(May 19, 2016) Without acknowledging his past, Taylor Morrison, 24, said he couldn’t pave the path to his future.
“There are some not so pretty parts, but each piece happens for a reason. If not for the bad times, I couldn’t have this now — that took me a while to understand,” he said. “You can make it better if you want to.”
Morrison is putting the finishing touches on XO beanery and bites, a one-man show of coffee, desserts and light lunches he intends to open in two weeks in downtown Pocomoke.
The coffee is a custom blend offered by Rise Up coffee, which is based on the Eastern Shore with locations in St. Michaels, Easton and Salisbury. The food is all Morrison’s.
“I went to UMES for hotel management and golf, where you have to take four years of cooking. I always ended up in the bake shop making breads, desserts and pastries,” he said. “I moved away for a little while, to South Carolina to be a personal chef, and returned home in October.”
He found the building he would turn into the XO beanery in December, and has been working to convert it ever since. Gone is the drywall hiding a deeply weathered exposed brick wall, gone is the commercial grade carpet to be replaced with new floors and gone is the closet-sized restroom, converted into an actual closet, and replaced with more modern facilities.
“I’m not Starbucks, and I don’t want to be. I’m not doing triple-foam etc. drinks, but I am making coffee, tea and espresso drinks,” he said. Smoothies will also be available.
The food options all come from Morrison’s imagination.
“You can get a croissant anywhere, but I’m doing a chocolate croissant with an éclair filing. We’re going to have two or three options for lunch, but the only one I’ve settled on is a chicken salad with grapes and bacon served on banana bread,” he said.
XO beanery and bites will serve locally owned Chesapeake Bay Farms ice cream.
The coffeehouse will also naturally have a performance space, but late-night open mic nights or jam sessions are still a ways off.
“I’ve been watching the traffic move around downtown, and while I’ll reopen for events like Fourth Friday, the schedule is pretty much set,” he said.
He plans to open between 6:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and is closed on Sunday.
Then there’s the name.
“XO is kisses and hugs. For me, I haven’t had the easiest road. I made some dumb mistakes and I learned I had to learn to love better and let people love me better. XO is bigger than a coffee shop, it’s much more than the face value of hugs and kisses,” he said.
Morrison’s past, according to public records, includes a series of traffic violations — some serious — including a DUI where he received probation before judgment in 2014 and a fatal accident later the same year. Morrison pleaded guilty to negligent driving, reckless driving and failure to yield while other charges weren’t pursued by the prosecutor in that case. He blames the accident on a medical condition that causes occasional minor seizures.
“Upon reflection of what I came out on the other side of — I can’t picture a better way of giving back than to help my town and the community I grew up in,” he said. “It’s awesome for me to come back and do what I love — coffee and baking are my two favorite things.”
“There are some not so pretty parts, but each piece happens for a reason. If not for the bad times, I couldn’t have this now — that took me a while to understand,” he said. “You can make it better if you want to.”
Morrison is putting the finishing touches on XO beanery and bites, a one-man show of coffee, desserts and light lunches he intends to open in two weeks in downtown Pocomoke.
The coffee is a custom blend offered by Rise Up coffee, which is based on the Eastern Shore with locations in St. Michaels, Easton and Salisbury. The food is all Morrison’s.
“I went to UMES for hotel management and golf, where you have to take four years of cooking. I always ended up in the bake shop making breads, desserts and pastries,” he said. “I moved away for a little while, to South Carolina to be a personal chef, and returned home in October.”
He found the building he would turn into the XO beanery in December, and has been working to convert it ever since. Gone is the drywall hiding a deeply weathered exposed brick wall, gone is the commercial grade carpet to be replaced with new floors and gone is the closet-sized restroom, converted into an actual closet, and replaced with more modern facilities.
“I’m not Starbucks, and I don’t want to be. I’m not doing triple-foam etc. drinks, but I am making coffee, tea and espresso drinks,” he said. Smoothies will also be available.
The food options all come from Morrison’s imagination.
“You can get a croissant anywhere, but I’m doing a chocolate croissant with an éclair filing. We’re going to have two or three options for lunch, but the only one I’ve settled on is a chicken salad with grapes and bacon served on banana bread,” he said.
XO beanery and bites will serve locally owned Chesapeake Bay Farms ice cream.
The coffeehouse will also naturally have a performance space, but late-night open mic nights or jam sessions are still a ways off.
“I’ve been watching the traffic move around downtown, and while I’ll reopen for events like Fourth Friday, the schedule is pretty much set,” he said.
He plans to open between 6:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and is closed on Sunday.
Then there’s the name.
“XO is kisses and hugs. For me, I haven’t had the easiest road. I made some dumb mistakes and I learned I had to learn to love better and let people love me better. XO is bigger than a coffee shop, it’s much more than the face value of hugs and kisses,” he said.
Morrison’s past, according to public records, includes a series of traffic violations — some serious — including a DUI where he received probation before judgment in 2014 and a fatal accident later the same year. Morrison pleaded guilty to negligent driving, reckless driving and failure to yield while other charges weren’t pursued by the prosecutor in that case. He blames the accident on a medical condition that causes occasional minor seizures.
“Upon reflection of what I came out on the other side of — I can’t picture a better way of giving back than to help my town and the community I grew up in,” he said. “It’s awesome for me to come back and do what I love — coffee and baking are my two favorite things.”