May 4, 2023

Harrisburg’s newest coffee shop is launching its food offerings with Friday’s grand opening.

Central Dakota Perk started serving drinks in early March from its drive-thru-only location next to Subway on Cliff Avenue. Now, customers can find breakfast items that will be available all day.

“We tested a lot of things to get a menu that isn’t messy, is fast and tastes good,” said Jen McNaughton, who owns the business with her husband, Jed.

The hot foods go from frozen to fresh in one minute. “The pizza takes three minutes, but it takes three minutes to make a coffee anyway,” she said.

Menu items will include French toast sticks, a pancake-wrapped sausage on a stick, a croissant sandwich with sausage, egg and cheese, and a personal pan pizza with bacon, egg, cheese and gravy.

The only made-from-scratch item will be breakfast burritos that will come from the Tea location the McNaughtons also operate.

Baked goods will include Danish pastries, doughnuts, muffins and scones.

Hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

Central Dakota Perk’s beverage menu is extensive. In addition to coffee drinks, it serves plant-based Lotus Energy Drinks, smoothies with real fruit puree, tea, hot chocolate, cream frappes, lemonade and Italian sodas.

“We can do any kind of drink under the sun,” McNaughton said. “If you have something you like at another coffee shop, we can make it. If we don’t have it, we’ll get it.”

The coffee shop offers free delivery in Harrisburg from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Saturday.

“People are using it,” she said of the service. “I assume it’s because of the (road) construction. If you have a business that needs four to six drinks or if it’s just one drink if you’re stuck at home.”

The McNaughtons started Central Dakota Perk in June 2021 with a kiosk in Tea and added a food truck and coffee trailer over the winter, both of which can be booked for public or private events. Both units have grills for making food. The food truck has an espresso machine, and one is on the way for the trailer, which for now can serve everything but lattes, McNaughton.

The food truck is parked next to the kiosk and serves breakfast and lunch daily. Those items are made from scratch, McNaughton said.

The hours in Tea are 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

Both coffee shop locations feature mobile ordering through centraldakotaperk.com. 

The grand opening at 120 N. Cliff Ave. in Harrisburg will start at 4:30 p.m. Friday The coffee shop will have a table outside where customers can sample the food and drinks.

Small-town coffee kiosk expands with food trucks, drive-thru in another town