‘All you need is the beans’
New café opens in downtown Sydney
SYDNEY — There’s a new place in downtown Sydney to grab a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
Café By the Bay quietly opened up recently on the corner of Charlotte and Falmouth streets with a handwritten sign advertising the “best coffee in town” for $1 a cup taped to the window.
Sharing an entrance with the Charlotte Hair Co Ltd., the cosy, 140-square-foot café is a passion project for building owners Bobby Dubeau and Mario Vetro, the B. C.based businessmen behind By the Bay Properties.
BIG THINGS BREWING
Dubeau said they decided that with big things brewing in downtown Sydney such as the pending opening of the Nova Scotia Community College Waterfront Campus and Charlotte Street redevelopment project, it was the right time and place for a coffee shop.
“It's something that we really don't have any experience with but something that kind of piqued our interest. My business partner and I said ‘Yeah, let's give it a shot,’” said Dubeau.
“We're not going to get rich off of it or anything but we think it's a great location. We think the NSCC is going to be huge for the area … we think there's a lot of great things that are going to be happening over the next 20 years and I think businesses, governments and residents all kind of agree on that.”
Although he has no experience operating a café and admits he’s far from a coffee connoisseur, Dubeau said he’s invested in the best artisanal roasted beans and top-of-theline equipment.
“A famous person once said, all you, all you need is the beans. And I think we got some good beans from Nova Scotia. Laughing Whale down in Lunenburg is where we get our beans from and we have good machines. So everything is basically consistent,” he said.
BUCK A CUP
While the buck-a-cup offer is a temporary way to give the two-person staff experience and entice passersby, Dubeau said the prices will remain reasonable.
“It's a good chance for us to just kind of get our sea legs first … but we're not going to be jacking up to some insane rate,” he said.
“I think we're still going to be the cheapest cup in town, including those big-name franchises.”