On Saturday, the Civic Media Center will be welcoming an old friend: the worker-run collective Rad Press Cafe.
Rad Press Cafe, formerly known as Radical Press Coffee Collective, is returning from a five-month hiatus. Radical Press Coffee originally opened in April 2013 in the Civic Media Center, an alternative library that carries independent media.
A lack of collective members and involvement was the reason Radical Press Coffee closed in October 2014, said Kenzie Cooke, coordinator of the Civic Media Center and a founding member of Rad Press Cafe.
They took the time to reorganize their menu and re-evaluate how their business is run, said Emily Spar, one of the founding collective members. An hourly wage was also established to better support their workers and business.
The coffee shop is also adding to its menu.
In an effort to provide faster service to customers, Rad Press Cafe will now be offering drip coffee, Cooke said. A cup of drip coffee will cost $2.50, and a double shot of espresso is also $2.50. Lattes are $4, and cappuccinos are $3.25.
There will also be sandwiches, pastries, and other prepared foods and drinks.
Feedback from customers has also led to the addition of local dairy milk, Spar said. Although Rad Press Cafe is vegan, they chose to offer it in order to compromise with customer requests while also sticking to their mission of minimizing harm to the environment.
“We’re looking forward to offering the community more of what they want,” Spar said.
Anthony Rue, the owner of Volta Coffee, Tea & Chocolate, said he isn’t worried about the competition with Rad Press Cafe.
“The more people that do coffee,” he said, “the more people that become familiar with what we do.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 4/3/2015 under the headline “Coffee shop reopens after 5-month hiatus”]
