Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! - We are here to stay!
Because of YOU we are able to remain in the community and provide even better coffee and baked goods! We really can't thank you enough!
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So Now What?
We're not done! We have 1 week left in the campaign and 2 stretch goals left! Please share the campaign and don't forget to pass the word along in the really real world. We're all about the interwebs but know that not everyone has used Indiegogo.
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Stretch goal #2 OPERATION: BOOT THE BOOT!
Speaking of that pesky parking problem...anyone who lives and works in East Liberty knows how hard it is to find all-day parking. We'd also like to utilize the 20 parking spaces at our roastery for public leasing. We've earned ourselves a fair share of parking tickets over the years, and if you work in East Lib, you know what we're talking about. We'd like to supply the public with a safe place to leave their ride in the morning and a free cup a day for any lease holder. All we need to do is a bit of clean up, install some safety lighting, and hire a line painter. If we reach $25,000 we'll be able to build you a parking lot!
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Anyone who has donated to the campaign gets first priority for the spaces and will receive a 20% discount on their lease!
What happens if we reach $30,000?
Stretch goal #3 OPERATION: GREEN SPACE
We've been dreaming of adding some green space for picnicking or spring/summer get-togethers. How about a park grill for summer cookouts in the city!? Pour a few back and watch as we transform the outskirts of our property into a sweet spot to have a cup of coffee (or a beer), cook some ribs (or veggies!) and hang out with your coworkers or family. If we hit $30,000 we'll landscape the wild growth around our roastery that currently collects plastic bags and discarded trash and refuse from the city into a beautiful green space to chill and reflect. Tire Swing for the kids? Horse Shoe Pit? Picnic tables? Flower beds? New Trees? Yup.
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Pittsburgh! You've already given a lot, but we know these projects are within reach and would be a true benefit to our city.
Please consider sharing or showing your support in whatever way you can.Again, Thank You! Thank You! THANK YOU!
-Zeke's Coffee PGH family. Chris, Brye, Alex, Savannah, Tyler, Chad, Danielle and Wes
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Over the weekend we (with some friendly help) moved (almost) everything out of 6012 Penn, (a truly surreal experience as it's been our home for nearly 4 years!) and are hard at work on the new space.
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At the New Zeke's Coffee Pittsburgh we will be able to have more seats and treats with better wifi and our signature fresh roasted coffee! Same Awesome Staff! More Drinks! Public Bathrooms! Oh My!
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We're planning a soft opening in the coming month and hope you'll join us. We'll be sure to let everyone know once the date is nailed down.
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What’s a Zeke’s
Coffee?
We are a small local business that refuses to quit! We are a
family-owned small batch roastery, café and bakery located in the heart of the
up-and-coming East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. We’re in our fourth year here and we’re
still pushing forward, fueling this community with our fresh-roasted coffee and
baked goods made from local organic ingredients. We offer over 30 varieties of highest quality Arabica coffee,
many of which are Natural Fair Trade, roasted in small batches through the
“fluid bed” method, which ensures a very high level of consistency.
We’ve grown quite a bit since our humble beginnings in 2011,
when you could find owner/master roaster Chris Rhodes roasting a single pound
at a time, riding around town and pouring hot
cups for construction workers from his ‘coffee bike’, and bringing “pounds to
the people” at local farmer’s markets. With the addition of Chris’ wife Brye’s
homemade baked goods, as well as a kick-ass espresso machine, business has been
growing steadily. Our customers have become like family – regulars who live/work
in East Liberty and local businesses (cafés, bars, offices, etc) that buy our
pounds – and they’ve helped to make us strong and push us to work harder every
day to extend our reach throughout Pittsburgh.
Despite the odds (Pittsburgh has some pretty intense coffee
competition), we’ve worked our asses off to establish ourselves here in this changing
community, but we now face some pretty big challenges and need your help! We’re
working non-stop to meet growing demand, and at the same time, we are faced
with having to completely uproot our café/bakery and move to a new location by
January, as developers get ready to demo the block for new projects.
