A few years ago we leased a farm in Pitt Meadows. As we put it whenever we gave directions to anyone: “last farm on the right on Harris Road right before the Fraser River”.
Further up Harris Road, in the business section of Pitt Meadows, we discovered a coffee shop called Bad Ass Coffee. Nice place that also served light lunches and suppers, sandwich type fare mostly. In addition to a wide range of coffee drinks, they also served ice cream and desserts. The fun thing about this place was Friday nights live entertainment, usually a singer or two and their guitars playing cover music. We also enjoyed Sunday afternoons songwriter café where local musicians could showcase their own music.
Bad Ass Coffee had a decidedly Hawaiian atmosphere, from the names of the drinks to the interior décor, an unusual theme for this part of Canada. But the owners filled us in that the Bad Ass Coffee Company was a Hawaiian chain of coffee shops with franchises in other locations across North America and they’d bought into the franchise.
The owners even hired us and two of our mini donkeys for the Pitt Meadows Days Parade to promote their coffee shop.
Further up Harris Road, in the business section of Pitt Meadows, we discovered a coffee shop called Bad Ass Coffee. Nice place that also served light lunches and suppers, sandwich type fare mostly. In addition to a wide range of coffee drinks, they also served ice cream and desserts. The fun thing about this place was Friday nights live entertainment, usually a singer or two and their guitars playing cover music. We also enjoyed Sunday afternoons songwriter café where local musicians could showcase their own music.
Bad Ass Coffee had a decidedly Hawaiian atmosphere, from the names of the drinks to the interior décor, an unusual theme for this part of Canada. But the owners filled us in that the Bad Ass Coffee Company was a Hawaiian chain of coffee shops with franchises in other locations across North America and they’d bought into the franchise.
The owners even hired us and two of our mini donkeys for the Pitt Meadows Days Parade to promote their coffee shop.
One day we showed up and the name had changed to Café O Lei. The owners said they’d had enough of dealing with the franchise and decided to let that part of the business go, thus a new name. The Lei part of their name allowed that they didn’t have to make any changes to the interior décor.
Friday night music changed a bit to acts that we didn’t care for too much, but they really packed in the coffee shop by inviting all their friends. Slowly we began to choose other establishments for our Friday date nights. We couldn’t really blame the owners, they have to do what’s best for their business and unfortunately the musicians we liked the best who sang hits from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s just didn’t pack the house. Sadly most of the time we stopped in there would only be one or two other patrons. The coffee shop was never what I’d call booming with business.
And then we moved back to Cloverdale, ending our frequent visits to Café O Lei. We stopped in about a year ago when we happened to be in the area only to discover that our friends had sold the restaurant. The new owners had changed the hours, closing a couple of hours earlier. The restaurant still wasn’t busy.
A month ago we were in Pitt Meadows and stopped at the sushi place next to Café O Lei for dinner. Kerry got in before me because I’d slowed down to look at a notice on the door of the coffee shop. It was a sheriff’s notice that the doors were locked due to arrears on something....And here I can’t remember the actual dollar amount, but it was over $10,000.00.
Sadly another small business fails.
Friday night music changed a bit to acts that we didn’t care for too much, but they really packed in the coffee shop by inviting all their friends. Slowly we began to choose other establishments for our Friday date nights. We couldn’t really blame the owners, they have to do what’s best for their business and unfortunately the musicians we liked the best who sang hits from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s just didn’t pack the house. Sadly most of the time we stopped in there would only be one or two other patrons. The coffee shop was never what I’d call booming with business.
And then we moved back to Cloverdale, ending our frequent visits to Café O Lei. We stopped in about a year ago when we happened to be in the area only to discover that our friends had sold the restaurant. The new owners had changed the hours, closing a couple of hours earlier. The restaurant still wasn’t busy.
A month ago we were in Pitt Meadows and stopped at the sushi place next to Café O Lei for dinner. Kerry got in before me because I’d slowed down to look at a notice on the door of the coffee shop. It was a sheriff’s notice that the doors were locked due to arrears on something....And here I can’t remember the actual dollar amount, but it was over $10,000.00.
Sadly another small business fails.
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