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Carl Radke is gearing up for the official opening of Soft Bar + Café.
“I didn’t get the space until January, so we started building in March,” Radke, 40, shared during a Wednesday, July 30, appearance on SiriusXM’s The Julia Cunningham Show. “From the time I’ve signed it to when we’re gonna be opening — soft-circled — August 27 is gonna be a grand opening.”
The Summer House star clarified that the “grand opening” would be for friends and family only. The establishment is set to open to the public on September 5. (This comes after a TikTok video went viral in which a social media user claimed the establishment was “nowhere near done.”)
“I got really lucky. We found a really beautiful space. Now, it’s a first-generation space,” Radke explained. “I had to build it out. Plumbing, electrical — but I looked at other spaces.”
The Soft Bar + Café will be located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
“I looked at a Starbucks. Funny story. I go look at this Starbucks with the broker — true story. I hope you’re listening if he’s here,” Radke recalled of finding the space for the establishment. “He brings me to Starbucks in Williamsburg and that Starbucks location was closed and I said to him verbatim, I go, ‘Why is Starbucks leaving?’”
The broker apparently told Radke that “no one drinks Starbucks in Williamsburg.” Radke knew that he didn’t want to “take over” what used to be another coffee spot.
“Is there some adjacent comparison to Starbucks? Absolutely. I believe my concept is more aligned in a Starbucks realm than it is like a cocktail bar,” the reality star continued. “It’s important for our business. What we’re doing is the coffee and the non-alc culture, but extending that into the evening.”
Radke added, “Every coffee shop in this town, for the most part, closes at [5 p.m. or 6 p.m.] but you have a space that sits there that’s beautiful and cool.”
Radke also teased that the location would be dog-friendly and kid-friendly for “certain hours” of the day.
During Summer House season 9, which filmed in Summer 2024 but aired earlier this year, Radke officially launched the Soft Bar brand with a garden party hosted in New Jersey. Along with the company’s first event, Radke and his business partners also launched the Soft Bar sprinter van, which serves non-alcoholic drinks. (Radke has been sober since 2020.)
“I put a lot of work into this,” he said during his confessional in the April episode. “I put over $100,000 of my own money in.”
