Caviar & Bananas has set up shop on James Island, taking over the former Maple Street Biscuit Co. spot at 1739 Maybank Highway for what the cafe chain calls its first location off the Charleston peninsula. The new café opened daily hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Harris Teeter-anchored shopping center at the corner of Folly Road and Maybank Highway, bringing the company’s total footprint to three locations.
According to the Post and Courier, the James Island café opened Oct. 22. That timing marks a shift from earlier reporting, which described the project as still in the planning stages with an expected opening in May, according to a separate postandcourier.com report on the project. The café is slightly smaller than the flagship store on George Street but is around the same size as the Ashley Avenue location, and it serves the same menu found at the company's other two cafes.
A Third Charleston-Area Address
The James Island space includes a customer patio at the end of the shopping center, according to the earlier postandcourier.com report detailing the project's rollout. That same reporting pegged the leased space at roughly 2,600 square feet, while a listing from NAI Charleston put the figure at approximately 2,790 square feet — a discrepancy that remains unresolved between the two accounts.
Joe Caradonna, Caviar & Bananas' owner and CEO, told the Post and Courier in an email that the company is excited for the opportunity and wants to be a long-term resident in the James Island community. He also said the demographic on James Island may differ from the peninsula, with more late-afternoon or early-evening foot traffic expected — pointing to post-work, post-school and post-soccer-practice business as a draw for the new location, per the same postandcourier.com account.
Grab-And-Go Plans And A Crowded Coffee Corner
The James Island café is designed to mirror the downtown cafes with a strong focus on catering and grab-and-go items, plus possible evening hours, the report notes. Caviar & Bananas is also considering adding more family-friendly take-home grab-and-go meals in the future. The shopping center was already home to two coffee businesses — Muddy Waters Coffee Bar and a Starbucks inside Harris Teeter — before the new café arrived.
The space Caviar & Bananas moved into has seen turnover before. Maple Street Biscuit Co. abruptly left the location in October after seven years, part of its parent company's decision to shutter 14 locations, according to the same postandcourier.com reporting. A separate account from Handsome Properties places that closure in late September 2025 as part of the same 14-location shutdown. Elsewhere on Maybank Highway, Charlotte's on Maybank closed in December after just four months, with its owner citing rising operating costs and liquor-liability insurance costs, per the postandcourier.com report.
Founding Year In Question, Mount Pleasant Next
Caviar & Bananas traces its roots to a café near the College of Charleston, though sources disagree on exactly when it opened. The postandcourier.com report describes the company as founded in 2010, while What Now Charleston cites a 2008 founding.
The James Island opening isn't the company's last expansion move. Caviar & Bananas is also adding a location in Mount Pleasant, set for Fairmount Landing on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard, according to What Now Charleston. That Mount Pleasant café will backfill a portion of the former Cuoco Pazzo site, according to a separate Post and Courier report on the shopping center's tenant turnover. No official opening date for the Mount Pleasant location had been announced as of that report.
