Few coffee professionals have pushed the boundaries of design, experience, and quality like Jon Allen, co-founder of Onyx Coffee Lab. With his relentless pursuit of excellence, Jon has led Onyx to become one of the most awarded and loved independent coffee roasters in the country.
Onyx is known not only for world-class coffee but for the unforgettable spaces they create. Jon and his team have used notNeutral drinkware in every location from the beginning— a testament to our shared appreciation for intentional design and attention to detail.
In this conversation, Jon gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the design of Onyx’s newest café in Springdale, Arkansas—a stunning transformation of a 1950s bank into a three-story café and chocolate lab. Jon shares the inspirations, challenges, and surprises behind the build, his “rule of threes” in design, and why he chose notNeutral drinkware for the space.
What was the inspiration behind the design of your Springdale location?
The inspiration started with the building itself. It was a bank in the 1950s on this iconic square downtown. We’ve spent the last two years restoring it to its roots — uncovering three layers of flooring and bringing back the original terrazzo — and all those elements that make the building so classic to begin with.
You can see a nice juxtaposition when you walk in. You know right away what we added and what was naturally there.
How did you balance honoring the original space and adding your own point of view?
In all of our concepts we try to create three rules and stick with them for design purposes. [The rules] encompass not just finishes but the lights, the flatware, the dishes... even the design of some of the pastry and food. So even though it’s a three-story cafe — 6,000 square feet — it’s really only got three finishes: the original terrazzo, walnut, and glass blocks.
The bar is made of walnut and there are a lot of walnut wood panels; everything is this uniform grain. And then for anything structural we added, instead of using [gypsum] board we used these glass blocks that we brought in called doric. They've got kind of a convex wave pattern; they are really pretty. We light them from underneath so it has this almost Japanese paper feel. [Springdale] is our brightest space by far. Light was the main theme for everything we did. We didn’t want to build anything that would obstruct the light.
What were some of the surprises you uncovered during the renovation?
The entryway and stairs were always terrazzo, but we didn’t know how far it would go. We uncovered three layers of flooring—first there was slab concrete, then there were laminate wood floors, then it had carpet. As we were cutting for plumbing, we realized the terrazzo went almost all the way through [the space]. It's this interesting butter yellow color with some little flecks. It resonated with us, so we basically uniformed that color throughout the entire space.
What new experiences or features are unique to the Springdale cafe?
We have a side project that is bean-to-bar chocolate. So we’ve moved our cacao roaster and basically all chocolate manufacturing to be on display in the basement. There’s a 20-seat walnut bar, so we can take people on a journey of what it takes to make chocolate. There’s a big open cut in the floor and a walnut staircase that tapers down to the space. It’s inviting, but there’s a little bit of a speakeasy feel in that when you turn a corner, you’re not really sure where the stairs lead... but you’ll be able to smell it. Hopefully.
notNeutral is just what we’ve always used. It’s always good, it doesn’t break, the feel on the lip is always nice— it’s the best cupware in the game!
You use a variety of notNeutral products in your spaces. How did Pico fit into your design rules and material palette for Springdale?
The Pico was a natural fit, both with the colors but also the texture and feel. The glaze is really similar to the frosting on the glass block, so everything just worked.
And notNeutral is just what we’ve always used. It’s always good, it doesn’t break, the feel on the lip is always nice— it’s the best cupware in the game!
We love to hear it!
Well, it’s true.
The engraved horse design is such a strong detail—can you share the story behind that choice?
Yeah, the horse is a theme throughout the space. Most of our packaging is embossed or debossed, so to have engraving as an option and keep that theme throughout was really exciting for us.
What does the horse symbolize?
Well for one, my wife is a competitive barrel racer so it’s a little bit of an homage to her. Springdale is also a traditional, rural area—we're like three blocks away from [Rodeo of the Ozarks] and we’re excited to embrace that part of the community. You don’t see a lot of crossovers between western and specialty coffee, and maybe there’s a reason, I guess we’ll find out! But there are some things about that culture, the way that it’s slow and patient, that resonate.
What were some of the biggest challenges or creative wins during the design process?
There are hardships in just normal technical things when you’re restoring an old building. But from the design side things actually came together really well. That’s the point of creating those rules-- any decision has to fit. As long as it does, it tends to look nice and function well.
We always want to one up every project we’ve ever done, so the goal is like... how do we make our other cafes look like sh*t? And that’s sort of the initial design challenge.
You’re your own competitor.
Yes! We’re starting to feel good about that.
