Coffee Corner 2.0
Demolition of our corner of Enterprise began early in the morning January 9. The crew had hoped they’d be able to save our 100-year-old counter, but, sadly, the logistics involved with detaching all the electrical and plumbing and unbolting the corners from the floor proved impossible. Instead, the crew invited Matt in to sift through what was left after the outer wall came down. He managed to uncover half a dozen mugs and a bunch of plates and saucers that had been tucked under the back counter, but nothing else. Coming back from the ashes will truly be a rebirth,
Matt sifts through the rubble, looking for anything salvageable.
In the four months since the fire, we have navigated the "joys" of insurance paperwork, payroll audits, and skyrocketing inflation as we look ahead to a comeback. We learned that insurance would not cover the nearly $10,000 we put into building out our counters, plumbing, filtration and electrical systems, since we did not own our space but rented it. We also realized it would not cover many of the items we had thought it would, including equipment leases for our point-of-sale system and payment processing, and those companies required payment in full to terminate their agreements. It has been a big, painful learning curve, but we've managed to come through it with only a few scars--and the initial Downtown Fire fund-raiser helped us tremendously to pay our employees during the time we were closed and bridge us while we operated on a reduced scale out of a loaned coffee truck during the holidays. Honestly, we would have folded without that heartfelt support.
The survivors…
While our landlord presses on through the floor plan and permit process to rebuild this year, we have been prepping for our own comeback with purchases of furnishings and down payments on equipment. Our dream is to expand on our original footprint and add used books so we can become the bookshop cafe we always hoped to be. We want to build on that European-style vibe and expand our menu to include breakfast and brunch as well. To do so, we've got to raise funds to (once again) build out plumbing/filtration, electrical, and purchase a greater array of equipment. We did it before with the help of friends, family, and kind strangers who donated to our Kickstarter campaign. This made Coffee Corner a collaborative effort from the beginning--not a corporate cookie cutter product. And we want to do that again. We are chomping at the bit to serve our customers and welcome even more folks into our beautiful downtown.
Any amount you can give will be helpful and appreciated. GiveSendGo does not require us to meet a goal in order to release the funds, so this isn't a make-or-break fundraiser. Please feel free to share this with others who want to see our corner of Downtown Enterprise come back stronger and better than ever. You are the reason we do what we do, and we are so thankful for every one of you. You are the bricks that will rebuild the dream, one step at a time.
European cafe culture has always inspired us. Our comeback may not be this fancy, but we hope it will definitely be this fun! (Cafe Du Palais, Reims, France, 2023)
