Meet Claudio New Owner of Caffe Macchiato

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The sale of Caffe Macchiato is now complete and new owner, Claudio Pantoja has taken over. The official take over date was Monday, August 26th. He is currently waiting for his permit from the Department of Health to open the doors again (edit they are open today the 29th).

Born and raised in Newburgh, Claudio has always wanted to open a cafe. It is 100% what he wants to be doing. He has over a decades worth of experience working with coffee. His repertoire includes working at a coffee shop in Newburgh, Starbucks for 9 years, and Gimme! Coffee where he worked in NYC. He also worked in a bistro in Carmel, NY. Last year his father passed away and it had always been his dream to open up a cafe. Claudio, and former owner Barbara found each other over Facebook and the connection was made. Everything seemed to fall in place for him at the right time. Caffe Macchiato was the exact kind of place he was looking for.

For those of you wondering what to expect under the new management Claudio says that he wants to keep everything the same. However, he would like to focus more on coffee and the morning crowd that has been practically been begging for earlier hours. At the beginning Claudio will maintain previous business hours until he can work out the kinks of running the business. Afterwards, he plans to attract the morning crowd by opening up earlier. Claudio would also like to explore expanding the menu to appetizers and tapas and perhaps even an early dinner that will commence being invitation only and then reservation only. But, for those of you with restricted diets, fear not. Claudio also has a restricted diet and would like to include specials for those of you that are vegans. The movie special with the Downing Film Center will also continue.

Claudio just turned 31 and he plans to infuse a youthful vibe into Caffe Macchiato. The cafe will be offering free WiFi and he even started an Instagram account (Macchiato12550) for those of you wanting to see yummy photo updates. Claudio is a graduate from Northeastern University in Boston and was part of the first wave of the Facebook phenomenon and definitely plans to update the Facebook fan page regularly. Two years ago on November 23rd Claudio went blind. He couldn’t see and had multiple surgeries to correct his vision. He says he is now feeling the best ever. The opening of the cafe seems to be happening at the right time for Claudio and he could not be more elated.

There are plans for a grand opening party, but it will most likely be an invite-only event. To get in contact with Claudio just stop on by to Caffe Macchiato.

Newburgh appreciates the hard work that Barbara and Edwin put in at Caffe Macchiato over the past 9 years. It has made Newburgh a destination and has established a standard for the block. It is so wonderful to see that the space will not go empty and that the revitalization of Liberty Street will continue.

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