Mansfield Commuter Rail Cafe Closed Again

Only a couple of months after opening, the Firebox Cafe at the Mansfield MBTA Commuter Rail station is no more.

Commuters looking for a place to escape the cold before the morning train or to purchase a cup of coffee will now find a sign on the building that says, ”Sorry, closed until further notice.”

Selectman Olivier Kozlowski, who operated the cafe, said he simply couldn’t turn a profit operating the cafe.

“We couldn’t meet ends meet. We tried to renegotiate (with GATRA) and that didn’t go anywhere. I feel bad for our regulars but there were not enough of them,” Kozlowski said.

The unsuccessful attempt at running the cafe comes as a surprise. Over the summer, Town Hall received a high volume of calls upset over the building’s temporary closure after the previous operator retired earlier this year.

“Obviously we wouldn’t have made a go of it if we didn’t think the customers were there,” Koslowski said.

The selectmen granted Kozlowski a common-victualler license to operate the train station cafe in late August with the establishment opening in mid-October.

For now, the cafe will remain close until GATRA, the owner of the building, awards a contract to operate the building to a new applicant.