owners about the pros and cons of serving food. To feed or not to feed?
Specialty Coffee Retailer asks coffeehouse
Serving food in a coffeehouse presents owners with a challenge. They have to figure out what to offer, how much to order and prepare, what size is the demand, what price to charge. Every market is different, especially markets as small as those for a particular coffeehouse. So Specialty Coffee Retailer asked coffee house owners what they thought the benefits and drawbacks are of serving food in their markets.
BY PETER SUROWSKI WEST COAST
The Audacity & Café Yreka, Calif.
lot of restaurants—but not at Th e Audacity & Café in Yreka, Calif. Th e shop buzzes during lunchtime,
because its hot sandwich menu is broader than most that of coff eehouses, but faster and more casual than at the surrounding restaurants, says Michael Higgs, co-owner of the shop. "Some people are looking for some
way to get warm without going to a restaurant," he says. His one-year-old, 1,000-square-foot
Th e lunch hour is slow for some coff eehouses, especially ones around a
30 | January 2012 • www.specialty-coffee.com
coff eehouse fi lls that need. It sits in the town's historic district surrounded by antique shops, bars and restaurants housed in buildings of roughly hewn
wood built during the early 1900s. It's the go-to spot for out-of-towners, but locals also come during their lunch breaks. Most of the customers are
government employees from the nearby city hall, construction workers, teachers and lawyers from the nearby courthouse, Higgs says. Th ey come to the shop in part for
its convenient location and pleasant atmosphere. It fi lls a corner suite in the heart of the neighborhood. Its fl oor- to-ceiling windows let the sun pour in, making its black-and-white-tile fl oor and ceiling and the safari-themed
