The Next Lease on Life at 3700
And just like that 10 years has gone by.
On October 8 we mark the 10th year of opening at 3700 Nicollet. Some of you may remember the parade of boxes that travelled along 36th Street from Grand to Nicollet. You may remember the fresh paint and mostly-finished woodwork. And you may remember the excitement of completing a Kickstarter Campaign that reinforced the community support behind the move to our new location. That September of 2012 was a whirlwind of celebrating our seven years at Grand Ave, packing and watching finishing touches to the new space, while cheering on the investments over 100 community members made to reach our Kickstarter Goal.
10 years also marks the life of a lease that provided the build out and formation of a long-term partnership with the support of Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative. With the end of a lease, a new lease begins, building on the past and looking to a different kind of future for Butter Bakery Cafe. I may not have been able to see exactly what 10-years-out would like for Butter, but we're certainly happy with where we've landed. Now operating as a General Benefit Corporation, we can imagine an ongoing presence at this corner that is mission-based and operating as a supportive worksite for the residents of Nicollet Square into the years ahead.
This time around we've chosen to settle with a five-year lease and especially aware that during this lease period there will be work to create a transition for Dan to turn over the community building and restaurant operations to the next owner of this adventure. We continue with the support of Beacon to make this corner a true benefit to its neighborhood.
Things have changed a bit since 2012. Over a dozen new restaurants have made this stretch of south Nicollet home since we moved in. A fully-rebuilt Nicollet Avenue (2013) removed a hazardous, pot-hole-filled street and created a roadway ready for many years ahead. New high-density housing has followed Nicollet Square up and down Nicollet, with the promise of a couple hundred new neighbors in the year to come. And after 10 years of waiting, the removal of the arterial clog at Lake Street will begin the process of restoring Nicollet Avenue as a fully functioning business corridor.
And, yes, the restaurant industry has changed remarkably since I signed our first lease with Beacon back in 2012. We're not the only coffee shop on the block nor the only bakery in the area. We've weathered pandemic and civil unrest and coming out on the end of a very different cautiousness about dining out. We've been at the forefront of workplace improvements with Organics Recycling (2015), Earned Sick and Safe Time (2016) and a $15 Minimum Wage ordinance (2017), and Wage Theft Ordinance (2019) changing the way our food industry especially has to function. This past year's inflationary impacts (upwards of 20% for our shop's costs) puts additional stress to a system trying to climb out of the losses from pandemic-effected revenue drops.
And so, here I am again at the start of a new lease with another call for community support. While it's not a Kickstarter Campaign this time around, it still identifies needs that are beyond our cafe's resources.
You'll notice it during September in a few ways. The most obvious place will be in our kitchen, after a pretty stable three-year run, we're sending two of our cooks to larger restaurant kitchens. It's a sign of our ability to be a training space, but it puts us short cooks for our afternoon and weekend grill duties. It will take us some time (especially in this current job market) to rebuild our kitchen grill team, so our kitchen hours for September will be limited to Monday through Friday 8 am to 1 pm. Without a weekend grill team, it makes the most sense to close Saturdays during September.
To provide Dan with time to rebuild the kitchen crew, we're shortening our daily cafe hours as well during September. This will allow us to make best use of our current barista crew. We'll have arrangements in place for our CSA farm members and Community Supported Bread subscription members to continue to make their weekly pickups into the early evening, but the cafe itself will close at 3 pm Monday through Friday during September. Some reductions in our menu will also happen during September (no fear - the Beet-Carrot burger and Clint-style Biscuit Sandwiches remain) while we regroup in the kitchen.
This isn't the most ideal way to end our first lease and begin a new one. However, it is the best way we can take care of ourselves here at Butter in order to prepare for what could be a very challenging fall and winter ahead. Yet, like any long-term commitment, while it's difficult to know what the end of this five-year path will look like, it's one I hope you'll walk alongside us as we strive to continue being a neighborhood community builder, an advocate for food industry improvements, and a supportive worksite for young people who call Nicollet Square home.