Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WEST POINT – SIP Cafe and Wine Room held a ribbon cutting Thursday morning in West Point, filling a need that owner Tiffany Welch said she saw in the area.

Welch and her husband were living in the Atlanta area but saw their daughter move off to college in Florida, making them empty nesters. She’s originally from Prattville and the couple both had attended Auburn University, so they wanted to move back closer to home.

They found a home in the area that they loved and moved to West Point in the last year. Once all the boxes were unpacked, they wanted to go somewhere to eat dinner, relax and drink some wine. They didn’t find many options.

“We got moved in and settled, wanted to go out for dinner, have a glass of wine and there wasn’t a lot of options,” Welch said. “My husband bought a building, I hired a consultant, executive chef and general manager, and that’s how SIP was born.”

The restaurant will be open for breakfast from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday-Saturday and will serve biscuits and gravy, grits bowl, waffles and more in the morning. Tuesday-Friday the business will close for lunch but reopen for dinner. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, it reopens at 4 p.m. On Fridays, it reopens at 3 p.m. The dinner menu will include items such as crab cakes, blackened salmon, meatballs and marinara sauce, shrimp scampi and much more.

On Sundays, the cafe will open at 11 a.m. and remain open until 8 p.m. so people can get something to eat after church.

“Really what spurred it was the inability to sit down with a friend and have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or for with business people to meet or have an interview,” Welch said. “There weren’t options here. So, that’s really where this came from. And there was a serious need for it.”

Welch said wine tastings will also be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the business will be retailing wine as well. It also books private events if someone would like to rent out the entire restaurant. The café is currently looking for additional kitchen staff.