Walking into Quantum Toad in Downtown Selma is like stepping into a cool, sun dappled pond. It presents as both a historic speakeasy and a futuristic lounge; I imagine it’s the sort of vibe you might get if you asked a designer from the 22nd century to recreate a 1920’s bar concept. All of which is appropriate for reasons discussed later.
I start my interview with Quantum owners Emeric and Rob by asking them when they opened, which devolves delightfully into a back and forth about the exact date. The love, care, and exactness which goes into their business is already apparent as they consult a calendar to give me the specific date - February 9th. Which means we are coming up on the one year anniversary of Quantum Toad. A perfect time, I thought, to talk about their story and their future in Selma.
Rob’s Story
Rob graduated college in 1996 from SUNY Oswego (the State University of New York at Oswego for those who had to look it up: me) and followed some fraternity brothers down to Charlotte in 97.
“They said ‘Rob, there’s a ton of jobs, the weather is great’ and that was it. I started working at First Union National Bank and got into bartending on the side. And I stayed in Charlotte for five and half years before one of my jobs moved me to Raleigh.”
Rob calls that time in his life a “jack of all trades, master of none” period. Raleigh in the early aughts was enjoyable, being a part of the bartending scene especially, but Rob always felt he could do better. When a tornado destroyed his house in Raleigh in 2011 he decided that was as good a sign as he was going to get that it was time for a change.
He rebuilt the house, but relocated temporarily to NYC; or at least he thought it was going to be a temporary move, “it turned out that I ended up staying in the New York area for close to 8 years. I met Emeric in the city about a year and a half in and then we eventually moved up to Connecticut where he’s from.”
Which brings us to Emeric’s story.
Emeric’s Story
We pick up Emeric’s side of the story in New York City right before he and Rob met, “I had worked for the family business off and on all through my youth.”
To clarify, the family business is Harney & Sons Fine Teas; a company with four decades of history, three generations of Harney’s, and a brand with an international reputation. You may recognize Harney & Sons teas from the shelf of your grocery store or even as the featured tea brand at Barnes & Noble cafes nationwide. The tea-infused cocktails at Quantum Toad start making a lot more sense to me at this point.
“I was tasked with opening the NYC-based Harney & Sons retail store in SoHo. We opened to the public in 2010, and then I continued to manage it.”
Sidenote: if you’re ever in Lower Manhattan and you love tea, this store is an experience, and there’s even a cafe in the back.
“When I met Rob we were both working in Manhattan but wanted out of the city, so we moved up to Connecticut and were commuting 2 hours by train. My role in the company started to shift. I started doing more design work and less retail work. In 2016 there was an opportunity to start doing marketing and ecommerce work, which I jumped into with both feet.”
At the time, Rob had also started working for Harney & Sons, though he has done many things over the years - banking, real estate, working for a custom builder - and their home in Connecticut was only a few miles from the Harney & Sons warehouse in Millerton, NY. Then, COVID happened and they realized with remote work they could live anywhere. Rob had always thought about going back to the Raleigh property he’d held onto, so they moved down to North Carolina.
“My job with the company remains the same, but now I just commute once a month up there to check in on the SoHo shop and visit the warehouse upstate.”
Building a Business Together
Once Rob and Emeric landed in NC, Rob decided he wanted to start investing in real estate in the Triangle, “everyone talks about, oh, New York City was such a good deal if you bought in the 80’s,” explained Rob. “Well, I have the mindset that those great deals are still out there, so I started driving around with one of my neighbors in Raleigh who was also interested in real estate investment. He wanted to look outside Raleigh as well. We’d drive to Coats, Smithfield, Knightdale, and one day we passed through Selma. And I was like, I have to be in this town. Why is no one buying up these buildings?”
That was 2020. The first building they purchased was the old Ice House Theatre. Ultimately, the idea was to open a bar, which Rob had always dreamed of, “the key is owning the building. I always said I’d only open a bar if I can own the building.”
They knew the Ice House was going to take a ton of work though and the Town Planning Director at the time, Randy Cahoon-Tingle, knew Rob was still looking for more real estate opportunities in Downtown Selma. In 2021, he put Rob in touch with someone interested in selling a set of 3 buildings on Raiford St., where the bar now resides. They knew the middle building needed a lot less work than the Ice House and they could open a bar in the space sooner rather than later.
Emeric said they had always talked about opening a bar together, discussing the unique idea of working-in the tea concept, “we both have worked and have traveled for the tea company. We had already developed recipes, for business partners and for themed events, featuring Harney & Sons teas. We knew we could uniquely infuse my exposure in the food and beverage industry with his exposure in the food and beverage industry. I think all of that made us confident that we had a concept unlike anything else in Johnston County.”
