According to a Block Club Chicago article, the owners of The Eco Flamingo will soon debut The Eco Cafe at 4756 N Rockwell Street.
“Our goal opening date is dependent on how soon our inspections can get done, but we are hoping for early March. We will be making our own oat milk, and will have coffee and tea options. We will offer drip and french press coffee, cold brew, and kombucha on tap. We won’t have an espresso option though,” co-owner Bethany Barbouti told What Now Chicago.
“There will be 5-7 types of kombucha at any time on tap, and 1-2 types of cold brew on tap as well. Our tea will come from a couple of different vendors. Volition Tea is one vender, where their tea comes from small-scale farmers they have direct relationships with. They have some of the highest quality tea you can get!”
“Spirit Tea will be another one of our tea vendors who also has strong relationships with farmers and have a wide range of tea options. Tiesta will have a wide variety of tea too, that’s high quality but also a more budget friendly option. Our team will provide a tea experience option, and we’re currently being trained on that. We’re very excited.”
“Another beverage option we will have is Filbert’s Soda. For our food options, we have a menu of light bites, all made by local vendors. We essentially describe our menu options as an American, Mexican, Middle Eastern fusion. Some of the options will be vegan tamales and empanadas from Aztec Vegan Kitchen, vegan quiche brownies and muffins from another local vendor, and more.”
“Something we’re really excited about is to start our bulk refill deli section. We will start off small and grow with time, but will be providing the option to buy hummus by the ounce, yogurt by the ounce, cheese wheels that are local by the ounce, vegan cheese by the ounce, and potentially mushrooms by the ounce.”
“We’re still working on this, but we’re also excited to provide a super fancy peanut butter and jelly sandwich option. Our bread will be provided by a local company, Nourish, who uses all ancient grains in the loaves.”
“The bread will be sold individually and be used in the plates. A lot of the menu options will evolve over time after we start seeing more of what people want, but we will be keeping some staple items.”
“We will not have any disposable carry-out cups or containers, so customers can bring their own, buy from us, or rent from us. We are using Forever Ware for the renting option, which has an amazing program.”
“For aesthetics, the cafe has ceiling tiles that were created from repurposed burlap coffee bags. Within the burlap coffee bags are interspersed pieces from 8 to 10 different artists who created ceiling tiles using repurposed materials. The cafe will have a map of the artists, their pieces, and a portion to learn more about that. Any artists that feel inspired are welcome to create a tile, just feel free to ask them about it!
“The Eco Cafe is essentially an extension of the store. Our neighbor business that was next to the general store was moving out of state with her business, so the space opened up. She let us know that ahead of time, and we needed more storage, so we took the opportunity.”
“Aside from storage needs, we had this big, beautiful, open part of the space, and we spent some time deciding what to do with it. We started with running events in that space, and as we saved up and had more time to figure out what we wanted to do, we settled on a sustainable cafe. We felt like it would be right for the neighborhood, and our operations.”
“We will still be hosting workshops and events within the cafe, so, we also consider this a community space. Our workshops and events are all related to sustainability and self-sufficiency. One example of events we have previously held were artists renting out the space for a gallery showing. Every month, we have a community social, which is typically on the 3rd of every month.”
“We have guest speakers from the Chicago area come to talk about sustainability and self-sufficiency topics. Sometimes the topics will be outside of that and more around the community and ward. Our next event is in two weeks and we will have a speaker to talk about the ward and topics within that. Events are around the community as a whole, essentially.”
“The cafe space will also have a book section, including but not limited to a “take a book, leave a book” section. We also will have a small herbal apothecary section all made by a local herbalist, DM Apothecary.”
“We encourage customers to use the cafe as a co-working space. We want it to be an opportunity for people to relax in an environmentally responsible space.”
