Online Cafe plan to succeed where Online Coffee Co failed: Do the same thing. Don't fail.

Ah, what a little paint will do. Or is it Photoshop? No bother. Online Cafe is logged on and open for business. We talked to proud new business owner Nick Woell about his venture that, he hopes, will be mostly familiar to Capitol Hill coffee drinkers.

"Honestly, we just tried to freshen up the place," Woell told CHS in a conversation Thursday night. "Tried to make it non-1999. We just tried to update it."

The "it" Woell refers to is one of the three Online Coffee Company locations that went out of business suddenly earlier this month as owner Ken Fox shut down his chain amid financial difficulties.

But it was so suddenly for Woell. "I had pretty close relationship with owner. He kind of let me know things were looking bad," Woell said. "I got a head start." The early warning allowed Woell to put in motion his plan to take over the space and give running his own business a try. "This is my first business since mowing the lawn as a kid," he said.

The early lessons, of course, are the hardest. Woell had intended to open last weekend and even posted signs in the windows announcing the new business. "We basically added a fresh coat of paint, but everything takes twice as long, and twice as much money as you think."

With the lessons coming fast and furious, surely Woell has a plan for the new Online not to suffer the same fate as the old Online. "We really want to open with the same business model. The same kind of customer flow," Woell said.

As manager of the East Olive Way location for more than five years, Woell thinks the shop should thrive independently. He's also sticking with the business's roots of offering Internet access and even desktop computers to those without. Over time, he says, he'll phase out the machines as technologies change. And he's open to suggestions. But he also saw the demand for a place like Online Coffee Company on the Hill.

"The hours are the same, we'll have the same coffee -- we're getting another guy roasting the same recipe," he said. He'll also have a lot of the same staff. Woell said all six of the Online Cafe baristas worked for Fox on Olive Way or at the 14th and Pine location.

For now, Woell is taking his new role one day at a time. "We welcome as much business as possible," Woell said, "but we're just happy we have jobs."

That seems like as good a business plan as any.

Online Cafe is open from 8 AM to 1 AM on weekdays, 9 AM to 1 AM on the weekends. You can learn more at http://www.theonlinecafe.com/