{"id":34533,"date":"2020-04-03T03:55:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T10:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34533"},"modified":"2020-04-01T15:14:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T22:14:06","slug":"kind-cafe-offers-vegan-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/04\/03\/kind-cafe-offers-vegan-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Kind Caf\u00e9 offers vegan food"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samantha Emerman opened Kind Caf\u00e9 last year. While closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, they are operating a pickup service twice a week. (photo by Olga Livshin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Kind Caf\u00e9 is a warm, airy space, a place for friends to meet and eat together. Or, at least it will be a welcoming meeting place again, after the coronavirus pandemic is over. In the meantime, the restaurant is offering takeout service only.<\/p>\n

Jewish community member Samantha Emerman, with her father, Marvin Emerman, opened the caf\u00e9 in August 2019. The main idea behind it was threefold: no meat, no dairy, no waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became a vegan in 2013. I went to a nutritionist college here, in Vancouver. I learned where our meat and milk come from, so I stopped eating them,\u201d Samantha Emerman told the Independent <\/em>in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Initially, she opened an online business, ran some seminars on healthy eating habits and offered nutrition coaching. She supplemented her income by working at local restaurants and coffee shops.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know how much garbage Starbucks produces?\u201d she said by way of but one of many possible examples. \u201cIn a busy location, they take out the garbage every hour. I wanted to create a space for people to enjoy their meals, while generating no garbage at all. It\u2019s a much kinder way to feed people \u2013 kinder to the environment, to our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emerman started doing research on what kind of restaurant she wanted. \u201cThere are other vegan restaurants in Vancouver. Being vegan has become trendy, but there is no other vegan caf\u00e9, except ours,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd no eating establishment in the city offers the \u2018no waste\u2019 policy, except ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next important decision was where to set up shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI researched for a long time. We looked into downtown locations,\u201d she said, \u201cbut most people in downtown rely heavily on their daily to-go coffee. We checked out the suburbs, like White Rock. In the end, we decided that the best location for our caf\u00e9 would be Main Street, with its diverse people.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, last August, Kind Caf\u00e9 opened its doors on Main Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer a vegan menu and we don\u2019t generate any garbage. We don\u2019t even have a garbage can inside,\u201d Emerman said proudly. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any plastic or any single-use items here. Everything is reusable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The zero-waste initiative extends to all areas of eating, including the takeout aspect of the business. The caf\u00e9 doesn\u2019t have paper coffee cups or foam containers for to-go orders.<\/p>\n

Before the coronavirus hit, Emerman said, \u201cIf people want[ed] takeout, they should come in with their own containers. It took awhile for the people to get used to that idea, but now, most of our customers who want a takeout come with their own containers.\u201d<\/p>\n

She called this policy BYOC (bring your own container). \u201cWe are passionate about BYOC,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you dine inside, we have you covered with metal cutlery, ceramic plates, mugs and glasses. Otherwise, instead of the disposable plastic utensils, paper cups and single-use food containers that are polluting the environment, we kindly ask our customers to bring their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the COVID-19 restrictions, Emerman isn\u2019t sacrificing her environmental beliefs. Instead, she is extending the practice of \u201crenting\u201d containers, which was in place before the virus. The caf\u00e9 is temporarily suspending its BYOC policy and is now only offering customers food served in new glass containers for which there is a monetary deposit that will be returned to the customers at a later date, when they return the container so that it can be washed and reused.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to shift the focus away from the single-use mindset altogether,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy use any product only once and throw it away? We are here to shake up the food industry, change people\u2019s behaviour pattern, and to make BYOC the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demographics of Kind Caf\u00e9 are as diverse as the Main Street population. \u201cAbout 60% of our customers are regulars who work or live in the area,\u201d Emerman said. \u201cMost of them are between 14 and 40, professionals and students. The rest are walk-ins. All kinds of people, really. And people are still discovering us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Kind Caf\u00e9 opened its doors on Main Street last August. (photo by Olga Livshin)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a way for people to discover the new caf\u00e9, Emerman has been offering the space for events and seminars on healthy eating. One of the events that fit the caf\u00e9\u2019s no-waste strategy was a clothing swap. \u201cIt\u2019s the same principle,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want this sweater, but someone else might want it. No throwing away anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The no-waste guidelines apply to the restaurant\u2019s suppliers as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t accept the products in plastic bags. We have our own large containers for the supplies we use,\u201d said Emerman. \u201cThe only bags we do accept are paper and reusable. But it took some time to find suppliers who share our beliefs. That\u2019s why we have 11 suppliers for different products, not two or three, like Starbucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The caf\u00e9 is a family business. \u201cMy father is my partner and mentor,\u201d Emerman said. \u201cHe taught me a lot. Most of the recipes are our family recipes or my own, although now that we hired a chef, he contributes, too. My sister is the office admin. My mom does everything that needs to be done. We are a very close family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, they have some hired staff, all of whom happen to be, like the Emermans, vegan. \u201cIt is not a requirement for working here,\u201d she stressed, \u201cbut our staff want to work for us. There are not too many vegan places in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The majority of work falls to Emerman herself. \u201cOwning this caf\u00e9 is the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done. I do everything. I bake. I manage front and back. I look for suppliers. I do advertising on social media \u2013 Facebook and Instagram. It\u2019s a 24\/7 job and the most rewarding I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n

To order takeout and for more information on the caf\u00e9, visit kindcafe.ca. The website notes, \u201cWe know that getting your hands on certain groceries, specifically vegan food, during this time can be challenging. Although we do not currently have a delivery service, we will be open for a small window, of three hours, twice a week, for you to come pick up orders!\u201d<\/p>\n

They request that customers preorder by Friday, 10 a.m., for Saturday pickup and Monday, 10 a.m., for Tuesday pickup. There is an online form to fill out, and an invoice will be provided once your order is confirmed.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samantha Emerman opened Kind Caf\u00e9 last year. While closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, they are operating a pickup service twice a week. (photo by Olga Livshin) Kind Caf\u00e9 is a warm, airy space, a place for friends to meet and eat together. Or, at least it will be a welcoming meeting place again, after the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9717,9784,9794,6068,9793,9795,402],"class_list":["post-34533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-kind-cafe","tag-restaurants","tag-samantha-emerman","tag-takeout","tag-vegan"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}