Blackbook Magazine gave us a great review!
Editorial Review
Slightly off the Main Street beaten path in an up-and-coming stretch of loftland hides this sleeper owned by 2 friends, one of whom’s a baker making everything from scratch, including vegan and gluten-free specialties, like terrific chocolate chip/peanut butter cookies. Rustic pies and fresh fruit crumbles look at home amid appealing local art and kitschy decor on loan from a nearby vintage furniture store. Kicking Horse coffee lives up to its attitude, as does the Belgian chocolate-filled “Fancy Pants” mocha. Beer & wine available, and super bonus for celiacs, Bard’s Gluten-Free beer isn’t just served here, it’s a relative bargain.
Check out Mainly Main Magazine's article on Kranky Cafe written by Rebecca Keillor in their May/July Issue!
Read the article here: http://www.mainlymain.com/ pg 26-27
Kranky Cafe was featured on the Building Opportunities with Business blog, whoot whoot!!! Thanks Wes!
In a city of countless cafes, Kranky has the right attitude
Vancouver is a city freckled with cafes. Whether they be corporate chains, smaller chains, high priced specialty cafes, there is a cafe for everyone. For me, though I do have a few locales that I frequent, the one that is most near and dear to my heart is an adorable joint just across from my apartment on Main and 4th called Kranky Cafe. There are a few reasons why I’m particularly fond of this enterprise. It’s tucked away right inside our neighbourhood, one that is an eclectic blend of break and muffler garages, refill stations and live-work lofts. Robson Street it is not, but over the past handful of months since the cafe has been open even I as a customer can see firsthand how my neighbours along with myself have embraced it as our spot. Similarly to the Narrow, another small but cherished hang out for locals. Having it tucked right in with the lofts in this unassuming (and “up and coming”) part of town reminds of the kinds of places one would see in Berlin or other European cities, where the cut and dry zoning and commercial strips that western cities celebrated isn’t so prevalent. Though the space is small they make the absolute most of it with live music, local artists work on the walls, and a beautiful patio space. Perhaps the number one reason why I like it so much is that it was started by a pair of young entrepreneurs who took a chance on this location and have made a real positive impact on this small neighbourhood. So I asked them to send in a brief little backgrounder for all entrepreneurs to be, or those looking for a great lunch, coffee, snack or beer on a patio spot on the edge of Mt. Pleasant. Below is the response from Dana, one of the partners on how they made it all happen.
Kranky Dana- Mmm-k well basically it all started many moons ago in the neighborhood of kitsilano. There is a cute lil’ coffee shop (Arbutus coffee), where both Tondela (her business partner at Kranky) and I worked for a time. It was a shop that was started by a woman named Amanda, and she had owned and operated it for 7 years. The unique part about the shop was the laid back community vibe, which in essence was an extension of Amanda’s laid back personality. When that shop was sold, Tondela and I started talking about creating our own shop, with a lot of the similar aspects that we had enjoyed at Arbutus. Tondela stayed on at Arbutus as their primary baker, and I went on to a gluten free bakery working their as a baker. Throughout most of 2010 we had met and talked about our future plan to take over the cafe world.We made some good connections and had a lot of help from our Realtor who is also a family friend of Tondela’s.
When the Moss came up for sale we made a bid and we got it.
Since then it’s been a bit of a whirlwind! in the process, coming up with a name for our place was an ongoing one. And then….gold! Tondela had overheard a woman talk about being cranky…. and then cranky evolved into Kranky…. and ta da.
When the Moss came up for sale we made a bid and we got it.
Since then it’s been a bit of a whirlwind! in the process, coming up with a name for our place was an ongoing one. And then….gold! Tondela had overheard a woman talk about being cranky…. and then cranky evolved into Kranky…. and ta da.
Through numerous challenges, equipment issues, learning about the business and finances etc, it has been a huge learning experience.
There is always something to do, or get done. We try our best to take breaks when we can, our goal is to one day have two days off in a row, each…. one day. one day
We both want to create a comfortable place where people will hopefully come and take some time, and connect with others in the community.
Tondela has a background in film and is also a graduate of Emily Carr, and does some great work in the visual arts. (Dana has mainly a background in music and other randomness according to herself) Essentially we want to be able to support local artists as best we can with our small space. Currently we host music nights and display artwork which changes roughly every six weeks. We were a part of SWARM and will also be a part of the upcoming Drift on main.
There is always something to do, or get done. We try our best to take breaks when we can, our goal is to one day have two days off in a row, each…. one day. one day
We both want to create a comfortable place where people will hopefully come and take some time, and connect with others in the community.
Tondela has a background in film and is also a graduate of Emily Carr, and does some great work in the visual arts. (Dana has mainly a background in music and other randomness according to herself) Essentially we want to be able to support local artists as best we can with our small space. Currently we host music nights and display artwork which changes roughly every six weeks. We were a part of SWARM and will also be a part of the upcoming Drift on main.
This is a really great area to be situated in and we have met some real nice folks. The support we have gotten from people has also been lovely, which is really encouraging for us from day to day.
Thanks Dana and Tondela for seeing the potential in this tucked away corner of EastVan and for bringing your passion and talents here.
You can also read the entire article here