Downtown Waterloo was abuzz Thursday as the community welcomed a particularly high-profile business with The Coffee Girl, a cafe created by hometown popular country artist Alexandra Kay.

With hundreds of fans crowding Main Street in front of the new cafe, Kay herself was there to cut the ribbon alongside city officials and other local business owners, offering thanks to the folks who have supported her through her rise to stardom and now in her venture as a business owner.

“I just want to say thank you guys so much for supporting me, not only in my career but supporting this journey,” Kay said. “When I started, I played just about every bar in this city, and I’m sure 90 percent of you were at one of those little bitty shows where nobody was there at the very beginning. Thank you for making this incredible dream come true. I am always gonna be Coffee Girl from Waterloo, and I’m always gonna be so proud of that.”

Kay became known as The Coffee Girl in 2020 through posting her morning coffee routine and country song covers on TikTok during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She released her debut album “All I’ve Ever Known” in 2023, and has shared the stage with artists such as Clay Walker, Jelly Roll, Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw and Tracy Lawrence. 

Following Thursday’s ribbon-cutting, Kay released the new single “Feminine Energy” on Friday and headlined a concert that same night at St. Louis Music Park.

Kay hits the road with Brad Paisley this summer and is readying her sophomore album for this fall.

Her father, The Coffee Girl General Manager Steven Krekorian, offered some further insight into how the business came about, explaining his daughter has long been interested in opening a cafe in the town where she grew up.

“Her original vision was just a donut shop serving coffee,” Krekorian said. “She wanted to do something in her hometown, that was what she wanted to do, and she wanted to be on Main Street. She didn’t wanna be anywhere else. She wanted to be downtown Waterloo.”

Krekorian recalled that, on his daughter’s behalf, he approached Jay and Lisa Jones, former owners of Bean Tree Cafe, to make sure Kay wouldn’t be stepping on any toes opening another coffee shop on the same street.

Rather than being upset, Krekorian recalled that the Bean Tree owners were happy to welcome Kay not only to Main Street, but into their building.

“They said they were looking to retire within the next year, but they would be willing to sell their location,” Krekorian said. “They couldn’t pick a better person to carry on the legacy of this building better than Lexi.”

Having just retired from his job at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Louis, Krekorian took over Bean Tree on Oct. 29 – with Kay acting as owner – and is set to continue in the position now that the building finally has its new flowery pink look.

Regarding that redesign, he expressed thanks to Nickas Architecture, Oculus Inc., Middendorf & Reuss Construction and all those involved in the building’s renovations which took just around a month.

He further noted the decor and overall look stem simply from Kay’s creativity.

“The decorations and how she wanted it to look came from her just building a Pinterest,” Krekorian said. “My daughter is very, very creative.”

Krekorian also discussed the cafe’s menu. Just as the business shares Bean Tree’s footprint, it also shares much of its food and beverage offerings, and he remarked that folks should still be able to get their favorites and enjoy some downtown Waterloo staples.

“I would say 95 percent of everything Bean Tree had on the menu is still on the menu,” Krekorian said. “Why fix what’s not broken, right? They had a great menu. Everybody loved it. We just added a few extra things.”

Krekorian reiterated the role Kay played in putting the business together with the foundations the previous business offered as she visited frequently to taste and tweak things as The Coffee Girl was coming together.

“Not that Jay and Lisa did it wrong, because we love them, they’re great friends and they built an entire, amazing business here,” Krekorian said. “What they did was amazing, but Alexandria had a vision of how she wanted things to taste and to look.”

He emphasized his excitement at being able to operate the business for and alongside his daughter.

“She’s a very driven young lady and knows what she wants,” Krekorian said. “For me to end my working career working with my daughter is like a dream. It’s been so much fun. It’s not even like work. I have so much fun coming to work every day, talking to people in the community, meeting new people, reacquainting with friends I haven’t seen in a long time.”

And just as Kay expressed at the cafe’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Krekorian spoke about her passion for Waterloo and her hopes for the business to be a strong part of the community.

“This vision of my daughter’s is about community,” Krekorian said. “This vision of my daughter’s is about giving back to the hometown that she absolutely loves. Granted, she lives in Nashville now, but when she’s home, her demeanor is completely different from when she’s in work-mode. This is home. Waterloo’s home.”

Krekorian also teased at future plans and activity for the business going forward, with the possibility of opening other Coffee Girl locations elsewhere.

The Coffee Girl is located at 219 S. Main Street in Waterloo. For more information, call 618-939-5330 or email info@thecoffeegirlcafe.com.