Small Batches Cafe & Collective

Small Batches Cafe & Collective opened on Racetrack Road Northwest in Fort Walton Beach on July 12, 2025, pairing a coffee counter with a retail space for local makers under one roof. The name captures both halves of the business, small batch coffee and pastries on one side, and a rotating collective of local vendors on the other, all inside a single storefront at 301 Racetrack Rd NW.

The cafe is a family project built by the Coles. Cassie Cole owns and runs it, her mother Gena Cole handles the baking and the books, her father Lawrence “Clif” Cole brings restaurant management experience to daily operations, and her siblings Madison and Easton pitch in as well. Gena bakes the pastry case fresh with help from a family friend known as Aunt Tobie, turning out items like ooey gooey butter cake and rolling bars alongside the coffee menu.

Coffee comes from Alla Prima, a roaster based in Pensacola, and the drink menu leans into local identity with specialty names like Lower Alabama and Navy Street alongside seasonal drinks that rotate through the year. Food covers more than just coffee and pastry: acai bowls, bagels, sandwiches, and several toast options round out a menu built for breakfast and midday stops rather than dinner.

The collective side of the name is not just branding. Twelve local vendors sell handmade ceramics, vintage clothing, jewelry, wood burning art, and pieces made from recycled textiles inside the same space, arranged so the shop feels like a small market rather than a gift shop bolted onto a cafe. Cassie Cole has described wanting the collective side to feel like a market every day, and the rotating vendor mix means a repeat visit can turn up different pieces than the last trip, whether that is a new run of ceramics or a fresh batch of upcycled clothing from a different maker.

The Cole family built much of the interior themselves, including the tables and the coffee bar, and filled the space with upcycled furniture pulled from thrift stores and salvaged chairs sourced from other local businesses. The result reads more handmade and lived in than a typical coffee shop build out, which fits a business built around handmade goods, and it gives the room a warmer, more personal feel than a chain coffee shop with matching factory made furniture.

Small Batches operates daily except Wednesdays, running from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends, so plan a visit around a mid morning stop rather than an evening one, since the kitchen and counter close by mid afternoon every day it is open. Racetrack Road sits inland from the beach in Fort Walton Beach, making the cafe a practical stop for locals and for visitors staying away from the main tourist corridor who want a slower, less crowded coffee break paired with a chance to pick up something handmade from a local maker rather than a mass produced souvenir. For anyone splitting a Fort Walton Beach trip between the sand and the rest of town, it is a reasonable detour on the way to or from the bigger shopping centers along Racetrack Road, and the on site vendor mix means a coffee stop can double as gift shopping without a second errand.