Interlude Cafe
Donation protected
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our stories, here it is!
My name is Melody Kim, and I am opening a cafe in Tribeca with my brother Josh! Music has always played an important role in our lives, and we wanted to tie together our passions of music and coffee. We wanted to reference our backgrounds as musicians and named our cafe, Interlude - a place where you can pause from the interminable rush of life, a place to take a break and have a breather.
Most of my six years of college were filled with hours of monotonous practice. During that time, I found baking to be my interlude. Baking was my way to de-stress, and I would bake for my family, for my friends, for recital receptions at school. It was so enjoyable and therapeutic. An amazing opportunity turned up, and I went from baking as a hobby to working in a restaurant. I was baking at a much larger scale and it was a wonderful experience. I will never forget working the line during dinner service, churning out dessert after dessert, trying not to fall behind customers' demands. Following this, I took a break to focus on teaching piano.
This past summer, my brother reached out to me and asked if I would like to be his partner in opening a cafe. I was initially hesitant, but came to realize that this is what I have been preparing for all this time.
My name is Josh Kim. I came to New York 13 years ago to attend The Juilliard School for classical piano. It was in New York where I was exposed to a variety of independent cafes that didn’t exist in Orange County, where I had grown up. My eyes were opened - these coffees tasted radically different from the larger chains that I was familiar with and were of a high quality. After graduating, I moved back to California for some time and I was disappointed with the lack of coffee options around me. I was determined to learn how to make coffee at the level of quality that I had become used to in New York. I saved up my money to buy a home espresso machine and spent months and months learning about the craft of coffee by reading articles, watching videos online, and trying coffee from all the roasters I heard about.
After spending a couple years in California, I decided that I didn’t want to pursue a career in music after all. Unable to resist the energy and spirit of New York, I moved back and realized that I wanted the experience of working in an actual cafe and applied to all the best cafes that New York had to offer. I was fortunate to land a job at Joe Coffee Company. I quickly discovered that the energy and atmosphere of working in a cafe setting, learning to make high quality coffee, and building relationships really spoke to me. I was hungry to learn as much as I could and worked my way up from cashier to barista, to coffee educator, and finally to trainer. During this time, I accepted an opportunity to consult for a cafe called Spreadhouse and my role was to create the coffee program from the ground up. Spreadhouse had officially opened, and I was asked to stay on and be their General Manager. I left Joe in order to manage the day to day operations at Spreadhouse.
For a long time, I felt lost and struggled to find a new career for myself. I explored my interests in coffee, design, and business while simultaneously becoming increasingly fascinated with gastronomy and mixology. With such diverse interests, it was difficult to settle on one path until I came to the realization that a cafe could be the medium to incorporate all of my passions. Interlude is my attempt to reconcile all my interests and I hope to capture the best of all these trades into one business.
We spent many months walking all over New York in search of the perfect retail space and finally found a location in a beautiful landmarked building and charming neighborhood. Upon visiting the space, we immediately knew that it was the one and signed a lease at 145 Hudson Street - Tribeca.
It has now been eight months since we signed our names on the dotted line. New York City has not made it easy, and we have had so many delays thrown at us, and often for no fault of our own! We have learnt that there is so little in our control, and sometimes all we can do is wait. Although the waiting was tough, it gave us extra time to fine tune our business model, test recipes, hone our craft, and make important and thoughtful adjustments.
We've come to appreciate the pause and can now confidently say that it has been worth it! We are ready to pass our Interlude to you, in a more tangible way. We can't wait to give you that experience!
We had hoped that, by now, we would have had some income going towards our equipment payments, rent, and the last of the construction dues. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Thus, we would like to seek your help. Your financial support will go towards helping us with our payments, and provide us with some security from our unexpected delays.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for considering to support us.
Warmly,
Melody and Josh
My name is Melody Kim, and I am opening a cafe in Tribeca with my brother Josh! Music has always played an important role in our lives, and we wanted to tie together our passions of music and coffee. We wanted to reference our backgrounds as musicians and named our cafe, Interlude - a place where you can pause from the interminable rush of life, a place to take a break and have a breather.
Most of my six years of college were filled with hours of monotonous practice. During that time, I found baking to be my interlude. Baking was my way to de-stress, and I would bake for my family, for my friends, for recital receptions at school. It was so enjoyable and therapeutic. An amazing opportunity turned up, and I went from baking as a hobby to working in a restaurant. I was baking at a much larger scale and it was a wonderful experience. I will never forget working the line during dinner service, churning out dessert after dessert, trying not to fall behind customers' demands. Following this, I took a break to focus on teaching piano.
This past summer, my brother reached out to me and asked if I would like to be his partner in opening a cafe. I was initially hesitant, but came to realize that this is what I have been preparing for all this time.
My name is Josh Kim. I came to New York 13 years ago to attend The Juilliard School for classical piano. It was in New York where I was exposed to a variety of independent cafes that didn’t exist in Orange County, where I had grown up. My eyes were opened - these coffees tasted radically different from the larger chains that I was familiar with and were of a high quality. After graduating, I moved back to California for some time and I was disappointed with the lack of coffee options around me. I was determined to learn how to make coffee at the level of quality that I had become used to in New York. I saved up my money to buy a home espresso machine and spent months and months learning about the craft of coffee by reading articles, watching videos online, and trying coffee from all the roasters I heard about.
After spending a couple years in California, I decided that I didn’t want to pursue a career in music after all. Unable to resist the energy and spirit of New York, I moved back and realized that I wanted the experience of working in an actual cafe and applied to all the best cafes that New York had to offer. I was fortunate to land a job at Joe Coffee Company. I quickly discovered that the energy and atmosphere of working in a cafe setting, learning to make high quality coffee, and building relationships really spoke to me. I was hungry to learn as much as I could and worked my way up from cashier to barista, to coffee educator, and finally to trainer. During this time, I accepted an opportunity to consult for a cafe called Spreadhouse and my role was to create the coffee program from the ground up. Spreadhouse had officially opened, and I was asked to stay on and be their General Manager. I left Joe in order to manage the day to day operations at Spreadhouse.
For a long time, I felt lost and struggled to find a new career for myself. I explored my interests in coffee, design, and business while simultaneously becoming increasingly fascinated with gastronomy and mixology. With such diverse interests, it was difficult to settle on one path until I came to the realization that a cafe could be the medium to incorporate all of my passions. Interlude is my attempt to reconcile all my interests and I hope to capture the best of all these trades into one business.
We spent many months walking all over New York in search of the perfect retail space and finally found a location in a beautiful landmarked building and charming neighborhood. Upon visiting the space, we immediately knew that it was the one and signed a lease at 145 Hudson Street - Tribeca.
It has now been eight months since we signed our names on the dotted line. New York City has not made it easy, and we have had so many delays thrown at us, and often for no fault of our own! We have learnt that there is so little in our control, and sometimes all we can do is wait. Although the waiting was tough, it gave us extra time to fine tune our business model, test recipes, hone our craft, and make important and thoughtful adjustments.
We've come to appreciate the pause and can now confidently say that it has been worth it! We are ready to pass our Interlude to you, in a more tangible way. We can't wait to give you that experience!
We had hoped that, by now, we would have had some income going towards our equipment payments, rent, and the last of the construction dues. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Thus, we would like to seek your help. Your financial support will go towards helping us with our payments, and provide us with some security from our unexpected delays.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much for considering to support us.
Warmly,
Melody and Josh
Organizer and beneficiary
Melody Kim
Organizer
New York, NY
Josh Kim
Beneficiary
