The Beach Road café at 106 Beach Road in Strand is reopening on Thursday, 24 September 2026 after a planned two-day revamp was extended by a further day, with new owner Alecia giving the business a new name, a new look and a new direction.
For the past few days, something has been changing behind the doors of the familiar café at Shop 3, 106 Beach Road in Strand.
The original plan was to close on Monday and Tuesday, 21 and 22 September 2026, while the café underwent a revamp. Delays meant the doors remained closed on Wednesday as well, with the reopening now planned for Thursday, 24 September 2026.
When they open, the sign will no longer say Coffee Connect. The new name will simply be new.
I sat down with Alecia on Wednesday, 23 September 2026, to find out what is behind the change, and it quickly became clear that this is about much more than replacing the furniture and putting a new name above the door.
Why ‘new.’?
The premises have already gone through several identities, and some of those names have proved remarkably difficult to shake.
Alecia told me that people still walk into the café and call it Vaalkuif, the name under which Belinda and Kokkie ran the business for years. Tiaan and Anneline Prins subsequently took over the premises and operated it as Coffee Connect, before Alecia briefly continued with the Coffee Connect name after taking over the business on 1 August 2026.
That happens even when customers have a completely different menu in front of them.
People still sometimes walk in without looking at the menu and order things they remember from earlier incarnations of the café. For Alecia, that made a clear change of identity important. She wanted customers to immediately understand that this was something new.
The name also has a personal and spiritual meaning for her. She described it as a new beginning and said she had been told she was being “birthed into something new”. She struggled for a while to find the right name, until the word kept coming back.
Then there was a moment that helped confirm it. While someone was writing on the café’s blackboard, a person walked past and said, “New owners.”
That was enough.
new. became the name.
Not just a new name
For her, the word is about much more than ownership.
The furniture, menus and overall feel of the café are all being changed, while some of the elements that already work will stay. The revamp includes new tables and chairs, benches being built along the walls and changes to the layout to make better use of the space.
Part of the old counter is also being kept, with the timber being used to create a high table where customers can work on their laptops. Existing planting and shelving will also remain as part of the new layout.
That all ties into the broader idea for the café. It is meant to be somewhere people can come and simply be, whether they are working, meeting someone for a chat, reading a book, having coffee, listening to music or looking out towards the sea.
The phrase behind the concept is “gather, refresh and renew”.
When I saw the concept she is working towards, the intention was clear. The aim is for the space to feel warm, comfortable and inviting rather than like somewhere people are expected to come in, eat and leave.
Some things will stay
The change to new. does not mean everything associated with Coffee Connect is disappearing.
Christian music will continue to play in the café, something Coffee Connect had become known for and which surprised her with how often people mentioned it when she announced that she had taken over.
At the same time, the café is not intended only for people who share her faith.
“It is not just a place for spiritual people,” she said. “It is open for everyone.”
The music is part of the character she wants to carry forward, rather than something intended to define who the café is for.
Bringing Konfusion to Beach Road
She is not starting from scratch when it comes to the food.
Her previous business, Konfusion, operates from 123 Main Road, Strand, but its contract comes to an end in December. The opportunity to take over the Beach Road café came together almost unexpectedly after the previous owner walked into her shop and told her, during a conversation, that the business was for sale.
Two or three months later, she was taking over the premises.
The move gives her more room to work than she had at Konfusion. The Main Road premises were small, which limited what she could do with the food side of the business, particularly when it came to baking and preparing more of her own products.
Some of the people who followed her from Konfusion have already made their way to Beach Road. One regular comes in every week to sit and read a book, buying a pie and a quiche, eating one and taking the other home. Another customer arrives daily with his dog, has an Americano and then goes for a walk.
Those are the kinds of customers new. is being built to accommodate.
The menu gets a twist
As a chef, much of what will make the café different will come through the food.
Familiar items are being changed in small but noticeable ways. One example is a yoghurt bowl smoothie with popping pearls, while another is a croissant baked in a muffin tray and filled with a savoury filling.
There are also savoury versions of what would normally be a sweet cinnamon roll, including bacon and cheese or pepperdew and feta.
The cakes have been changed too. The larger cakes have been reduced in size, with the carrot cake already proving popular with customers.
Then there is the breakfast, which gives a good indication of what is meant by doing things differently. Two potato rosti are topped with shakshuka and finished with a poached egg.
“It is one of those twists,” she said.
The regulars are staying part of the picture
The menu changes do not mean the familiar specials are disappearing.
The pensioner offering remains, as do the Monday burger and the chicken schnitzel. The schnitzel itself will change from week to week, with different sauces and accompaniments such as mash, roasted vegetables or chips.
A weekly special will also run from Wednesday to Sunday, with dishes such as chicken à la king and beef stroganoff.
The Sunday lunch has been removed for the summer because people are less inclined to sit down to a large Sunday meal when the weather is hot. She intends to bring it back during winter, while a Thursday R10 cappuccino special will continue.
Beach Road gives her something Main Road could not
The move is also about visibility.
The previous location on Main Road did not have much passing foot traffic. People went into the area because they had business there, whether at the barber, beauty salon, hairdresser or nail technician, but it was not somewhere where many new customers simply wandered past and discovered what was happening there.
Beach Road changes that.
There are cars and people moving through the area, but more importantly, the café sits in a position where the sea and beachfront form part of the setting. For a business based around people coming in, sitting down and spending time, that makes a significant difference.
Two more local jobs are coming
The larger operation will also require more staff.
Two more people are being brought in, with interviews already under way and another person expected to join the kitchen from the beginning of October. The need for additional staff is expected to become even more apparent as the seating increases and the summer season begins.
For now, the focus is on settling into the new setup rather than trying to change everything at once.
The business remains very hands-on. When a staff member is away, dishes will be washed. When someone is needed behind the counter, coffee will be made.
“I’m very down to earth,” she said.
A new chapter for a familiar place
The latest change gives the familiar Beach Road address a new identity after several changes in ownership in a relatively short period, while remaining a familiar spot to Strand residents.
It means the same premises have now carried three names in the space of a relatively short period, while remaining a familiar address to Strand residents.
On Thursday, 24 September 2026, the doors are expected to open again.
The address will be the same. The café will still look out towards the sea. Some of the people sitting at the tables will be familiar faces.
But after Vaalkuif, Coffee Connect and its brief continuation under new ownership, the next chapter has a very simple name.
new.
