The year was 1998. "Titanic" was the biggest movie at the box office, the Furby had just hit shelves, these city editors were just learning to crawl, and the coffee shop boom of the nineties was about to hit Lakeland. Mitch Harvey and his family opened Mitchell's Coffee House at 235 N. Kentucky Ave., and it's been serving Swan City ever since.

Today, you can't throw a rock in Lakeland without hitting a café, but it was a different story two decades ago. "The inspiration to open Mitchell's was born out of the desire to own my own business and a little bit of opportunity," Harvey told us. "When we started planning the store, there were no other coffeehouses in Lakeland, so desire and opportunity collided and the idea of Mitchell's Coffee House was born."

Don't skip the baked goods and pastries — we love the coffee cake. | Photo by LALtoday

If you visited Mitchell's when it first opened, the most popular items on the menu were the I Dream of Jeanie latte (with hazelnut, coconut, and white chocolate mocha) and the carrot cake baked from scratch. If you weren't around to try them in 1998, you're in luck. Both are still on the menu, along with breakfast, lunch, specialty coffees, and cases packed with pastries + baked goods.

Harvey told us, "I see us remaining a very strong staple of the vibrant Lakeland coffeehouse scene for many more years to come." That sentiment continued when he sold the business to Lakeland couple Mark and Saundra Biddinger in the spring of 2024.

The Biddingers decided to keep the same Mitchell's name, menu, and staff that the community loves, but guests can also expect some updates (like online ordering). Saundra told us a top secret lunch item coming soon is sure to be a new favorite.

What's it like to take over a Lakeland icon? As Mark said, "We knew it was going to be busy. We knew it was going to be a grind. We knew it was going to be rewarding."