Tucked away in Haddon Township is Espressit, a cozy little coffee house that has delicious displays of food and coffee. Owner Stacey Douglas can be seen in the kitchen, working away on her next creation. As I sat down during her coffee break, I learned that it was important to her that there was a place where vegans, vegetarians and the rest of the community can come together.
Stacey Douglas, with coffee in hand, stands behind the counter at Espressit in Haddon Township. Photo: Geneva Gerwitz
What inspired you to open the coffee house? What was your motivation?
My motivation was I lost my teaching job as an art teacher. I wanted to combine my different talents, my different interest in art, in food and in coffee. I sort of conjured this concept up and I wanted it in my hometown because I was a single mom. I had a young child and this was doable for me, to get here, to get home and to do it on my own.
Is there a specific reason why you also incorporate vegetarian and vegan food or were you just open to anyone coming in to enjoy the food?
So I have been a vegetarian for 30 years, so it’s the way I live. I have cooked in other places, vegan/vegetarian, so it’s my experienced way of cooking. I feel like that’s not represented very well or very much in places that you go out to eat so particularly around here. There’s salads, a very boring pasta. I wanted to represent that community and I have pretty well stuck to it. Even though there’s a large group of people out there who don’t eat that way, I kind of want to convert them.
What is your most popular item that you sell here?
Well, actually, it’s not this kind of food [waves over to burrito bar]. We started off doing just baked goods when we first opened up. We were doing scones, muffins, cookies. We did some sandwiches. We started adding soups and then the hot foods, the burritos. We have a few muffins that are favorites: vegan chocolate avocado, the sour cream cardamom, the ginger pear and then I make something called the vegan bar. It’s a soft granola bar with jam inside and that’s a favorite here. We sell it here and we sell it at a health foods store in Collingswood. I would say those are the main baked items. And then burritos, breakfast burritos. We do them with bacon and without bacon. They fly out of here.
I noticed on your website that you get your coffee locally, how did that come about?
So there was a coffee place in Haddonfield, now call Jersey Java and Tea, which was previously called Three Beans and before that it was Seattle’s Best. I had gone there for 12 years as a customer and at that point they were serving La Colombe Coffee so I got used to drinking it. When I opened my place, I was like ‘Oh, I will definitely have that coffee at my place’, even though I didn’t try other coffees to see what was better, this was just what I was just to drinking. I decided to go with that and they were okay with it. You have to get
Sign greeting customers in front of Espressit. Photo: Geneva Gerwitz
the okay with it, you can’t just decide that’s what you want because they have to space out the shops a little bit. Since I’ve been using their coffee, I have tried switching it but people are not happy with that. I’ve had a lot of people approach me, a lot of roasters, a lot of coffee sellers who want me to sell their brand but I’ve really stuck to my guns about La Colombe.
Do you sell a lot of items in health stores because you mentioned that have it at other places?
No, just that one item. I really haven’t marketed that. It’s just a time thing, if I have the time. We will do some catering orders if somebody asks us, we don’t have a catering menu. People will come in ask, ‘Can we have 12 of a certain type of muffin?’ or a variety or can you make me a strada? Or something special like that, so we take special orders.
So is catering something you thought about?
I thought about it and haven’t really done it. The way we’re working here is, how do I say, in the moment, working with what we have. The menu is in our head on a daily basis, we have basic recipes and we have the freedom to change it up based on what is available in shop today. Our muffins, we have a basic muffin ingredient but today we might have apples tomorrow will have bananas. We just play around with that. That keeps it creative for the people working here and cooking and it keeps it interesting for the people eating here. We cook like you cook at home, most people cook at home. Not everybody plans for a whole week. You just cook with what you have.
I noticed on your website that you have open mic night.
We used to do that weekly but now we do that monthly. Once a month on Friday, first Friday. We get a lot of repeat people, customers, musicians, poets.
Besides that, what other kind of events do you have or is open mic your big thing?
Espressit Coffee House in Haddon Township. Photo: Geneva Gerwitz
It’s kind of our thing. We used to participate in the farmers market on a weekly basis. I pulled back and people will come to us is kindof where I’m standing right now. We have some journal writing groups, one in particular, that meets here. A French group, we used to have an Italian group. The other day we had a book group of 12 people. People can call us ahead of time and we’ll reserve a table and they can come in to do their thing.
Do you personally come in everyday to help with the staff?
I come in on different capacities. Wednesdays and Thursdays, I’m the baker. Sometimes I’m in here at 5 and probably until 2:30. I will go out and do the backup runs, so I’m the shopper. I buy all of the food supplies, I will go to the bank and get the coffee and produce. Usually, I do those runs after. On a day when I’m not cooking, I might come in to close. I’m here everyday, at least once a day.
So you’re really hands on?
Totally. My finger is on every pulse. Which is exhausting.
That’s a lot work but obviously, the place is a success.
Yeah but we still need to get some walk in traffic. We’re not very big so we can fill up when we get busy. If people come in, they can push the tables together and we don’t have a whole lot of space. There are times when we are too small for the people who want to come here. Other times, we’re not. It depends on the time of day, it’s up and flows because of the area we are in. People going to work, people coming back from work, people at home or people hanging out with kids.
Have you ever thought of opening up a bigger space or expanding?
I have, that’s a financial issue. I own the building so I’m not going to up and leave to go rent some space, so it would have to be doable within this footprint. One thing that I worry a little bit is to not create a space where people camp out at on their computers all day and I do have that issue sometimes. I’m trying to encourage community and not camping out with your head in a screen. It’s a tricky balance because people come here because we have free wifi, I would lose people if I didn’t offer that. At the same time it’s counter-intuitive to what I want to create here.
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