So they took a (quantum) leap!
Why Quantum Toad
Many who first saw the name of the bar were understandably curious where a name like Quantum Toad came from. If it sounds sort of trippy, that’s because it sorta is. I asked Rob to walk me through it.
“When I first walked into the space that the bar was in now with the intent to purchase it was in a great location, but it was in pretty bad shape. I had been listening to an audiobook called The Grand Biocentric Design.”
The book, by Robert Lanza, claims to be “The Definitive Explanation of How Consciousness Determines the Structure of the Universe.” Which sounds a lot like it's over my head considering I barely got through Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.
But Rob had the concepts of the book kicking around in his head when he stepped into the space, “it’s about quantum physics and the idea that life creates the universe, not that the universe creates life. Everything exists in a state of probability until it’s observed, once it's observed it becomes something. So, I walk into this building and out of the corner of my eye I see a black streak, something moving quickly along the floor. So I got down to look and it was a little toad. And I thought, if I acquire this building and I turn it into a bar, I’ll call it Quantum Toad.”
The idea stuck through purchase, remodeling, and concepting. And so Quantum Toad was born. It took Emeric some time to come around to it. But they both agreed when asked that it has been fun to see how locals adopt and incorporate the bar and the name into their lives. Some just call it Quantum. Others just call it The Toad.
As the design of the bar evolved so did the entire concept - from decor to the logo. Everything leans on a roaring twenties inspiration. Rob and Emeric are currently considering if what they do next will be a pairing to or an extension of Quantum Toad. More on that below.
The Fall Menu is out now and the surprise breakout star has been the Chai Boba Tea White Russian, “when we were talking about our autumn menu I wanted something on there that was cinnamon-forward. We’d done a chai tea white Russian inspired drink before and I think the added cinnamon flavor plays well with the sweetness of the tapioca.”
Rob adds his two cents, a back and forth that makes their partnership and passion apparent, “yeah, I was not a fan, and finally I was just like, fine, fine, do the boba. I’m sick of hearing about it. And it’s been great.”
There are always 2 tea-infused drinks on the mainstay menu and always 2 new tea-infused concoctions on the rotating seasonal menu. They don’t just have tea infused cocktails, they have a few Delta-9 infused drinks in partnership with Hempies across the street - it’s an infused syrup that goes into the drinks. Continuing with the local love, they also serve Hinnant wine and regional spirits.
“We want to create a space where people can come and it's about the interaction with each other. We’re creating a space for connection as opposed to a purely entertainment venue. We love sharing space with other people on the block and sharing patrons back and forth so that there is something for everyone. Pool across the street at The Alley. Craft beer and arcade games down the street at The Vault.”
Don’t miss Food Truck Fridays! Also, since the bar doesn’t have food yet you are welcome to grab a bite to eat at one of the spots in town and bring it in.
Plans for the Future
Rob and Emeric are working on expanding the bar out in its current footprint since they own the buildings on either side of them. They are also interested in expanding the back patio and putting a food container concept in the back. They want more seating and space for live music.
They are hoping to start the build out early next year. And on the other side of the bar they have plans for a Harney & Sons tea shop. In addition, and later down the road, they also still have plans for the Ice House property. They certainly see a future in Selma and are building out their vision here. I asked them why they’re so willing to invest so much in Selma and JoCo.
“It all has to do with convenience, " Rob says, “I moved to Raleigh in 2002 and I got to see what 540 did for the sleepy town of Wake Forest in the early aughts. And how long does it take to get from Downtown Raleigh to Wake Forest? Longer than it takes to get from Downtown Raleigh to Selma. So with all the growth happening, I really don’t understand why some of these smaller towns in JoCo like Selma aren’t more on people’s radar.”
Rob did what he could to acquire as much property as was feasible for them in Selma, understanding that the vision he and Emeric have for their businesses, and the vision the town has for itself, is going to take a lot of time and work. But it will certainly be worth it.
Rob and Emeric agree that the best part has been meeting their neighbors on the street and seeing the vision being shared, “there is a synergy building in this town. People here understand that this is the place to be and that’s what you need, in my opinion, to cultivate a successful community.”
Rob continued, “I knew that with I-95 and future I-42, and the growth and connections happening in JoCo, that we could get in on the ground floor. Out of all the places I went in Johnston County when looking at real estate, Selma just spoke to me. It's cute and it is walkable. I believe in the future of this town.”