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Family, Coffee & Science
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Business New Haven
8/5/2002
By:
Melissa Nicefaro
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It's kind of adventurous to open a sandwich, ice-cream or coffee shop. It's just as adventurous to open a children's educational toy store or birthday party facility. But what do we call someone who takes all these and melds them together in one business?
Definitely, adventurous.
About a year ago, Robert Powers of Woodbridge was working as an operations manager at the Windsor-based TransPro, an automotive after-market manufacturer. His wife, Charyn, worked from their home as a certified public accountant. Tired of corporate life and the travel involved, Powers left his job in July 2001. In September the couple found the location on the Boston Post Road in the Home Depot Plaza to fulfill their business dream. They signed the lease in February and opened the Discovery Café in June.
The idea was the easy part. Finding the location was a challenge.
“It was not easy to find a place because most [property owners] don't want to take a risk on a business that is not established,” Charyn Powers says. “They'd say, 'We want to see on paper another place just like the one you have an idea for, we'll travel to see it, but we need to see it.' We couldn't show them anything because there is nothing like this.”
The owners of the Orange property must have either had faith in the couple - or a hankering for a great cup of coffee.
Coffee beans come directly to Discovery Café from the roaster, the Jamaican Gourmet Coffee Co. of North Haven (BNH, January 21). The coffee shop offers hot coffee and tea, cappuccino, frozen coffee drinks, ice cream, hot dogs, sandwich wraps, salads, pastries and desserts. The toy shop is for all ages of children interested in scientific and educational games and toys.
“I was looking for a mix of family, coffee and science,” Rob Powers says. That explains the seven-foot golden mummy tomb. But how did a corporate guy and a CPA know how to make a sandwich wrap?
They didn't.
Before opening, Rob and Charyn hired a chef to come and teach them and their staff of 15 the how-tos of making sandwich wraps and salads. They also had someone from Hershey Ice Cream come in and teach them how to scoop and serve ice cream. That was after days of sampling different blends of coffee to make sure they got just the right house blend. Then they looked for the right blend of art and decorations, keeping in mind that they were appealing to a business crowd as well as children.
“We wanted a Starbuck's-type of comfortable atmosphere, but we wanted to go above and beyond,” explains Charyn Powers. Two conference-type rooms in the rear of Discovery Café are available for child-themed birthday parties or lecture programs. A clairvoyant recently lectured to a standing-room only crowd and 15 future speakers are scheduled. Speakers use the space free of charge. “We don't pay them and they don't pay us,” says Charyn Powers. Lectures are free to the public, if you can resist the treats available at the café.
“We were surprised at how fast the birthday party part of the business picked up,” Charyn Powers says. About a dozen different types of birthday parties are offered, including prince/princess, dinosaurs, space and jewelry making.
“As a CPA, this is a tougher business to break into than I anticipated. But little by little, we'll get there.”
The only advertising for the café is in the Amity Observer and Our Town newspapers. Mainly, the owners are relying on word-of-mouth.
“I know we're walking a fine line, but I tend to go down the road less traveled.”
This road less traveled so happens to be on one of Connecticut's most traveled roads.
“We've got to break into the business crowd,” Rob Powers says. “We have to break the habits of the people who stop at the same place every morning for their coffee.”
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