Thanks to all who passed on from Republic Kolache:
“Some bittersweet news today folks: after 5 very gratifying years, Republic Kolache will be closing up shop early next month.
From the first popups at American Ice in Aug 2015, to a wholesale business that placed kolaches on the shelves of Whole Foods & many local coffee shops, to the opening of our sister brick & mortar Republic Cantina — we’ve truly had a good run.
The rationale here is what you’d probably guess: the pandemic has caused a massive drop in our sales (namely on the wholesale side, which represented ~90% of our production). With many of our cafe & grocery customers closed, continuing operations is unfortunately just no longer sustainable.
line for kolaches a few moons ago at American Ice, 917 V Street, NW
The good news: we still have a few weeks before we close our doors, and we’re opening up pre-ordering for pickup & delivery so that you can enjoy fresh-baked Republic Kolaches one last time in DC.
Place your pre-order here (we’re handling the online ordering via Republic Cantina; look for ‘Republic Kolache Closeout‘ and select Pickup or Delivery).
On a personal note, I’d like to express my genuine gratitude for your patronage, your enthusiasm, and your sharing in celebrating Texas food & culture with us over the years.
I started Republic Kolache in 2015 based on a desire to bring food that I loved and missed to DC, where I’ve lived since 2006. I thought we’d do a little popup, maybe a farmers market stand, and this would be a one-off little asterisk on my resume (I was working in marketing & design.. and candidly had never held a restaurant job when we started RK).
Little did I know the Texpats of DC would collectively lose their minds about kolaches, turning our venture into a very full-time effort spanning 4 popups around the city, a stall at Union Market, a rapidly-growing wholesale business, and eventually the opening of our ‘sister’ brick & mortar Tex-Mex joint, Republic Cantina.
The opening of the Cantina in particular makes the end of the Republic Kolache story a bit less sad; it was your patronage & excitement at the kolache popups that led me to open Republic Cantina as a permanent home for Texpats here in DC, and I’m definitely glad to have a (more resilient in a pandemic) base of operations to continue to host & serve you!
If you haven’t yet visited Republic Cantina — give us a try! We’re open for breakfast & dinner, offering Texas-style breakfast tacos on housemade flour tortillas, sizzling fajitas, and strong margaritas. Find us at 43 N St NW DC.
Cantina remains open as normal (only change will be no more kolaches sold there after Nov 8!). We’re serving takeout and now allow limited dine-in service on our patios (all the details on our website). As I mentioned Cantina has allowed us to be a bit more creative & resilient during the pandemic, but still: your continued patronage is what keeps us alive during these crazy times!”