State of Fika Address: An Update from the North Shore

Well, if the President of the USA gets to make a State of the Union address annually, I thought better give at least one State of Fika address. No time is better than right now, as we enter into a busy time of year. Maybe calling this a State of Fika address is a little much, but I do think checking in with you all as we approach the summer is good. I would like to let you know what you can expect at the cafe if you come North and some other notable things happening around here.

Coffee

We have two new coffees in right now from Burundi. One is from Nkonge Hill that has a syrupy sweet grape taste and a lovely finish and the other is a naturally processed coffee from Ninga Hill which is elegant and complex. Both coffees are from our friends at Long Miles Coffee project. Sometime this summer we also will be getting a coffee Kenya that is also from Long Miles (they have started a project there too)!

Yemen coffee

We also will have a really special bag of coffee from Yemen that should be here in the next couple of weeks. This is such a storied origin of coffee history and coffee from Yemen can be pretty hard to get our hands onto. So, stay tuned - if you're curious about coffee, you won't want to miss this one! And, if you want to get excited about it, and discover more about why we're so excited about this coffee, be sure to check out the book Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers. If you don’t like it, I will buy ya a cup of coffee.

Coffee From our Friends

Also we will have our coffees from Guatemala in the pipeline too, if they arrive before July that would be so amazing. This comes from some of our closest friends, the folks down at Finca la Esperanza, when it comes to coffee producers.

Cafe and Production

This is a bittersweet moment at Fika. It’s sweet because our growth over the last few years has been a solid growth, but also some realities really set in last year. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF SPACE. As you most likely know, we do all of our roasting in a shared space with the cafe. Last summer, due to covid, we had the cafe closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when we roasted to keep the public out of the space while production was happening. Also this last year we have seen a huge increase in online sales that have stayed steady, this requires designated employee and space to put all boxes together. I will stop rambling and get to the bitter news: the cafe is and will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for this next season. The reasons for doing it are two fold: one, because we need the entire space for coffee production and two, which brings us to our next piece of news, because of our employees, baristas, and family.

Fika Family

I’m going to keep this short, because this is an area that I’m very passionate about. Long story short, there is a “workforce” shortage up here, that I have not seen before. Because of it, our cafe hours have been shortened in May with our open hours from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm. So not only do we have two days that we are completely closed, we are also closing before the afternoon Fika. 

Employee shifting

There is some shifting going on with our family at Fika: we are losing two employees. Roxie who was with us since September is going back to her summer gig at Coldwater, and Colin, who has been my right hand man for the last 3 plus years, is moving on too. So I’ll be doing the roasting until we fill that position.

Work/Life Balance

It feels like we are juggling a lot right now. Yet with all of that, one of my chief “objectives” remains to have a very healthy work/life balance that leans towards more life then work. If I can do this, then I can lead my team in this. My goal is that when we do work, we can do it well and give everyone the experience they not only deserve, but the experience that I want to give and lead with. 

Goals

So there you have it. Come June, I hope that we can be open until 5pm and not 2, but I will not do it at the expense of our health. And, if you know of anyone who would be a great fit for Fika behind the roaster or as a barista, let us know! More details can be found online HERE.

Summer Fun

We have a couple fun marketing deals planned for this summer and want to share one of them with you now. You can find the details HERE.