Wowser is delighted to announce that The Community Foundation of Mendocino County has awarded Wowser a $6000 grant to equip the youth-driven micro-business, Espresso Yourself Café.

The members-only coffee shop will open on June 15^th inside Wowser.  Espresso Yourself Cafe is a project of 17-year old Wowser member, Tara Logan.  The business is self-contained in a gypsy wagon type structure inside the 20,000 square foot Makerspace.  It will serve members Thanksgiving Coffee, Mendocino Tea Lady Tea, along with locally made food items.

As a part of her preparation, Tara has taken Business Management classes at Mendocino College.  She has found mentors, and with the help of the West Company, Thanksgiving Coffee, Brickhouse Coffee, Patricia Baumann, Kitty Norris, and Wowser members, she has brought this forward to near completion and opening. The Café will be open nightly from 6pm to 10pm and will be open to all Wowser members. And for added entertainment, there will be scheduled live music and  ‘open mic’ evenings.

The grant funds are coming from the Community Foundation’s Community Endowment Fund which is a collection of permanent, undesignated endowment funds, the income from which supports annual grants for the enrichment of local communities. Donors to the Community Endowment Fund understand that this is a permanent and flexible way to ensure their donations are used where the needs and opportunities are greatest.

This is Wowser’s first collaborative project with a member. This is one way the non-profit makerspace fosters economic development within the community. Young Wowser members will be eligible to work as interns, with all aspects of the coffee shop being accounted for by the teens running the Café.

Megan Barber Allende of the Community Foundation says, “It’s exciting to support the efforts of local youth to create a positive meeting space for young people in a location where they can be stimulated to explore their creativity and to follow their dreams – while furthering our goal of economic development in the County.”

“I’m grateful for the support of the Community Foundation of Mendocino County. It’s a thrill to see what started out as an idea turn into a real business,” says Espresso Yourself’s Tara Logan. “The vision is to provide a safe, drug-free space for kids of all ages to hangout during the evening. Please come join us!”

Wowser has an INCREDIBLE discount membership special running from now until June 15^th. For more information and to sign up, please visit: http://wowser.org/special/.

 

We have been hard at work fabricating the Espresso Yourself cafe structure.  Imagine deciding to build the most complicated room in your home, the kitchen.

In this article I’d like to show the many great things you can learn when you are working on a fun, creative project.

So many details to consider.  We started with a Gypsy wagon look.  Kind of Tiny home-ish, and then Reality jumped in. When you have several workers making coffee inside, they ALL need to be able to turn around!

So our 16′ long by 8′ wide, became 10 feet wide.  No problem for this prototype unit. It won’t be traveling.

We went with a 1.5″ x 1.5″ steel tube frame.  Easy to weld, easy (sort of) to shape, and easy to adapt. (You always have to adapt on a prototype, issues come up. )   Like the roof. Our plan and the look requires a curved fabric roof.  light and airy feeling, whimsical, and yet enclosed.  Ok so far.  Steel ribs (bent nicely on our tubing roller) give the shape.  yes, it looks great. Now the fabric.  Must be 701 fire retardant rated, no problem.

opps.

When it’s inside our fire-sprinkler building; it must have sprinklers IF THERE IS A CEILING.

Ok, no enclosed fabric roof.  Too bad, and it will still look good. (the fabric roof will just have to wait for the real traveling wagon.) Plywood counters in place? check.  Wait, Health & Safety says, “No bare wood.” Ok, time to price out Formica surfaces. (Good thing we know how to apply and router the edges of Formica.) Now we just have to pick a smooth, washable surface and color.  Water lines (both hot & cold), stainless steel main sink. commercial frig, coffee brewer, grinders, blenders, water filter, water conditioner, cash register, coffee mugs, ice maker, all set!

Wait, we also need a good ESPRESSO MAKER!! Ok, we got that too.

hmm, all those machines need electricity.  Time to buy wire and outlets and GCFI outlets. and start bending EMT conduits.  New 100Amp sub-panel installed? check!

Paint.  (Yes, all surfaces from ground up to 4′ must be smooth & washable.)  Glossy paint in hand.

When the “working ” parts are done, then we’ll still have to do the “artistic” parts.  If our members wanted coffee from a simple kitchen, they could have THAT at home.  This needs to look WONDERFUL. (It shall!) Plus we will be serving Thanksgiving Coffee and tea from Mendocino Tea Lady.

hmm, our customer/members will probably want to put down their coffee cups while eating their snacks.  Better buy some table rounds (to place on the oak barrel tables)
We hope to be serving you members in about 3 more weeks in time for our summer classes.

Come join us now to see the work in progress. You can help or watch and learn (while having fun).

– Roger

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