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Article published Aug 9, 2007
Wake up and smell the coffee

BARRE - Business in Barre is perking up, hopefully giving a jolt of energy to the town's appeal and economic vitality.

Firehouse Roasting Company and Café at 8 S. Main St. in the old firehouse, and Espresso Bueno at 136 N. Main St., opened their doors on July 28, during Barre Homecoming.

The two coffee shops join L.A.C.E., Local Agricultural Community Exchange, 159 N. Main St., which launched its market and café on June 10, and Delicate Decadence, 15 Cottage St., the veteran of the four at a little over a year old.

"We went from having no coffee here to coffee, coffee, coffee!" said L.A.C.E. Director, Ariel Zevon.

Chris and Heidi Townsend, owners of Firehouse Roasting Company and Café, felt it was high time for Vermont to have some real coffee options.

"We lived on the west coast for 10 years and we were exposed to coffee there," Chris Townsend said. "It's fairly big out there, and it's still in its infancy here."

The couple originally had their sights set on opening a drive-through coffee spot in Montpelier. One day while driving through town, "we saw a three-by-five card saying: 'Interested in starting a coffee shop? Call,'" he said.

The pair called, and soon leased 900 square feet from the Firehouse's new owners, Valerie and Richard Beaudet. "We began renovating at the end of March with the idea being that we would roast our own coffee," he said.

By September, Firehouse will have its own coffee roaster, which the Townsend's are building themselves. "We're starting with three blends of fair trade organic coffee," he said, which will all be available at an open house in mid-September, "a morning blend called 'Morning Hero,' a house blend called 'Stonecutter Blend' and a dark blend called 'Jim Black.' Black was a firefighter in the building for 35 years, and it felt right to pay tribute to the building's history. Plus, he has the perfect name."

Firehouse's coffee is complimented by an extensive food menu, including wraps, breakfast burritos, Panini and bagels, which Townsend thought would lead to an early morning coffee crowd. "There's occasional morning traffic, but by noon it fills up and we sell sandwiches," he said.

On the other end of the spectrum, Elizabeth Manriquez, co-owner of Espresso Bueno with her partner, Patrick Clark, is focused on getting people their caffeine fix and deals specifically on coffee, though she supplements her offerings with smoothies, Italian sodas and small pastries.

"I've wanted to do this since I was 17," she said. "My specialty is espresso beverages, and where I come from (Seattle), you just offer coffee."

Manriquez and Clark, like the Townsends, originally looked to open in Montpelier.

"I wrote a business plan for Montpelier that didn't work out, and then I purchased a house in Barre," she said. A self-described people watcher, Manriquez decided to set up shop in her new town. "That's how I get to know the community, by making coffee."

The pair leased the 1,300-square-foot space, and "Patrick built the place, essentially," she said, "tearing out the ceiling, ripping up the floor." Currently the space is spartan, but with much promise: The modern lighting, cherry wood floor and bright paint will be amplified by the time Espresso Bueno has their grand opening the first week in September, "once there's furniture, art, signage, you know, actually stuff in the place."

Though she's quite humble, a quick Google search reveals that Manriquez was a finalist in the 2006 Northeast Regional Barista Competition.

"She beyond knows her stuff," said Agnes Barsalow of St. Albans, who was drinking coffee at the sthop Wednesday. "This is her element; she exudes coffee."

Manriquez works 14-hour days, seven days a week, so Clark is currently in barista train-ing so that "I can go home once in a while," she said.

Eventually, she hopes to add outdoor seating to the store. "Our goal is just to attract people to spend time while passing through," she said. "If you drive through a town and see people outside, you stay."

Barre still needs work before it has the drawing power of Montpelier, something all four businesses took into account before opening.

"There used to be, when the town was thriving 20 years ago, two bakeries and I felt the town lacked the hominess of a bakery," said Michelle Lunde, owner of Delicate Decadence, which focuses mainly on pastries and cakes with coffee and tea offerings as well.

Lunde, like Manriquez and Clark, lives in Barre, and "I want a nice area, and that's the direction that it's going." Lunde has four employees at Delicate Decadence, which she sees as another way to give back to the town.

The Townsends, who live in Northfield, struggled with the question of where their business would have the greatest impact, thinking more about the community than their own pockets.

"If you open a shop you chronically look at pricing and how much are you trying to make a profit," Townsend said, noting that the profit margin on food isn't large at all. "So it became a question of will it be the right price for Barre versus Montpelier. We didn't want this to be an exclusive place where the average person wouldn't go for lunch."

The cheese in Firehouse's sandwiches is half local and half brought in, "because (if it were all local) we would end up charging $8 for a sandwich," he said. "It wouldn't be accessible to as many people."

Accessibility is the name of the game for Zevon at L.A.C.E. "I noticed there was a lack of an outlet in Barre to find local foods, so I tried to provide farmers and the community with a place," she said. The café offers an ever-changing menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees, depending on what's fresh, as well as a full espresso bar.

"Our focus is on Vermont food and products," she said. "For example, we don't have vanilla or caramel lattes because there's no Vermont source." L.A.C.E. does, however, have maple, honey and chocolate flavors, all produced locally.

In addition to their dedication to Barre, all four stores are invested in brewing up Vermont's economy; Espresso Bueno, L.A.C.E. and Delicate Decadence all get their coffee from Vermont Artisan Coffee and Tea Company in Waterbury, and by spring, Firehouse Roasting Company and Café will be distributing its own home-roasted coffee.

"We're going to be doing something that no one else in the area is doing, making small amounts of changing coffees," Townsend said. His idea is to offer coffee from a different region every day, "like one day will be African blends, another day European."

Far from being threatened by the competition, the fledgling java gang feels a sense of community and support each other's businesses.

Chris Townsend buys cheeses and meats from L.A.C.E. when sandwich makings are running low. Zevon buys cookies and pies wholesale from Delicate Decadence to sell at L.A.C.E. And Lunde has followed Manriquez's coffee-making skills for years.

"When Liz was a barista at Gesine's (in Montpelier) I used to go there just for her coffee," she said.

"The relationships with the other business owners is amazing," Manriquez said. "I met Chris from the Firehouse. We're able to talk to each other. It's nice to have business owners around who are the same age. It makes it a lot more vibrant."

"Competition is important, but we're all different" in what we offer, said Lunde. Firehouse is big on lunch and will soon have its own coffee for sale; L.A.C.E. also appeals to the lunch crowd, but draws shoppers who are interested in the market offerings; Espresso Bueno appeals to the hardcore coffee crowd; and Delicate Decadence is for breakfast, recently making and selling their own New York-style bagels, and the more, well, decadent indulgences of coffee and homemade cakes and pastries.

"We're not a lunchtime draw unless you're having dessert for lunchtime, which is fine with us," Lunde said. She said she hasn't noticed a difference in business since the two new shops opened.

"I would hope that we would be predominate and Dunkin Donuts would go by the wayside," she said. "Hopefully, we take the place of Starbucks."

"I think we all have chosen to be that one step up from the coffee you get at a gas station. We want people to come to Barre, have fun places to go, so hopefully Barre will start to have options."