Philadelphia

“When we arrived in Philly, coffee wholesale to restaurants was at about a dollar 50 a pound, and ours was the mid-sevens.”

“So the two main beautiful, you know, roads in the city right now is Walnut and Chestnut. They were pretty much closed down. There were no cafes in the city. You know, it's a city of a million, some people, and there wasn't one cup of coffee.”

“In fact, we built the cafe by our, like, with no permits. Like, I did all the wiring, all the plumbing. Like, we asked forgiveness rather than permission on pretty much anything.”

“So, that was in 1977, and he literally lent me 10 grand, which I never paid him back, but it was technically a loan. And he helped me find a location, which at that point was on South Street in Philadelphia.”

“It was almost never truly profitable, but back in those days, I was single. I really didn't care about money. I truly didn't. I lived in a really small, not good apartment in a bad part of town, and I just really didn't care. I was on a mission, but the profit…”

“When we arrived in Philly, coffee wholesale to restaurants was at about a dollar 50 a pound, and ours was the mid-sevens.”

“Our idea was to be purveyors and to serve the kitchen, so it didn't really matter.”

“There were no cafes in the city. You know, it's a city of a million, some people, and there wasn't one cup of coffee.”

“So I did the whole thing for 90,000 dollars.”