We opened in January 2006 with a 30-lb Primo roaster in the front window of our cafe. We emphasize fresh-roast and push a strong word-of-mouth campaign. We won our second consecutive "Best Coffee" in the Best of the Fox voting in Chicago's northwest suburbs.
Really fine, freshly roasted coffees, including featured coffees from Cup of Excellence competitions and other fine and rare coffees.
We acquire only sustainable coffees, including organic, Fair Trade and shade grown. Recently, we've been running Saturday specials like a Costa Rica Cup of Excellence in our brewing cycle. You'll find different coffees from around the world featured daily. We roast to emphasize the best a varietal coffee has to offer, rather than impose a roast style on the coffee.
We've been fortunate to have a great staff of engaging young people to execute our simple steps to success: Smile, be excellent and say "thank-you."
We host a Socrates Cafe group as well as, regularly, a whole bunch of people into fabric arts and knitting.
The past two years in the days preceding Mothers' Day we've hosted a MayaWorks exhibit with proceeds helping to build a kitchen for the school in Aquas Calientes, Guatemala. The school principal told a friend of ours that a kitchen to feed the children was his most pressing need.
You. Your family. Your friends. The folks across the street. Celebrities welcome without preference particularly if they wear our logo Ts during People Magazine photo ops. Oprah, are you reading this?
Underestimating build out. We wanted a stellar buildout reflecting our sophisticated suburban audience. Our original architectural estimates missed the mark widely. It's nice but it chewed up our reserves. Fortunately, strong word of mouth in our community gave us solid growth to overcome this setback.
In five years we'd love to have a half dozen regional locations through our own investment, licensing, management contracts or, perhaps, franchising. Our growth plan is to grow concentrically from our current location, opening new cafes in areas that won't undermine our business but in which we have an established name.
Wholesale operations are just beginning and we'll concentrate on coffee houses, independent gourmet grocers and restaurants.
Peace!
