Scout Coffee on Foothill Blvd. temporarily closed after car crashes into entrance

UPDATE (11:48 a.m) — Scout Coffee on Foothill Blvd. will be closed temporarily while the company works on fixing the front entrance of the building, the company announced on Instagram Saturday afternoon.

The business owners said a male driver crashed his truck into the front entrance of the coffee shop around 8 a.m. Saturday.

“Typically, it’s starting to get really busy around 8 a.m.,” Scout Coffee Co-owner Sara Peterson said. “Luckily this morning, everyone was a bit sleepy taking their time to get coffee so we didn’t have a line at that moment and no one sitting outside, which is great because that would be in the path of the truck.”

Peterson, who owns the coffee shop with her husband, got the call about the incident shortly after it happened.

Peterson said staff evacuated the customers inside and no one was injured.

“They got everyone out of the store and just continued to serve coffee and pastries which is really what we do in the spirit of hospitality,” Peterson said. “So I was really proud of them.”

Peterson said police told her the man who crashed the truck into the coffee shop was driving a rental and may not have been familiar with the vehicle.

The contractor said the building most likely won’t get fully repaired for several weeks.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Jerry Williams, the contractor tasked with repairing the building, said. “The truck didn’t hit anything structural at all, it just took out a non-bearing wall, some glass and a roll up door. All of that is fixable and no one got hurt.”

Scout Coffee just celebrated its five year anniversary.

The owners, who just had a baby about two weeks ago, took that chaotic time in stride, making light of the incident on its Instagram page.

The post said: “Too soon for making Scout a drive-thru joke?”

Scout Coffee on Garden St. will remain open.

When you own a business you get accustomed to the ups and downs- and today we are experiencing a new challenge. A truck accidentally drove through our cafe this morning (too soon for making Scout a drive – thru joke?). . . THANKFULLY no one was injured! It was early enough that we didn’t have a crowd by the front door. 🙏🏻 . . Scout on foothill will be closed temporarily as we work on repairs. Scout on Garden St. is ready to serve you so head downtown if you can! . . We’ll keep you posted and thank you for supporting our family business. We love you! 💛 And shout out to our scoutie crew today who moved quick to keep people safe and then gave away coffee and pastries to those that showed up unaware of what happened! You guys are the best! . . Scroll through to see pics and to see our NEW BABY 👶🏼 Willa Day Peterson (2.5 weeks old) making her Scout debut early on in typical family biz fashion. 💓

A post shared by Scout Coffee (@scoutcoffee) on Feb 23, 2019 at 11:08am PST

A driver ran into the front entrance of Scout Coffee on Foothill Blvd. San Luis Obispo Saturday morning, destroying the front wall of the business.

According to City of San Luis Obispo Fire Department Battalion Chief Ray Hais the crash happened at around 8:15 a.m., when a driver attempted to park outside of the business. Hais said the driver appeared to hit the accelerator, crashing into the entrance of the business.

Hais said a wall was damaged, but the business owner, property owner and a local contractor are evaluating it to get an estimate of the damage.

According to Hais, it appears the business will remain open. He said they were going to remove the glass and put up a temporary board in the meantime until the wall is completely fixed.

Hais said repairs should be done by the end of next week.

No one was injured during the crash.

The driver has not been identified.

This is a developing story, we will update it with more information as it becomes available.