Cochran coffee shop and cafe opens new location in downtown Macon. See inside.

A Cochran favorite has arrived in downtown Macon.

The Mule Barn, a coffee shop and cafe offering coffee drinks and lunch fare, opened its new location on Cotton Avenue Jan. 1.

Macon’s vibrant restaurant scene and walkable streets were attractions for owner Dale Fordham, she said. She hopes the Mule Barn can offer a place for people to stop for hot drinks, a meal or even just a comforting atmosphere.

“You’ve been in those places where you feel like you just don’t want to touch anything,” Fordham said. “I don’t want (the Mule Barn) to feel like that. I wanted it to be more like, ‘I can just breathe.’”

Fordham and her husband purchased the Cotton Avenue building in April 2025 from Shane Buerster, founder and owner of Z-Beans Coffee. However, Fordham was still working on getting the Mule Barn location in Cochran off the ground and wasn’t quite ready to open a second location, she said.

To keep the business in the black and tide over Macon’s coffee lovers, she made a deal with Bruester to continue running the shop as a Z-Beans until she was ready to open the Mule Barn’s doors.

“It was a good opportunity for us to purchase (the building) here, but we just were not at a time where we could actually put a lot of effort and energy into it yet,” Fordham said.

They made the transition in December, but Fordham said they retained some menu items and aesthetics from Buerster. In addition to selling Z-Beans-brand coffee, the Mule Barn will also serve breakfast burritos and lattes similar to the offerings at Z-Beans. Even the rustic wood tables and chairs are a carry-over from the old coffee shop.

The Mule Barn still brings its own unique spin on things, Fordham said. The shop will offer a lunch menu of sandwiches, soups, salads and sides to pair with the cafe’s drinks, including favorites like BLTs, chicken salad and broccoli and cheddar soup.

The Mule Barn serves a slate of ice cream-based coffee drinks that bring a touch of sugary sweetness to customers’ daily caffeine hit, as well as smoothies and slushies. Many of the drink names also reference mules, like “hot molly,” a hot mocha, and “festus” — a mix of espresso, ice cream and your favorite syrup flavor blended into a smooth frappe.

“We’re more like a cafe-type experience with coffee on the side,” Fordham said.

Fordham said she also plans to take full advantage of the Mule Barn’s location on Cotton Avenue Plaza. She wants to create a community-forward environment with board games spread on tables for families, squishy armchairs for reading and working, and large, sunny windows that welcome passersby walking between the other bars, restaurants and small businesses along the block.

Mike Greenberg, a Macon resident who lives downtown, was sipping a coffee in one of the cafe’s armchairs on a cloudy Jan. 22 . He said he’s a big fan of coffee shops, and was enticed to come into The Mule Barn after learning about it online. Since then, he’s been a frequent customer.

“Sometimes I sit here and read, other times I go to the tables in the back to work,” Greenberg said. “Today I’m just having a walk and came by.”

So far the cafe has been a hit, drawing an audience that’s wholly unique from Fordham’s clientele in Cochran. She often sees students from Mercer, families enjoying a day on the town and tourists exploring Macon all stopping in for food, caffeine and comfort.

“That’s the best part about the whole thing, is being able to meet new people,” Fordham said.