Winooski Café to Relaunch as Specs Under New Ownership

Emma Rose of Rosie’s Confections has sold her Winooski café to Sam Nelis, a longtime Vermont beverage professional. The café and chocolate shop at 7 West Canal Street will close on October 31 and reopen as Specs after a short break. Current café manager Kyle Palmer will stay on under the new ownership.

Rose said running the café while also crafting her ethically sourced chocolates was too much to manage. She will continue to produce the fresh, European-style chocolates, some of which contain CBD, in her St. Albans production kitchen. They can be purchased directly from the Rosie’s Confections website and at some retail stores.

Rose also produces chocolates containing THC at X-Tract Vermont, a licensed artisan cannabis production facility in St. Albans that she and her family own. Those chocolates can be sold only through licensed dispensaries.

Currently beverage director at Barr Hill in Montpelier, Nelis was opening bar manager for Waterworks Food + Drink in Winooski. He confirmed by text that he will take ownership of the café and the lease for the neighboring storefront soon to be vacated by Catland Vintage, which closed the weekend of October 20.

Nelis said he plans to expand into that space with new offerings, but his initial focus will be on the existing café business. The name Specs, he explained, is short for “specifications,” the industry term for the details of, or recipe for, a drink.