Brewing Tradition & Resilience: A Tampa Coffee Shop’s Story

Corona’s Coffee Shop of Hillsborough County

Nestled in the heart of Tampa, a cozy Latin coffee shop and restaurant, Corona’s Coffee Shop, has been serving flavorful coffee and authentic cuisine for over 40 years. Originally opened by a Cuban descendant with a passion for community and culture, the business was later purchased by its current owner, a proud Dominican entrepreneur, Johanna Santos, who has continued the legacy while adding her own cultural flavor.

“Back in 1999, this was my mother’s first job in the United States. As a teenager I used to come here and help my mom prep and help my mom cook so I was always involved in the business, not necessarily working but on my free time. Miguel, the prior owner, he was very much in love with the way I like cooking so back in 2019, when he decided to retire, he just called me up and said, ‘Do you want Corona since you’re here all the time?’ And I said, Absolutely I will keep it,” Santos explained.

The shop offers more than just a cup of coffee—it’s a place where locals gather to enjoy warm, homemade Latin meals and connect over shared traditions. The current owner was drawn to this business because of its rich heritage and the opportunity to preserve a beloved neighborhood staple. “I love cooking, I started cooking when I was 9 years old and I was always very passionate about not the cooking element but the seeing people gather together and just have a great meal and talk about anything and it was a dream of mine to always have a restaurant and when the opportunity was given to be honest with you I was like “Oh my God, this is happening.” So, I wasn’t nervous, but I was more like okay we got to take this challenge and let’s go ahead and do it. My mother was here for the first two year helping me because she knew this business for so long and the entire community just welcomed me very well,” Santos said.

When hurricanes threatened the Tampa Bay region, the business faced difficult decisions. “When the storm happened, we were with no electricity, we were closed for a total of about 10 days, no electricity for 6 days. That entitled that we got ready for before the storm. Never in our thoughts we thought that we were going to be without electricity for that long, so we had stocked the restaurant in hope to open quickly after the storm and that was not the case. We end up losing pretty much every product that we have, all the inventory was lost. With that also we kept payroll the same because we knew that our staff if we suffer our staff also were suffering. After we got electricity, it took us to use our own credit cards to supply the business again, seeing that and seeing that we were already going through so much the structure has suffered some damages,” Santos explained.

Unsure of the path forward, the owner turned to the Florida SBDC at USF. Business consultant David Vargas provided her with valuable resources and one-on-one guidance to stabilize and refocus the business. “I was very surprised to see that within two weeks of me going to the SBDC I was quickly approved for $50,000 and after I was approved for the 50,000, which I couldn’t even believe it, three days later it was in my bank account and it was like I felt like they have saved our life at that moment and they have saved Corona and I thank God in every second of that and we were able to quickly fix the place and continue with our business,” Santos said.

With support from the Florida SBDC at USF, the shop not only remained open—it began to grow again. “Receiving those funds that fast I would say immediately cleared the fog that was on top of the business because I was able then to continue payroll, I was able to supply the restaurant, I was able to fix a lot of things that were major for the restaurant,” Santos said.

“At first I was like embarrassed every time someone came and gave me a compliment about the business and now I have learned to embrace um and sometime it took me a long time to actually realize that people around this community were proud of me you know that they that they were proud of me and they were proud of the business that they come in here and they said “Oh my god this place has changed so much and it have changed for the better or um they cannot see a day without coming in here,” Santos mentioned.

Looking ahead, the owner plans to continue leaning on the Florida SBDC at USF as she explores new opportunities and strengthens her operations as she gives thanks to her business consultant for all of the help. “Florida SBDC, especially the one here in USF, I am for life grateful and I know that that is their job to help us but I always felt and again I don’t know if they do that with everybody but I felt like the attention to myself, the attention to my business was always very personal and they made me feel very welcome and again they made me feel just very hopeful. David Vargas from the SBDC thank you so much I want to thank you so much for all the help and all the encouragement that you give me because we had conversations about business and I have received nothing but positivity encouragement and also a lot more information that I didn’t know,” she said.

Through dedication, heritage, and support, this Tampa coffee shop continues to thrive—one cafecito at a time.