Cosmic Charlies, a brightly colored food truck, has brought its menu to an indoor location
The truck, likely seen at various local events over the past few months, recently opened a brick-and-mortar location inside of Sunrise Bouldering, 2 School St., Geneseo.
Cosmic Charlies offers an array of drink and food options, centered around coffee and breakfast foods with a seasonal variety as well.
Piper Wadsworth, the owner and operator of Cosmic Charlies, said that making the decision to start the food truck was something that she wanted to do for a while. It was a decision she took seriously.
The food truck not only displays vibrant blues and purples, but Wadsworth said that she tries to offer an array of gluten free, vegan, and other options for customers as way to stand out.
“I wanted to make sure I was committing to something that our community needed,” said Wadsworth.
Wadsworth wanted to bring a place to the community where people could hang out later than a regular café, or earlier than a bar, especially being close to SUNY Geneseo and being a place where people and students who aren’t 21 could hang out.
“We’re aiming to create in this space a community gathering center,” said Wadsworth.
The café is ever evolving and accommodating the business as it grows to have more seating and figure out how the space works best for both the café and Sunrise Bouldering.
“What started as a food truck has quickly turned into an indoor full-service café,” said Wadsworth.
Wadsworth said that she is hoping to keep the inside café open year-round and then travel with the food truck in the summer, participating in local events.
Wadsworth said that they have put a lot of work into their Google page and offer online ordering now.
Having the flexibility of the food truck allows Wadsworth another level of outreach because they are able to get their name out at various events and have new people discover them.
Wadsworth said that it is great to see people find out about the café through attending the climbing gym or to see people stop by for the café and discover that there is a climbing gym in Geneseo.
“It’s really fun to see people walk in who are going climbing, but they end up in the cafe or they come into the cafe and they had no idea there was a climbing gym in town. We feel like it’s been super beneficial for both businesses so far, even though it’s only been a couple of weeks that we’ve been inside,” said Wadsworth.
Cosmic Charlies began as a food truck in June 2022, attending events at the Wadsworth Homestead and other events throughout the summer, expanding into an indoor café in Sunrise Bouldering this past December.
Cosmic Charlies participated in events such as the Homestead series and even the Cookie Stroll in December, bringing even more people’s attention to the business.
Wadsworth’s partner Jake Caplan, who owns Sunrise Bouldering, was a large motivator for her to open the food truck because she said they often made coffee together during the pandemic.
Wadsworth has had training in the culinary arts and worked at a café in Boston, Mass., before moving home during the pandemic.
“I had a renewed sense of — wow, it would be really fun to bring something like this back to our town and use our skills to bring an experience we think might be lacking here or that could strengthen the food network in general. So that was a pretty big motivation. Just knowing what we could do here and what we could bring to the community,” said Wadsworth.
Wadsworth and Caplan found the food truck in Massachusetts before bringing it to New York to renovate it.
“We both felt a desire to go out and learn some stuff outside of Geneseo and then come back and apply those skills and strengthen the community,” said Wadsworth.
Cosmic Charlies offers breakfast burritos with a homemade salsa verde, egg and cheese sandwiches, breakfast tacos, homemade granola parfaits, and homemade cookies.
“One of my big focuses is having something for everyone. So, we have a really versatile menu which we like to highlight since everything is made to order,” said Wadsworth.
Wadsworth said that they are excited to see the café continue to grow and for people to keep an eye out for updates and look out for the truck at future events.
Cosmic Charlies hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, check out https://www.cosmiccharliecafe.com/.