THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 1, NO. 31
CROSSTOWN RIVARLY PAGE 6B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2026
What’s planned for The Hammock?
Despite property tax uncertainties, Flagler County plans improvements, including at Bing’s Landing. PAGE 5A
Yes Coffee to add Hammock drive-thru Will county challenge Veranda Bay? Flagler Beach awaits decision on lawsuit as it moves forward with annexation. PAGE 6A INSIDE 500 MOMS
Feeding hungry kids in Flagler. PAGE 1B
NEW CHOPPER
FCSO buys new helicopter through public-private partnership and donation from Dan Newlin. PAGE 2A
ON THE MHS MATS Wrestling returns to the Pirates gym. PAGE 7B
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 5B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 2C Letters........................ PAGE 9A Public Notices............ PAGE 4C Schools....................... PAGE 3B Sports......................... PAGE 6B Tributes ...................... PAGE 8C Real Estate................. PAGE 4B
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‘It’s a challenge we’re excited about,’ co-owner Rachel McDermott said. ‘It’s a new endeavor.’ SIERRA WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
Mike and Rachel McDermott are expanding their Yes Coffee shop into The Hammock at a new drivethru-only location. It will be the only drive-thru restaurant in The Hammock. “It’s a challenge we’re excited about,” Rachel McDermott said. “It’s a new endeavor.” The McDermotts are retrofitting the drive-thru of the old SunTrust bank building, at 5399 N. Ocean Shore Blvd., next to the Publix. Aside from the drive-thru, the remainder of the building has been converted into a co-working rental space called Desk.Space. The McDermotts pulled the trigger on their expansion a few months back, and now it’s just a matter of purchasing the right equipment. They expect to open their doors in the first quarter of 2026, hopefully by March. Rachel McDermott said they are excited to be joining The Hammock business community. “We were just hoping to come and complement everything,” she said. Running a drive-thru only coffee shop is “completely opposite” to everything the McDermotts have done so far, she said. And, Mike McDermott said, the tight space is a challenge. “We have to be very efficient with how we operate,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s going to be on the baristas about being fast and efficient, doing things right the first time.” To maximize the tight space, the staff will have to focus on streamlining the process over aesthetics. The quality will still be the same, Rachel McDermott said. The small space will mean a paired-down menu, Mike McDermott said, with both food and drink items. But nothing that would take
The McDermott family in Flagler Beach is expanding their Yes Coffee shop into The Hammock with a drive-thru only location. Pictured: Mike and Rachel McDermott with 7-month-old Milo. Photo by Sierra Williams
more than two to three minutes to prepare. The majority of the house syrups will go to the new location as well, and drinks will primarily be espresso-based drinks. “Our goal is to have the top selling items,” Rachel McDermott said. A niche menu is nothing new to the McDermotts. The couple have a policy, Mike McDermott said, to only add things to their menu that are good products for their customers. That’s why it took them almost two years to add breakfast
sandwiches to their menu. “We’re not going to serve a subpar product to people just to say we have a sandwich,” he said. Though they only recently added food to the menu at their Flagler Beach space — located at 213 S. Second St. — some of the food options will follow to The Hammock location, including sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches, egg bites and bagels. Seeing the brand grow and stretch is Rachel McDermott’s
favorite part about the expansion, as well as filling a need in The Hammock by being a drive-thru coffee shop. Mike McDermott sees the opportunity as a way to continue educating people about what good coffee is. Coffee has become upgraded where the quality of the bean, the roast and the grind matter. “We’re helping people retrain their palates for what good coffee is supposed to taste like,” he said.