Mae’s Cafe Nears Opening in North Forsyth, Bringing Breakfast and Coffee to a Historic Country Store
A historic general store in north Forsyth is being revitalized as Mae’s Cafe, offering Southern-style breakfast and lunch. The new local spot aims to serve nearby residents with dine-in and takeout options in a unique setting.
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A longtime building in north Forsyth County is getting a new life as a neighborhood breakfast and lunch spot.
Mae’s Cafe is preparing to open at 7650 Jot Em Down Road, near the intersection with Keith Bridge Road. Owner preparations are now well underway, with an opening targeted for late summer or early September.
The locally owned cafe will serve breakfast and lunch along with specialty coffee, leaning toward Southern food rather than a standard coffee-shop menu. Plans include homemade buttermilk biscuits and dishes such as fried chicken Benedict, mixing familiar breakfast staples with more contemporary versions of Southern comfort food.
The setting may be as interesting as the menu.
Mae’s is moving into a former general store believed to date to the 1940s. Renovations are preserving the building’s original interior brick, while historic photographs and other details connected to the property’s past are being incorporated into the restaurant.
That gives the opening a different character from many of the new restaurants arriving elsewhere in Forsyth County.
Much of the county’s recent dining growth has followed major commercial corridors around Peachtree Parkway, Ronald Reagan Boulevard, Ga. 400 and Cumming City Center. Mae’s is opening farther north, in an area where subdivisions and population have grown faster than the number of nearby places to stop for breakfast, lunch or coffee.
For residents around Keith Bridge Road, Jot Em Down Road and the northeastern side of the county, the cafe could become the kind of everyday business that matters more than its size suggests: somewhere to meet for coffee, pick up breakfast on the way to work or have lunch without driving toward central Cumming or South Forsyth.
Residential growth continues to move outward from Cumming toward communities around Coal Mountain, Matt Highway and Keith Bridge Road. Commercial development generally follows more slowly, leaving room for smaller locally owned businesses that can become neighborhood fixtures before larger shopping centers arrive.
The restaurant plans to offer both dine-in and takeout service and expects to operate seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
If the cafe opens on schedule, north Forsyth residents should be able to try it within the next few weeks.
If you enjoy discovering places with local character, these stories are worth a look too.
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