Caffe Vita

A community enterprise

You may think of Caffe Vita as just another Seattle coffee company, but there's more to the story. Many of Vita's competitors have sold to larger companies. Why have Mike and Liz McConnell kept Vita? That answer has a lot to do with how they feel about their community.

Mike started Vita in 1995. "Vita was my first real business and is still my main business. It's my passion. It has become a catalyst to invest in the community and people." There are currently 11 Caffe Vitas (including two in Portland, one in LA with a second coming soon, and one in New York). Via Tribunali, a Neopolitan pizza restaurant, opened on Capitol Hill in 2004. "Tribunali was an obsession; I opened it for selfish reasons. I'd been going to Italy for ten years and fell in love with southern Italian food. Pizza like that didn't exist here." Trib marks its tenth anniversary in 2014; there are now four Seattle locations, one in New York, and one in Portland.

It's no surprise that when you're successful, additional opportunities come to you. "People I partner with are friends, customers or employees," Mike explains. "I've had a lot of help from some really great people. Vita's success allows me to help others." The list of places he's involved with is lengthy: Bourbon & Bones, Cornuto Pizzeria, Wandering Goose, Pizzeria 22, Hitchcock, Hitchcock Deli, Solea Foods, Seattle Boxing Gym, Capitol Hill Block Party, Neumos/Moe Bar/Fish Fry/Barboza, Li'l Woody's, Big Mario's New York Style Pizza, Batch 206.

"Brendan McGill of Hitchcock was a chef at Cremant, then went to Trib. He had a dream, and we were part of that. He's now going to open a second Hitchcock Deli. Heather Earnhardt approached us after leaving Volunteer Park Café. We'd also been talking with Ethan Stowell about leasing a location and it worked for him to put Rione XIII on one side, and have Heather go into the other side. Mike Law is a friend of Heather's; he helped open Wandering Goose. We were impressed with him so when he approached us about doing a place with smoked meats, fried chicken, and whiskey, we partnered on Bourbon & Bones. He still works at Wandering Goose; it's all one big family. Cary Kemp is a friend who used to tour with Neil Young, and we went to Naples together. He now has Pizzeria 22 in West Seattle. Batch 206 was started by Jeff Steichen, formerly of the Show Box; we've been friends for 20 years. Li'l Woody's is run by Marcus Lalario. Liz grew up with him. We're not hands on with this, it is run by Marcus. Valentine Arbune worked at Trib and is now a partner at Cornuto. Neumos houses Pike Street Fish Fry, Moe Bar, and a new music venue Barboza. Mike Meckling, Jason Lajeunesse, and Steven Severin handle the day-to-day operations. Jerry Everard is another partner in that business. Michael Hebb and Jerry Everard started Fish Fry with me; Michael left to do other concepts. We have Solea Foods, our import and distribution company. We import flour, olive oil, and tomatoes for our use and sell to about 25-30 other restaurants. Vito Montanarelli works with Solea to bring in wines; mostly Italian, but also French and Spanish. He used to work for Peter Lamb who was one of our first two Vita customers, along with Matt Vaughan of Easy Street Records." Mike also designed the interior of Big Mario's, Bourbon & Bones, and every Caffe Vita and Via Tribunali.

On the non-restaurant side of things, they purchased the Seattle Boxing Gym from Carla Wilcox. "She had this gym on Capitol Hill for 25 years. We worked out there. After a car accident about three years ago, she was going to close it. It's a staple of the Capitol Hill community, so we wanted to keep it alive. A lot of business owners on Capitol Hill work out there and all Vita employees can go there for free. When we look at how we want to grow, we identify employees who have worked hard and help them become business owners. Ownership makes a difference. By having partners run businesses, we can focus on things that are important to us like our health and spending time with people who are important to us."

Tribunali pizza

Both Liz and Mike grew up in Seattle, Liz on Capitol Hill. "We love calling this home," she says. "We want to do all we can to make it better. Vita has more resources, revenue and people, so that's where our giving comes from. We give about $200,000 a year to local Seattle charities, nearly 100 organizations." Some are direct donations, and some come from a percentage of coffee sales, created for that purpose, like 12,000 Rain Gardens, a coffee that helps raise money to create 12,000 rain gardens in King County by 2016. There are events like Feast on the Farm, raising money for local farms and awareness of environmental stewardship.

They're involved in the music scene with Vita Records, an incubator helping musicians get to the next level, like Iska Dhaaf, and Tilson XOXO. They're also part of the Capitol Hill Block Party, three days in July on south Capitol Hill, six stages of musicians, and proceeds to The Vera Project which fosters learning through participation in music concerts (audio engineering, visual arts exhibits, leadership training, music recording, and more). They work with MusiCares, part of the Grammys, and The Governor's Ball in New York.

Perhaps the next project is with Peter Lamb. They've purchased the old Panos Kleftikos on lower Queen Anne and are planning something Italian with a bar component. "It will be a small, neighborhood spot, happening sometime in 2014. It's not the top of the priority list at this moment," says Liz.

"Our roles change daily, but we're evolving them to focus more on Vita and empower and invest in our people," says Mike. "Without Vita, we couldn't do the things we do. It's a huge blessing and the heart and soul of our company. We have a large family to take care of (approximately 300 employees) and want to continue to put the right people in the right place."

www.caffevita.com

www.viatribunali.net

Connie Adams/April 2014