We Have Our Space
The community is behind us
We just need a little of your help
Black Forge Coffee House is a independent cafe that will be located in the neighborhood of Allentown in Pittsburgh, PA. Our goal is to help our neighborhood grow and give an artistic outlet to our community.
Let Us Introduce Ourselves
Ashley and Nick have been working for small independent businesses since they transplanted themselves in Pittsburgh several years ago. Pittsburgh is a city that has been making countless efforts to restore all of its neighborhoods. Now it is time for us to contribute back to the city we love and call home.
Ashley has been a barista for a little over four years in local coffee shops and is also a Lighting Designer for some of Pittsburgh's best music venues.
Nick has been actively promoting local comedy shows, working as a bartender and is part owner of a podcasting network.
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You can say we have our hands in a lot of projects but now we are taking our talents and putting them towards a business built upon the needs of our community.
Pittsburgh is recognized not only for its sports, but for its arts. Artists have been working together to bring up areas like East Liberty, Garfield and now Allentown.
Black forge isn't just a coffee house, it is a communal space for the residents, business owners as well as artists to connect and thrive. We will be hosting a variety of events and offering our space to those who need it. From our coffee beans roasted by Zeke's in the East End, to our baked goods made fresh daily, we are only sourcing locally so we can continue to contribute to other small businesses in our city. We have faced some struggles over the last year of making this a reality and now we finally have it in our grasp. Now we need your help to get the rest of our funding so we can open our doors by June 2015.
What We Need & What You`ll Be Receiving
Your funding will be used to help us get into our space and start on our interior renovations. We need to start with plenty of paint, the wood, steel and other materials to build our coffee bar and bench seating, putting our plumbing in for the coffee bar, securing our espresso machine, as well as building our lighting fixtures and furniture.
So, for every penny that you contribute, you are receiving these gifts ranging from but not limited to:
-Free coffee up to a year!
-Brunch for 2 at Sweet Peaches (another independent business in Allentown whom we love!!)
-Hand painted growlers and mugs.
-Shirts and patches hand printed by us and don't forget our stickers!
Shirt design 1.
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Shirt design 2.
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Shirt design 3.
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Hand painted mug.
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Patch design 1. Patch Design 2.
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Anybody who donates will also get their name written on our chalkboard that will be up for the first month we are open to show everyone our thanks!
We will be working on getting you your perks towards the end of June/Early July!
We personally want to thank our good friend and very talented local artist Max Pokrzywa for creating these awesome logos, helping us on design aspects and putting an endless amount of time into this project. Thank you Max!
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The Impact
With your contributions you are literally building a unique coffee house, helping Allentown flourish and bringing a much needed space to the community. Who else can say that? You are making Allentown a destination point!
You are helping the existing businesses too! You are giving them a place to have meetings, fuel up on our coffee and you are also bringing more business to them. It is a win/win for all of us!
This is a group effort and we want you to know you are making a difference for everyone involved.
Risks & Challenges
With Pittsburgh growing so rapidly with new businesses and residents it is hard to keep up with all the new exciting things going on.
It is always difficult to see the potential in a redeveloping neighborhood at first. The thing that some people don't know is the large amount of effort being put in by passionate individuals from all over the city. These people have put in countless hours to make sure that this is a risk worth taking. We are very fortunate to have met these people who have given us their hand and dramatically assisted us on this journey.
From the SBDC business classes we took at the University of Pittsburgh provided by the SBA, City Council meetings hosted by the URA, events we have attended to help get the word out about Allentown and so much more.
The Hilltop Alliance, The Hardware Store and Sweet Peaches have made this possible for us to get this far and we owe them our undying gratitude.
Thank you Zeke's Coffee for working with us and letting us spread your roasted goodness in another area in Pittsburgh!
Thank you to all the businesses in Allentown and the people who are supporting them like RE360, Leon's, On the Skids and so many more!
Thank you, all of you!
Want to help us in other ways?
We fully understand not everyone has the spare money to donate. We just appreciate you even visiting this page to see what our mission is. You can contribute in other ways if you wish! Please help us spread the word and share our link, tell your friends, family and strangers!
Once we get into our space we would also appreciate any volunteer work you would like to offer from painting to just stopping by and eating our unlimited supply of pizza.
So We Just Need To Say
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Your support means the world to us and we hope that you stop by so you can see what you contributed to in person. Watch out, June 2015 will be worth the wait! We promise you will not be disappointed! We will update you as much as possible on all of our progress!
with all the light, love & coffee
Ashley & Nick
-BFCH-