Milk & Pull
It’s a time-honored axiom: The family that builds a coffee empire together, stays together. (Something like that.) Just ask Joe and Angela Austin, owners of Milk & Pull — a cafe with three locations in Bed-Stuy, Bushwick and Ridgewood, Queens. The husband-and-wife duo have been together for 16 years, ever since meeting as young adults working part-time jobs at the H&M on Fifth Avenue.
“Long before we even had the idea that we would get married, somehow we both knew, ‘We’re going to be with each other forever,’” says Angela, 35. “We started working on a business plan at my mom’s house.”
Throughout those early days of their relationship, the native New Yorkers (she’s from Queens; he’s from the South Bronx) surveyed coffee shops and dreamed together about creating their brand. “We really wanted to own something in New York,” Angela continues. “To contribute something that was a true part of the city.”
In 2010, the couple moved to Bushwick and started looking for their first location there. It took a few years, with landlords skeptical about giving a shot to two very young-looking people who had never run a business before, but Milk & Pull Bushwick opened in June of 2013. Subsequent moves with their growing family prompted the openings of a Ridgewood outpost in 2015 and their Bed-Stuy shop (which this story will focus on) in 2017.
“We’ve always followed our gut, and any time that something felt right to do as a next step, we took it,” Angela says. “So although our business plan was for one shop, not for three, that’s something the universe has put out — and we have met the universe when it’s presented things to us.”
“I like places that are minimal with warm touches that make you feel like home, but at the same time feels like you escaped to somewhere.”
Despite the abundance of coffee shops in Brooklyn, finding one that’s just right can be elusive. Some shops are austere — stark and uninviting. Others can be a little too well-loved and grungy. Milk & Pull, however, has cracked the code, creating an atmosphere that’s both homelike and aspirational.
“I like places that are minimal with warm touches that make you feel like home, but at the same time feels like you escaped to somewhere,” Angela says of the cafe’s aesthetic. “We wanted a coffee shop where we would be comfortable going, with great coffee and where people can feel free to stay and linger.”
While Milk & Pull is currently available for in-store pickup only due to COVID-19 (stop by or order online for all three locations at milkandpull.com, you’ll want to count the days until folks are allowed to chill inside again. With its spacious layout enlivened by lush greenery, a flower-patterned monochrome mural by artist Alyssa Napolitano, wooden benches and sunlight spilling through giant windows, it’s a perfect spot to grind out work or leisurely take in the day.
“I remember when we opened our shop in Bushwick, and a little girl from the neighborhood came in,” Angela says. “With surprise, she’s like, ‘You own this? This is yours?’ That has always touched me, being able to show people who look like us that we can do it. That this is totally attainable.”
So what does the name Milk & Pull mean anyway? “The two most important things of any espresso-based drink is the milk and everything that goes into pulling that shot,” Angela explains.
But besides great coffee, the cafe serves pastries and specialty sandwiches, most served on a bagel. “We’re both New Yorkers, and we like our coffee with the traditional New York bagel,” says Joe, 39. “So we turned that into signature bagel sandwiches and just play around with different recipes.”
Most popular is the Roasted Bush (turkey, avocado, tomato and onion with housemade chipotle mayo) with a crunch, sweetness and hint of heat. There are also several veggie options, plus the decadent Monkey Business (Nutella, peanut butter, banana and granola).
Many years after Joe and Angela first dreamed of Milk & Pull, the couple remains excited about contributing to multiple neighborhoods in their city. “Owning a business and being Black during this time — still staying in your communities and thriving in your communities, and bringing joy to people every day in the midst of everything that’s happening,” Angela says, “That in itself is an act of revolution.”
307 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, 347-533-8967, milkandpull.com