That’s put us in a tight spot! We are lucky to have secured
TWO new locations in our rapidly growing neighborhood:
A new café/bakery
(6015 Penn Ave), just across the street from where we are now! We’ve completed
the demolition and are steadily renovating the space. It will offer much more
production space for baking and plenty of indoor/outdoor seating in a cozy
environment for our growing East Lib family of customers. With this, we will be able to step up our coffee game, at the same time, highlighting local businesses with the addition of light breakfast and lunch.
A new
roastery/packaging facility and drive thru (6314 Broad St). We’re stoked
about this! Our new roaster there is helping to increase our production by 70%.
Plus, we are turning the location’s huge parking lot into a much-needed (so
we’ve been told) coffee DRIVE-THRU! We’re building this out in the next few
weeks. Now if we only had heat, proper electric and maybe some hot water!
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The stage is set, the work is in progress. Here’s where you
come in...
We’re So Close!
With so much to do, we are running thin and need your help.
So we’re launching this campaign for our Café/Bakery and want to offer you some
great things for the holiday season, some cool perks and a chance to join our
family here in East Liberty.
With everything happening all at once
it's increasingly difficult to determine dollar for dollar where the money
goes, but we can tell you what we need and our prospected expense to complete
these projects, as well as what you'll get for your gracious support.
1) Renovations: We need to finish renovations, i.e. paint, floors, doors, working surfaces, tables and chairs, plumbing and electric. We've got a kitty set aside for some of this work, but all in all estimated cost is another $30,000.
2) Espresso Machine and Equipment:
We need a new espresso machine as the one we currently use will move to the
drive-thru. We also need to purchase other equipment for the new cafe to make us more efficient in serving you. Estimated cost $10,000 - $15,000.
Why then are we only asking for
$15,000? Because we think it's insane to ask for more. We're working hard every
day to find avenues to finance and get this work done as cheaply and
efficiently as possible. We've created stretch goals with this campaign because
well... every bit helps.
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What You Get
Just imagine, these could be yours! Here are some highlights
of things we are giving away.
Pounds, pounds,
pounds! If you haven’t had our coffee, we will hook you up with our little
bags of fresh-roasted joy and make you a believer.
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Sweet Treats - Brye
and the Zeke’s bakery – she makes a mean chocolate-peanut butter cookie and her
pecan bars taste like they fell from heaven.
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Zeke’s T’s -
Because we want you to look good. To be designed by Pittsburgh artist Chris
Smith. (photo to come!)
Suspended Coffees! Because
sometimes someone somewhere is in desperate need of a hug. Give them a hug in a
mug.
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Why Bother?
Our community of East Liberty is changing – crime is down,
foot traffic is up, and people are coming here for the first time since the
80’s. We’ve been here since the very beginning of this revival, and we want to
remain part of the fabric and have a say! Your donation to our cause will help
to maintain an independent, small local business in the midst of an
increasingly corporate landscape. It will support the mom’n pop, do-it-yourself culture that keeps our cities
from being a big pile of lame!
We’ve got to be able to compete. So since we have to
relocate, we are taking the opportunity to upgrade our operation so that we
can. We want to offer more to our community without sacrificing what we believe
in – more fresh-roasted coffee and homemade baked goods, more seating and
accommodations at our café, and more support of other local business, whether
that’s through wholesale, at farmers markets, or selling other locally-made
goods at our shop.
Risks &
Challenges
The deadline
for our move is January 10th. It is likely that we will be unable to complete
the new cafe to its full glory by that time (but we're trying!). We are hoping
to simply remain operational and have the core work
completed in time for the move. Some working capital will certainly help in
this venture.
Like any
business, we've had our share of obstacles before, and through hard work and
sweat, we've overcome them one at a time. Your donation will allow you to be a
literal part of the brick and mortar as you watch us grow and change.
Other Ways You Can Help!
We understand that this is the holiday season.
Money is tight and sometimes you're just not in a position to be able to help
some strange coffee sling'n peeps. If you're into what we do.... tell
people! Help us promote this in any way you can. Indiegogo has some great
sharing tools to make it easy for ya. Just a few clicks and you've done us a
huge service!