PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2022

D I S H A N D D R I N K

COFFEE AND COOL COME TO HANNA CITY Coffee Can Bistro may be the most unique java emporium in Peoria County

BY STEVE TARTER PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

T he most unique coffee shop in Peoria County may not be found in its central city, which is blessed with an abundance of coffee and venues that percolate the stuff. But if you journey 12miles west to the town of Hanna City, population 1,250, you’ll find a striking structure—a blend of steel and glass in brick red and black called the Coffee Can Bistro. IF THE PLACE HAS A BOXY AIR TO IT, THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S CONSTRUCTED OUT OF NINE SHIPPING CONTAINERS If the place has a boxy air to it, that’s because it’s been constructed out of nine shipping containers. That’s right, those rectangular metal boxes that hold

He saw a benef it in shipping containers while realizing the novelty involved. Then it was a matter of acquiring what he needed. “There’s a container broker just an hour and a half west of here,” he said, referring to USA Containers in Warren County. “Some things changed,” he said in regards to the design. But overall, he felt he had what he wanted. “I used the ‘Field of Dreams’ approach: ‘If I build it, they will come,’” he said. Gulley, 60, brought on two partners, Matt Fick and Justin Ball. The former has worked in the economic development arena in both Peoria Heights and Delavan, and he saw in the Coffee Can Bistro the potential to “jumpstart economic development in Hanna City.” Of course, there was more to that than the imaginative arrangement of

all the stuff made overseas that we wind up ordering online. After Ron Gulley, the former owner of an HVAC business in the Quad Cities, moved to the Peoria area, he took ownership of a stripmall in Hanna City where he hatched his idea for a coffee shop, stacking and restacking miniature containers in his basement until he came up with a design. Partners Matt Fick (left), and Ron Gulley own and operate the Coffee Can coffee shop

18 OCTOBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE