The block of Bloor west of Yonge is one of the highest-end,
highest-traffic retails blocks in the nation. But other than The Spotted Dick,
the first block east of Yonge has traditionally home only to crickets and
tumbleweeds.
But Matthew Corrin is hoping to change that. The
entrepreneur behind Freshii (formerly Lettuce) has just signed an agreement
with Geoff Polci of Crema Coffee Co., less than two years old and already a Junction
staple. For all the freshness of its food and design template, Freshii is not a
destination restaurant. It's a place to go for lunch from the office. But
Crema, winner of Toronto's 2008 Krupp's best cafe award, has the potential to
draw clientele from across the great Yonge divide for its high-end, expertly
brewed cups. There's little non-chain competition in the area, which increases
the likelihood that a Freshii-Crema team-up might perk up the orphan block.
"It's tough to get into the core," says Polci, who'll have a
staff of two to start, and had been considering locations around Summerhill,
Richmond and Spadina. "This is a real opportunity. I'll be able to rent a small
footprint for a decent amount of money. The co-branding and shared space, I
think, is really the future of franchises and these kinds of businesses."
In addition to moving his $12,000 Clover machine to the new
location (one of only three Clovers installed in the city before Starbucks
bought the company and blocked future sales), Polci's bought a Mirage Idrocompresso, a lever-style espresso machine. Made in Naples and designed by
Dutch metalworker Kees Van der Westen (whose machines Mark Prince at
coffeegeek.com has declared the best in the world), Polci's a fan of its well
engineered extraction process, and says it'll be the only one of its kind in
the city.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Geoff Polci