{"id":392197,"date":"2026-09-06T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/392197\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T15:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T15:04:10","slug":"everything-happens-for-a-reason-tallahassee-woman-reopens-cafe-after-lease-woes-forced-her-to-find-new-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/392197\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everything happens for a reason\u2019: Tallahassee woman reopens cafe after lease woes forced her to find new location"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">HAVANA, Fla. (WCTV) &#8211; A comeback story for one local Tallahassee woman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">What started as a hobby turned into a lifelong dream for Latasha \u201cTootie\u201d Reed-Hopkins. Then, she says, that dream was pulled out from under her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Now, she\u2019s back and better than ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-center\">More news out of the Big Bend:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Reed-Hopkins, the owner of Tootie\u2019s Cafe and Catering, started her business in 2023 to support her family. But her dream was always to open a storefront.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">That dream became a reality in April when she opened a location on John Knox Road in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Just one month later, she says a letter from her property manager informed her that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/06\/05\/tallahassee-womans-dream-business-limbo-amid-lease-woes\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/06\/05\/tallahassee-womans-dream-business-limbo-amid-lease-woes\/\">the commercial lease was invalid and that she was facing eviction<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">But she says the community rallied around her, helping her find a new space in Havana along Florida-Georgia Highway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">And now, she\u2019s back open.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The new storefront of a local woman's cafe after she was evicted from her cafe in Tallahassee.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2WQL32QAP5HU7OBGUT2DRYJOEM.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>The new storefront of a local woman&#8217;s cafe after she was evicted from her cafe in Tallahassee.(WCTV)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI couldn\u2019t understand why everything was happening, but I feel like everything happens for a reason,\u201d Reed-Hopkins said. \u201cI think I had everyone rallying behind me and so much support even now. People still show up to support; they drive from Tallahassee, Cairo, Bainbridge, all over; we had a couple who came from Pensacola just because they wanted to come and support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Reed-Hopkins says Tootie\u2019s is also bringing a new food option to Havana, offering soul and comfort food.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">And despite all the challenges it took to get here, she says she\u2019s thankful for the support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WCTV.tv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wctvnews\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WCTVEyewitnessNews\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nextdoor<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/nextdoor.com\/page\/wctv\/\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WCTV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WCTV\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Have a news tip or see an error? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2026\/09\/06\/everything-happens-reason-tallahassee-woman-reopens-cafe-after-lease-woes-forced-her-find-new-location\/mailto:news@wctv.tv?subject=Correction%20Needed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wctv.tv\/2024\/12\/18\/download-free-wctv-mobile-streaming-apps-today\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAVANA, Fla. (WCTV) &#8211; A comeback story for one local Tallahassee woman. What started as a hobby turned&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[156634,156636,25986,156633,156635,232,234,233,125361,125360],"class_list":["post-392197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-cafe-opens-after-close","tag-cafe-reopens-after-lease-woes","tag-havana","tag-havana-cafe","tag-lease-woes-close-cafe","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-tootie","tag-tooties-cafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}