Nick Bata goes to work in the tiny Kaffein coffee stop in the Cherry Building in southeast Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept 3. The coffee stop serves up a short menu of paninis and other food in a space smaller than a master bedroom closet. (photo by Dave DeWitte/SourceMedia Group News)

The door will be split into bottom and top, with a railing on the lower half that he can use to serve beverages.

It’s the kind of thing you do when you’re operating a coffee shop in 100 square feet of space, about the size of a very large closet.

“I’m efficient,” Bata says. “I’ve been catering for a long time with my family.”

Bata and his father to open a new restaurant next year in the historic Suchy Building at at 1006 Third St. SE. The restaurant will feature pasta, pizza and flat breads made in a brick oven, and a rotating menu of “food of the Americas.”

He opened Kaffein about one month ago in the Cherry Building after talking to the Chadima family, who are restoring severe damage to both buildings from the June 2008 Cedar River flood.

The name came from the original German spelling for caffeine. Kaffein fills the non-weekend hours when Bata isn’t too busy with the family catering business.

Bata calls Kaffein a “coffee stop,” because it’s not quite big enough to be a regular coffee shop. Besides beverages, he serves fresh made paninis and daily specials.

On a recent Friday, customers were lining up for his chicken fajitas.

“His food is so good that it’s kind of got us spoiled,” said John Schwartzkopf, a Cherry Building tenant. “He’s kind of still trying to figure out what he can do in that space.”

Kaffein is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, but will be open for half-days this weekend during the New Bohemia Arts Fest.

Bata buys most of his freshly roast beans from Anderson’s Coffee Co. of Austin, Texas. He prepares the coffee in a Jura Capresso, which grinds the beans and presses the individual serving of coffee in a matter of seconds.

Bata says he loves the people who work in the Cherry Building, which attracts many artists and budding entrepreneurs. He expects the new restaurant next door in April or May 2011.