I Don’t Know About You But…

...I’m sick of constantly having to wait in line at Starbucks for my mediocre, over-iced and over-priced coffee.  I’ve also begun to feel a bit bad about always going to these corporate chains when I really should be supporting my smaller neighborhood businesses.  This morning for my routine coffee, I opted out of Starbucks and decided on going to the little vendor down the street, Sol Café.  Sol Café is owned by George Washington student, Simone, and it is operated by her fellow classmates.  They pride themselves on getting their coffee through free trade, as well supporting other local businesses like a French bakery where they get some of their pastries.  The stand itself has been in Foggy Bottom for about fifteen years but was only recently sold to Simone.  While I was talking with Simone, she said that she was sad when she first found out that the stand was for sale because she felt that Foggy Bottom and the George Washington community would be loosing one of their landmarks, a real “gem” as she called it. After some serious thought, she decided to buy it herself.  They have faced some legal issues with the school and the city but thankfully it is still standing and thriving today.

When I arrived at Sol Café, I placed my order with Nav, a sophomore, who began working at Sole this past semester.  She said that she loved working at a place with ethical business practices like free trade.  Customer and friend to Sol, Sam Borris, then walked up to get her regular coffee. She began telling me about her relationship with the place.  She said that she always tried to get her coffee there because it is “cheaper and better tasting than anywhere on campus”.  She even has hopes of working there next semester because she was friends with Simone.  I started to understand that there was a real network behind Sol Café.  I remembered instances throughout the past year when I would walk by it and see a regular crew sitting outside of it listening to music.  It began to represent more of a social hub, rather than a place to get a caffeine fix.  This was in accordance with Simone’s wishes, who said that she was disappointed by the way that she felt the coffee scene in Foggy Bottom was “sterile on the surface”.  She noted that people appeared to only get coffee as a way to get through the day, not as a way to have an enjoyable break with friends. 

I asked her if she had any plans to expand Sol Café and she said that as for an additional cart, probably not due to the extremely strict street vending laws that DC has, an issue I am sure Manouch faces as well.  One possibility that she has in the works is to team up with FoBoGro.  Simone is hoping to build a business relationship with them where Sol gets their coffee from FoBoGro, as well as possible advertising ventures.


Simone felt that one thing that was so great about Sol was that it was a way for students to help other students.  Sol helps the students by giving them great and cheap coffee, while its customers give back to the students by helping to support their business.  After listening to what Simone had so say about her coffee stand and how the customers felt about it I really felt that it was one of GW's "gems".  It was something that not only added to the community but really helped to bring it together.  It represents a lot more than just a fun, beginner business venture for a college student.




Please go check out Sol Café for yourself to see all that it has to offer! 

-JC


Check out Sol Café on Facebook:


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sol-Cafe/279644590050



Photos courtesy of Facebook.