Branching out with Generation Green’s Acorn Café
You can’t keep a squirrel on the ground.
There is one on the counter at the Acorn Café. His name is Nutz, he’s stuffed, and as the unofficial mascot of the café in Generation Green he’s a reminder of the coffee and lunch spot’s origins.
While Generation Green had a five-year history at The Forks before moving to 433 Main Street in 2017, the larger space provided an opportunity to include a café. Owner Sherry Sobey knew just who to put in charge.
Cue Lily Thrift. She had previous work experience in food service and also believed in the promise of a small café. “Generation Green is this oak tree that has grown to the point that a little acorn fell off. Our hope is to see it grow into its own great oak,” said Thrift.
The quote “from tiny acorns grow mighty oaks” is what Sherry often thinks of when reflecting on her business model.
“I told Lily to treat it as if it were her own business,” said Sobey, who believes in making room for people to pursue their interests and grow their strengths at work.
The café reflects Generation Green’s environmental ethos. A vegan café, it focuses on local produce and products including Eadha bread, Smack Dab mustard, and Fresh Forage microgreens, for example. They also work to reduce waste with responsible packaging and by finding a way to make use of everything, including vegetable scraps for soup stock.
The café began with a coffee menu and expanded to include smoothies, soups and salads. Lunch features were also added – including the popular vegan grilled cheese with cheese from Vegan Fromagerie. Bagels with cashew cream cheese and the café’s nourish bowls are among their most popular offerings. Wellness lattes, made with steamed soy, oat, and macadamia milk paired with superfoods like matcha green tea and E3 Live’s Blue Majik, a concentrated algae, have also established a following.
Family recipes serve as a starting point for most of the menu items, which are then further developed through inspiration and experimentation – one of Thrift’s favourite things to do. “It’s like making potions,” she said.
One of the biggest challenges is adding new items to the menu, while keeping the favourites people have come to expect. They also enjoy being of service to people who have special dietary needs. “We can help others with options,” she said. “Once people know we are a vegan café, they often look to us for other items such as gluten-free or sugar-free offerings.”
Thrift would like to include even more seasonal items, as well as having more products in addition to their No Chicken Noodle soup, vegan cheese and frozen vegan pizza dough packaged for take-away to make at home.
But for now, they are happy to be an acorn, with a small, close-knit ecologically-minded staff making a difference right where they’re planted.
All photos by Claudine Gervais
