Residential Cafe a Noble Experiment
Coffee Talk Magazine
Visit the digital version of the April 2011 issue (See Page 13)
Residential Café a Noble Experiment, by Dan Bolton
Dimitri Thompson does nothing half way. His Noble Café opens in May in a 248-unit luxury condominium high-rise in one of Oakland’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
“It is the first zero percent carbon footprint, fully
sustainably built café in the USA (and, we think, the world),” Thompson says proudly. Everything in the shop from furniture and appliances to the
walls and ceilings, floor, paint and counters -- even the food, energy and water is sourced for its sustainable characteristics.
The menu is almost entirely certified organic (sourced within 200 miles)
expendables will be recycled and food scraps will be composted. The building
is awaiting LEED™ certification. The 2,000 sq. ft. shop has 900 sq. ft. of
counter and work area. Interior landscaping has a sustainable concrete floor
seating area with a bamboo floor in the retail area and bamboo walls. A fountain outside the 1,100 sq. ft. seating area is the centerpiece of a living forest whose trees will be nurtured and transplanted when they outgrow the shop.
The appliances are water saving, Energy-Star certified. The shop’s Astoria
multi-boiler espresso machine is the first to incorporate highly sophisticated
stand-by software and precise temperature settings that save up to 47 percent
energy.
His roasters are part of the Green Coffee Alliance and both Blue Bottle and
Rishi Tea are Fair Trade and certified organic. There are no plastic bags permitted and Styrofoam is outlawed in the Bay Area. Napkins and utensils are
compostable in 60-90 days. Noble’s signs are solar powered and electricity will
be purchased exclusively from green sources. Thompson pledges a minimum
$250 a month to “green” resources in the San Francisco Bay.
How is he paying for all this you ask?
“Everyone has the impression that green is expensive,” says Thompson,
but they overlook some unique aspects. He kept build out expense under
$190,000 and received six months free rent from the condominium developers.
The City of Oakland, consistently named one of the nation’s top 10
green cities, awarded a $10 per sq. ft. grant for area development and $8 per
sq. ft. from their Green Business Fund for a total of $40,000. In addition his
zero carbon credentials helped him qualify for favorable financing on $15,000
borrowed from a “green” lender and Noble earned a $3,500 credit from
Stopwaste.org for garbage bins and educating employees on sustainable practices. “This $58,500 would not be available if Noble wasn’t a “green” concept,” says Thompson. “I’m not in business just to be green,” he says, “The demographic here demands it.” Customers are well educated, under 45 and affluent. “A study by Cornell University showed half of this segment is willing to pay up to 14 percent more. They want us to use this money to give something back,” he says. Meeting space is available free to non-profits and charities. Every two months Noble Café LLC will print a “Walk the Talk Passport” listing energy savings, contributions, carbon offsets and donations, says Thompson.
The concept of a residential café that offers high-end hotel-like room service
coffee for tenants is important enough for the developer to offer significant
incentives during build out, says Thompson. “The café’s relaxing spa-like
environment is a place where residents can sit down for a relaxing beverage
or light meal and listen to music,” he says. Every unit gets a menu and special
concessions on catering. According to Thompson, the shop is an integral
part of the luxury experience that defines “The Grand” and, if successful, will
be incorporated in several other residential complexes owned by the Essex
Property Trust.
When the shop opens on World Green Day, Thompson is confident of its success. He cites this observation by Wolfgang Von Goethe in this literature: “A
noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.”