On The Coffee Grind In Saint John: The Art Warehouse
Over the next couple of weeks, Huddle is curling up with a hot drink and sitting down with Uptown Saint John’s coffee shops to learn about the industry and business of coffee. Stay tuned for more stories like this from your favourite Saint John java slingers.
Painting studio and café The Art Warehouse was the latest coffee shop to open in Uptown Saint John, before the Covid-19 pandemic began and brought the world to a halt.
Owner Hazel Cochran says they were still getting word out about the café when the pandemic hit, less than a month after opening, in February 2020.
“It’s like any new business: you’re trying to grow that customer base and let people know that you’re here, but with the struggle of not being consistent and reduced hours because of staffing, not being open amid red phases and factoring in travel restrictions,” said Cochran.
The café has its regulars, mostly locals during the week and twice more customers on the weekend as more people arrive from outside the city. It’s also expanded patio seating during the summer, and the warm fall weather has helped boost customers.
However, the loss of cruise ship season and its tourists, the increase in people working remotely, and the CUPE strike and circuit breaker has cut into their uptown customer numbers.
“There’s a lot of people that were in the Uptown working that haven’t been in 2020 or 2021. And then there’s the customers like the high school students where it’s evolving and growing,” she said. “It’s been in a lot of ways like having faith in the community to be there to support us.”
Originally, Cochran anticipated the Art Warehouse would do more painting sales than coffee sales, but instead it was the reverse–with coffee making up most of their business.
Learning the ins and outs of coffee was more complex than anticipated, but Cochran invested in a quality roaster provider and educated herself in the art of espresso to serve the highest quality coffee to her customers.
“It was a very interesting learning experience and really delicious because I had to drink too much coffee,” she said. “There were times when we were first opening and, because of training involved and a lot of finding that perfect shot, I would be here in the morning just always vibrating with too much espresso because I was always tasting it.”
Working with a fair-trade coffee provider was also imperative to the business, so it was an easy decision to work with Nova Scotia’s Just Us Coffee.
“When we met, it was just kind of an instant connection, we are on the same page environmentally, ethically, taste, and they were very nice people,” she said. “They’re very active in their community and also make sure that money is going where it should go.”
Cochran is planning more events, like artist-led paint nights and cocktail tastings, as more people get vaccinated and become more comfortable going out–but she is a bit nervous about the future.
“Uptown is growing, I’ve never seen so many cranes uptown,” she said. “It’s just trying to figure out how to how to keep on for another year, it’s just one day at a time.”
Elizabeth MacLeod is a reporter in Saint John with Huddle and Acadia Broadcasting. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].