Dreams do come true. Just ask Matt Schaffer and Luana Arese.
The couple’s dream was to open a coffee shop that serves breakfast and lunch sandwiches. In January, they opened The Perfect Cup Café in a plaza at 1086 Lakeview Avenue in the Navy Yard District of Dracut.
Dracut Economic Development held a ribbon-cutting ceremony as part of the café’s grand opening on February 1.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Matt said. “I’ve always wanted to cook and to open our own food spot, and Luana has always wanted to do coffee, so we decided to combine our two niches. Then we saw this place, and we knew this was it.”
“We came by to look at the place and we loved it,” Luana said. “We got home later and we were talking about it, and Matt said, ‘We have to decide if we want to do this,’ and I said, ‘I think we’ve already decided.’”
Matt grew up in Lowell before moving to Dracut and living with his grandmother, Judy Schaffer. Luana was born in Brazil and grew up in Lowell. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2023. The couple now live in Methuen.
Once they set their mind on the spot, they set to work turning their dream into a reality.
“We hit the ground running,” said Matt, who graduated from Greater Lowell Technical High School in 2011. “I had all of my vocational-school friends help to get all the construction done.”
Luana has worked in the industry, for both Dunkin’ and Frobies, the popular café on Broadway Road in Dracut. In fact, the couple credit former Frobies co-owner Stephanie Themeles with inspiring them to open The Perfect Cup Café.
“When we decided to do this, I reached out to Stephanie, and she provided us with a lot of guidance,” Luana said.
“She really mentored us,” Matt added.
In addition to coffee and breakfast and lunch sandwiches, The Perfect Cup Café offers bagels, muffins, smoothies and daily specials.
The Perfect Cup Café is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, from 7 to 3, and closed Monday. Check it out at www.theperfectcupcafe.wordpress.com.
PHOTO:
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for The Perfect Cup Café at 1086 Lakeview Avenue are, from left, David Ouellette, Dracut’s Health Agent; Board of Selectmen Chair Alison Genest; Selectman Jennifer Kopcinski; Giovanni Arese of Lowell; owners Luana Arese and Matt Schaffer of Methuen; Judy Schaffer; employee Jason Cruz; Town Manager Ann Vandal; Kara Curley, Dracut’s Health Nurse; and Tim Savage, a member of Dracut’s Economic Development Committee.