Some destinations are built for wandering. Others give you a reason to linger.
Tucked among the vintage treasures and timeworn finds of downtown DeLand’s Vault 44, Harmony n Love Café is doing both — inviting shoppers to pause over freshly brewed coffee, thoughtfully built sandwiches and the same standards that have long defined its sister business, Harmony n Love Catering.
For husband-and-wife owners Malcolm King and Cynthia Love, their quality-driven approach to breakfast and lunch classics makes their menu yet another gem waiting to be discovered at the local antique marketplace.
How was Harmony n Love Café created?
Though the couple had rarely considered expanding their brand, the opportunity came together organically through a connection made as members of the DeLand & Greater West Volusia Chamber of Commerce, King explained.
“At one of the chamber of commerce meetings, a member came to us and said Vault 44 was looking to cater their grand opening” in February, he said.
“… The back area here was just a blank slate — bare drywall. So, while we were (catering for the opening), the owner, Chris, said, ‘You know, we’ve been thinking that this space would make a nice little café’ … And that percolated in my mind,” King continued, noting the location’s steady foot traffic and community engagement prompted the couple to pitch their own concept — Harmony n Love Café.
“There’s a basic fixed market here,” King said. “They have 110 vendors who were looking for food. So, that gives us something to build off of.”
Within three months, the take-out eatery welcomed its first guests, celebrating its official opening May 23.
What’s on the menu at Harmony n Love Café?
From its early days serving a handful of sandwiches and sodas, the menu has since grown with the addition of several catering classics and new creations.
“What we do here reflects our catering company, so the quality has to be the same,” King said.
While the café’s morning menu is fully custom with options available by request — from French toast to omelets and breakfast sandwiches — its lunch menu features over a dozen dishes, including avocado toast, quesadillas, flatbreads, salads and stacked sandwiches.
Choose from the corned beef Reuben, prepared with house red cabbage on marble rye, Chef Cindi’s signature chicken salad on a croissant or the garlic butter-brushed Grilled Cheese with Attitude, combining several cheeses with crispy bacon and red pepper spread.
From rotating homemade soups to unique features like Cowboy Caviar — described as Western bean salad with avocado, black beans, black eyed peas and street corn, among other ingredients — new menu items are consistently introduced, King said, with inspiration pulled from the couple’s own dining experiences and research.
In terms of beverages, the café offers several 16- and 20-ounce smoothies prepared with frozen fruit for added thickness, as well as Lavazza coffee beverages.
“It’s an Italian blend that is absolutely super — best coffee I’ve ever tasted. It’s very mellow, not very acidic,” King said. “… If you can drink espresso and have a smile on your face, then that’s a good coffee.”
What is Harmony n Love Catering?
When Love and King met in 2008, food soon became the thread that tied their futures together.
Combining her vast catering background with his home-cooking skills, the couple found their calling next to each other catering weddings at Harmony Gardens in DeLeon Springs.
The family-owned property began decades ago as Aragon Ranch under King’s parents. Here, his mother, Doris Harmony King, began cultivating scenic gardens that King would later continue to develop, its website states, expanding the picturesque landscape and welcoming its evolution into the revered wedding venue it’s become today under King’s daughter, Leah, and son-in-law, Joe.
“In 2005, my daughter decided she wanted to get married. We had a nursery business and had built an ornamental garden. So, we did her wedding there, and then it looked like a great idea to do more weddings. So, we built a wedding venue — Harmony Gardens in DeLeon Springs. It’s Old Florida — lots of oak trees and Spanish moss,” King said. “… Then, it was like, ‘Hey, why don’t we take this little bit of catering we did and just apply it to the wedding garden?’ So that’s where our start really developed.”
By 2010, the couple launched Harmony n Love Catering, inspired by both Love’s name and Harmony Gardens — branded in tribute to King’s mother.
Primarily a local wedding caterer, the business has serviced special events from Mount Dora to south St. Augustine, King said, noting the couple has made community involvement a cornerstone of their business, from serving free meals in the aftermath of hurricanes to sponsoring local events, like Fall Festival of the Arts – DeLand.
“We specialize in outdoor events, so we have a lot of outdoor, unique cooking styles (that we incorporate),” King said. “We do a churrascaria Brazilian steakhouse meal where we use skewers and we built a custom grill. We also do Thai food, and we have a big outdoor wok, and we do something that we call our Tuscan Tradition, which is like an outdoor chipotle but for Italian food,” he continued.
“… We just believe that quality food prepared in a quality manner yields quality results. We’ve had — still do have — several retired professional chefs that work for us from time to time, and that’s taught us a lot. We’ve had great reviews and very good results.”
Harmony n Love Café is located at 348 E. New York Ave. in DeLand and is open from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. daily. For information, call 386-804-8404 or visit harmonynlovecafe.com.
— Helena Perray is the food and dining reporter for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Follow her on Instagram, and support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New café opens inside DeLand antique shop with sandwiches, soups
Reporting by Helena Perray, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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By Helena Perray, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
