Horsepower Coffee drive-thru opens for business in Letterkenny
Toni Kelly established Horsepower Coffee, located on the Paddy Harte Road, which opens today, April 26, at 12:30pm
A Letterkenny woman has come full circle, setting up a drive-thru coffee business.
Toni Kelly established Horsepower Coffee, located on the Paddy Harte Road, which opens today, April 26, at 12:30pm.
The family-run business, which operates as a drive-thru and walk-in, will be open seven days a week from 7am until 3pm. Serving Never A Day's Trouble Coffee and a range of oats, granola, pastries, tray bakes and quick bites such as bars and fruit.
Toni had been commuting from Donegal to Dublin for work in the film industry since 2021. “I was missing Donegal and started thinking about ways to get myself back home and one evening it just all made sense,” she tells DonegalLive.
“I love a drive-thru, I love my car and I don’t want to get out of it. It also suits parents, commuters and just busy people, catering to a wider community.”
Toni’s vision, which has been in the making since May 2024, combines different aspects of her personality, her love for cars, coffee and drive-thrus. The location, which is beside the cinema, is the site her father Tony previously owned, Honda Showrooms.
“I spent the majority of my childhood here, literally on this site. The site is terrific for a drive-thru, and it's also paying homage to what it was originally. Everything is car-related, that’s why I went with the car and garage theme. So this is all just coming together now."
Horsepower is a unit of power representing the rate at which work is done, and is generally used to measure engine performance. “Coffee gives you that lift; it makes sense. I bought another grinder for the decaf to make it as fresh as possible and it shows my commitment to decaf. So many people can’t take caffeine, so this is a way to still enjoy coffee. I want to bring that to other people.”