The Starbucks that once anchored UCF's Memory Mall is gone, and in its place sits Weekday Coffee & Matcha, a shop built by two university alumni who spent months turning an abandoned kiosk idea into a full-blown campus coffee bar. The shop opened Aug. 24, the first day of UCF's fall semester, offering coffee, matcha, baked goods and house-made syrups to a campus of more than 70,000 students.
Co-founders Ricky Bravo, 30, and David Benjamin, 27, built the concept specifically with UCF students and faculty in mind, according to The Charge. Bravo told the student paper that world-class coffee options in Orlando were not fully represented, and that he sees the shop's ambiance as just as important as its drinks. The pair received guidance from Blank Street and Lineage as they developed the shop's product line and design, per the same account.
Bravo's coffee background stretches back roughly a decade, beginning as a volunteer dishwasher at the nonprofit cafe DUO58, which was founded in 2010 by a UCF alumnus on Alafaya Trail and donates meals to children in Haiti while running a job-training program for East Orlando residents, according to DUO58. Bravo graduated from UCF in 2017 at age 20 with a bachelor's degree in sports and exercise science, and went on to become a specialty coffee expert. Benjamin, by contrast, had little coffee experience himself; he spent four years working at UCF as a project manager before spotting an abandoned kiosk by the university's Reflection Pond that had previously housed Topper's Craft Creamery, according to the student paper's reporting.
From an Empty Kiosk to Memory Mall
That vacant kiosk sparked the idea that eventually grew into Weekday. The shop's current home came about after UCF's director of food and beverage offered Bravo and Benjamin the former Starbucks location on Memory Mall, the report states. Weekday sources its coffee beans from a farm in Honduras owned by another UCF alumnus, and it makes its syrups in-house, including traditional and unique flavors like vanilla and golden shoyu.
The shop's design leans into light-colored flooring and walls, with couches and a mix of small and long study tables meant to create what Bravo described as a more sociable atmosphere than other spots on campus. UCF student Spurthi Nrusimhadevara and her friends told The Charge they were excited to learn Weekday was started by fellow UCF alumni, and Nrusimhadevara said the space feels calming and relaxing whether she's studying or bringing friends along. She and her friends praised the shop's comfortable setup, according to the same report.
A Regular Starbucks Customer Adjusts
Not every customer arrived a stranger to the space. Elyse Dattilo, who told the student paper she was an avid customer of the Memory Mall Starbucks, ended up staying at Weekday for over an hour after it opened. Bravo said the shop showcases what's possible from UCF's investment in its students, framing Weekday as proof of what alumni can build when given the chance.
Weekday's arrival on Memory Mall did not happen in isolation. UCF Dining Services announced a broader dining overhaul in July that brought new concepts across campus, including Local Bites, The 407 Stack, and a Smalls Sliders location replacing Chick-fil-A near the Recreation and Wellness Center, according to KnightNews.com. UCF Dining Services also partnered with Weekday earlier this month to host on-campus sampling events featuring its Citronaut Matcha, made with citrus syrup and Florida honey, alongside a university registered dietitian at Knightro's dining hall.
Starbucks' Retreat, Orlando's Coffee Boom
The Memory Mall Starbucks closure lines up with a much larger corporate retrenchment. Starbucks Corp. announced plans in late 2025 to shut down roughly 1% of its North American locations, about 400 stores, as it worked to eliminate underperforming sites, according to WFTV Channel 9. The chain closed two additional retail locations in the Orlando area as part of that nationwide downsizing.
Weekday is landing in fertile ground for that kind of shift. A WalletHub study ranked Orlando the second-best city in America for coffee lovers in 2025, trailing only Portland, Oregon, and citing the city's concentration of top-rated, affordable independent cafes, per Central Florida Lifestyle. Foot-traffic data from Placer.ai found Orlando led every major U.S. metro area in coffee shop visit growth during the first half of 2026, posting a 10.4% year-over-year surge compared to a 4.1% national average.
Weekday's mentors reflect two very different corners of the coffee world. Lineage Coffee Roasting started as an Orlando farmers' market stand in 2012 before expanding into three brick-and-mortar shops, including one near the UCF campus. Blank Street Coffee, the venture-backed chain that also advised Weekday, was founded in Brooklyn in 2020 and just raised $75 million in a Series B round this month, reaching a $650 million valuation across more than 100 locations worldwide, according to the Financial Times via SFGATE.
Memory Mall itself carries plenty of built-in visibility beyond daily foot traffic. It serves as the hub for UCF's Knights on the Mall football tailgating tradition, where more than 300 reserved spaces sell out in minutes to students and alumni on home game days, according to UCF Athletics. Weekday's owners are planning a grand opening celebration at the Memory Mall location on Sept. 14, giving the new shop a formal debut just weeks after its quiet first-day launch.
.jpg){kind=link}