be pursued. Behind the counter, the espresso machine and grinders are ready for business, plus an order window makes it easy for passersby to grab a quick coffee or pastry and continue walking on the Beltline. A new path now connects the Beltline directly to Chabad Intown, below a new outdoor patio/deck, offering fresh air overlooking the path, with Ponce City Market’s historic tower in the distance and the motion of Midtown.

The apple green couch, an icon of Chabad Intown, has a spot, too. The menu runs from cappuccinos to salted maple lattes. Customers can meet a friend, start or finish a novel, open or close a laptop, or sit for five minutes or two hours.

The name “Milk and Maple” is a nod to the Torah’s description of the Land of Israel as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Maple felt a little “more Atlanta” than honey to Rabbi Schusterman.

“Coffee is only half of the story. Each cup is meant as an opportunity to connect. The customer who stops in for an oat milk latte today may return for a parenting class next month. A student studying for finals might discover a Shabbat dinner invitation. A Beltline walker looking for an iced coffee may find an unexpected Jewish home,” concluded Schusterman.

This progression reflects the Chabad model emphasizing relationships, hospitality and connection.

“Milk & Maple simply gives another beautiful front porch from which to welcome the city,” he added.

The project represents an investment of more than $500,000. Two gifts of $100,000 each, one of them a challenge grant, have put the project in forward motion, well on its way.

Milk & Maple Coffee House’s Grand Opening is set for Nov. 1. Doors open at 7 a.m., the ribbon cutting is at 11 a.m., and festivities run until 3 p.m.