The new
UP Café at 1901 traffic St. N.E. in Northeast Minneapolis is gearing up for its May 3 grand opening.
The café had a soft opening earlier this year in the building it shares with its parent company, the
Upper Midwest Gourmet Company, which distributes coffee and supplies to cafes across the region.
Over the past year, to make way for the cafe, the space that the company previously used as a showroom for products, including its
Flamenco Organic Coffee, went through an extensive remodeling process, according to Michael Applen, an accounts manager for the three businesses.
The showroom was an aging part of the industrial building. The company saw an opportunity to turn it into a “state-of-the-art café with everything that we sell,” Applen says. The idea was that the artisan café would also serve as a training facility, to model coffee “being brewed correctly,” in real circumstances, he adds.
The project invovled a total overhauling of the space, with new floors and larger windows put in. The dropped ceiling and carpet were removed. “Everything was updated,” says Applen. The bright yellow walls, natural light and higher ceiling “opens up the space a lot,” while one can also peer into the roastery.
In the coming months, the café plans to add outdoor seating and a garden for growing vegetables and herbs.
A local potter,
Joel Cherrico, supplied the coffee shop with handcrafted serving dishes,
UP Café is a “third-wave” coffeehouse that focuses on where the coffee comes from, Applen says. “We have direct relationships with the growers,” as evidenced by the photos from the company’s trips abroad, which are mounted on the café walls. The company roasts only small batches of coffee at a time. “We don’t let it sit on the shelf and go bad,” says Applen.
In an area where high-quality food options are limited, “We hope it gives people a healthier local option,” he says.
Source: Michael Applen, accounts manager for Upper Midwest Gourmet Company, UP Café and the Flamenco Organic Coffee Company
Writer: Anna Pratt