Park View coffee shop and bar Colony Club is changing its name. Owner Max Zuckerman and his team revealed the news in a note posted to on Instagram on Monday afternoon.
“Over the years we’ve been asked about the Colony Club name and what it means,” the note reads. “Several customers expressed concern about using the word ‘colony,’ pointing to its very negative associations with colonialism, and further connecting that definition with the in-progress gentrification of the neighborhood.”
Zuckerman tells DCist that the burden often fell to employees to explain the name’s backstory in those instances.
“It was sort of left to the staff to justify it or defend it, even though they really had nothing to do with naming it,” says Zuckerman. “So it started to feel unfair to the staff in addition to other concerns that we had.”
The note says the name came from a flower shop Zuckerman’s grandparents owned on Georgia Avenue called Colony Flowers, which itself was named for a nearby theater and local landmark.
He says the team began seriously considering a name change after the shop closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic in March—they planned to reopen when they were able “with a fresh start.” But he says the team officially decided to go for it last week, following a series of conversations with employees who felt the name was out of sync with the business’ values.
“After talking with staff and customers, we’ve learned that the power of that word to hurt is real, no matter the justification for using it,” the note continues. “So while it feels bittersweet to say goodbye to a name with personal significance, the time has come for Colony Club to transition to a new name, one that upholds our mission to be an inclusive community.”
Zuckerman says they have not yet settled on a new name. He has discussed some ideas with staff, and would eventually like to get community input. He says he’d like the name to be one that “still resonates in some way with some personal significance.”
Zuckerman and business partner Ben Heller first opened Colony Club in 2015. Last year, they expanded with the pizza joint Sonny’s Pizza and cocktail bar No Kisses next door.
In the note, the team acknowledged the role the coffee shop has played in the area’s gentrification and said that “navigating how to be a positive force for all members of our community” has been a priority.
The news comes as large-scale protests against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s killing have swept the District for more than two weeks. The demonstrations have drawn thousands of participants and occasionally resulted in tense clashes between police and protesters.
Some of D.C.’s Black-owned restaurants have seen a surge in business, as calls to support Black-owned businesses have grown nationwide.
But the demonstrations have also forced a reckoning for other food businesses, including FRESHFARM, which pledged to do more to champion Black farmers and purveyors after some claimed they had been repeatedly denied spots at the organization’s largest market in Dupont Circle, Forbes reported over the weekend.
Zuckerman says that while conversations about changing Colony Club’s name had already begun by the time the protests started, the demonstrations inspired the team to look more critically at the business and ask, “What are some areas where we can actually make some proactive changes and try to be part of some solutions?”
He says the business will announce a new name “as soon as we think of one,” though the transition will take some time. The team will have to have a new logo created, repaint its sign out front, and go through roughly tens of thousands of remaining paper coffee cups that say Colony Club, as those items are ordered in bulk.
While customers can purchase coffee and other Colony Club items through Sonny’s, the shop will likely remain closed until later in the summer. Zuckerman says the team is planning to have the new name in place by then.
This story has been updated to include comments from Colony Club owner Max Zuckerman.