Youth-run coffee shop in Faro, Yukon to get its own space with purchase of trailer

Faro, Yukon's youth-run coffee shop, the Kettle Cafe, will soon have its own space.

The Faro KettleCafe, a product of the local high school's entrepreneurship class, has received a $75,000 grant from the territorial Community Development Fund which will go towardthe purchase of a trailer that the will become a mobile cafe.

Monica Kazda, who will soon enterGrade 10, has been involved with the cafe this past year.

She's excited about the trailer because of the possibilities.

"I'm really excited about it because with the trailer we can be a lot more mobile, maybe even go to Whitehorse and stuff for festivals since that would help a lot," she said.

Kazda has lived in Faro her whole life and said that through the work she's learned how to make coffees, handle cash and help customers at the register.

"I just really like the cafe here in Faro and I really like seeing how the cafe helps the community get together over some nice coffee," she said.

Increased opening hours

The Faro Kettle Cafe, which first opened in 2010,operates out of the Faro Recreation Centre. The youth who work there are volunteers,and proceeds from the cafe go towardyouth programming.

For the Kettle to have a consistent space, independent of the rec centre's schedule, will allow it to be open longer and for more days of the year. Ultimately, this will provide more opportunities for youth to learn and practice business skills, said Tina Freake, the community's recreation manager.

"One of the [obstacles] ... we were facing was in terms of having a regular designated space to run the coffee shop out of," she said.

The trailer will also allow for a mobile coffee shop that can travel to places such as Ross River, Yukon.

Youth are involved in everything from ordering inventory to setting prices, making business plans, community outreach and to welcoming tourists.

The new development, Freake said, "will contribute to a lot."

Sustainability prioritized

Camille Unrau, was part of the class that started the cafe more than a decade ago.

"Basically the whole high school took [the entrepreneurship class] ... and our teacher sat us down and asked us, what kind of business would you start if you were to ever start a business?" she said.

Unrau said it was an incredible opportunity for her and her peers to take what they had been talking about a lot at the time, sustainability, and design a coffee shop around that.

The cafe uses everything from fair trade coffee to compostable cups and utensils.

"All those little things," Unrau said, "we pass those on to the next generation after us."

The Kettle is now an important part of Faro's history, she said, especially because so many people helped bring it to life, even as it changed, and different people got involved.

For a lot of the youth, Unrau said, the coffee shop is their first job where they learn not just how to make hot drinks but also how to manage money.

The cafe hopes to acquire the trailer this fall.