MCDONOUGH - Ty and Elan Washington are a young couple with big smiles, big ambition, and a mission that runs deeper than coffee and pastries.
Step inside Sol Flour and the feeling is immediate. Light pours through the original floor to ceiling windows of what was once a 1960s Chevrolet dealership known as Dixie Motors. The space is sparse but cozy, inspired by Danish design, with warm wood tones and a few mid-century pieces where customers can settle in with a cup of coffee and stay awhile.
But the real heart of Sol Flour is the food.
Ty trained as a chef and worked in fine-dining kitchens, where he learned the farm-to-table philosophy and the importance of understanding where ingredients come from. That experience now shapes the way the couple approaches their café.
“We realized we weren’t just cooking,” Ty explained. “We were telling the stories of the farmers who grow the ingredients.”
Everything at Sol Flour is made from scratch using intentionally sourced ingredients. The pastries are baked fresh every day and often sell out. Croissants, cinnamon rolls, and brown butter chocolate chunk cookies have quickly become customer favorites.
One unexpected hit is their brown sugar pull apart pastry made from extra croissant dough. The diced pieces are tossed in brown sugar and baked until the buttery layers caramelize. Customers say it reminds them of monkey bread, though the flaky croissant layers give it a completely different texture.
Coffee is just as intentional. Sol Flour serves beans from Methodical Coffee Roasters in Greenville, South Carolina, a company known for its transparency and relationships with coffee farmers.
For Ty and Elan, Sol Flour was never meant to be just a bakery. They imagined a place where people linger. Where neighbors meet over coffee. Where good food made with care becomes something the community gathers around.
“We didn’t want to just show up and sell something,” Elan said. “We wanted to understand what the community needed.”
Eight weeks after opening their doors, the café is already buzzing with regulars. And if the Washingtons have their way, Sol Flour is only the beginning.
Visit Sol Flour
📍 Location: McDonough, Georgia
🕒 Hours: Tuesday through Saturday | 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
🥐 What to Expect: Fresh pastries baked from scratch daily and thoughtfully sourced coffee
📱 Instagram: @solflour