Aunt Jen's Café opening in Farmingdale

The Veneroni family behind Farmingdale’s popular Uncle Joey’s Rainbow Explosion will soon open a new coffee shop, Aunt Jen’s Café, co-owner Joseph Veneroni said Thursday. 

Joseph and his wife, Jennifer Veneroni, the namesake for Aunt Jen's, hope to open the cafe, right next door to their rainbow cookie business on Main Street, before the holidays, Joseph told Newsday. Uncle Joey’s Rainbow Explosion has been at 451 Main St. for about five years.

"A lot of people come into our store and they ask us, 'Hey, do you have coffee?' 'Do you have a place to sit down?,’ Joseph said. "So as we get our customers' feedback and all that intel from them, the store became open to us and we said, ‘We’ve been doing Uncle Joey's for five years, let's expand a little bit."

Joseph will be making the sweet treats for the cafe and include some "nostalgic desserts," he said. "We’re still going to be doing all the baking and the production out of Uncle Joey’s" he said. "It’s not going to all be rainbow anymore. We’re going to try to get some old-school desserts that I made growing up in an Italian bakery."

The cafe will also serve cappuccinos, espressos, lattes and iced coffees.

"We’re going to introduce the metropolitan area [to] a little bit of a different spin on cappuccinos that talking to our coffee suppliers, are being done outside of New York," he said.

The space will seat 16 guests, and the decor will have an old-school vibe with white subway tiles, butcher block countertops, marble tables with black chairs, and black-and-white pictures adorning the walls.

"I wanted it to feel like walking into someone’s home," Jennifer said. "Warm, inviting, comfortable and cozy. We’re very big on family and want this place to feel like going to see a friend or home with soft, warm decor.."

They hope to host baking classes, birthday parties and nighttime events in the future, Joseph said.

By Melissa Azofeifa

melissa.azofeifa@newsday.com

Melissa Azofeifa is a restaurants reporter with Newsday's FeedMe team. Having grown up on Long Island, she loves talking about food and its impact on culture. A graduate of Stony Brook University, she joined Newsday in the fall of 2024.