Saturday, October 11, 2008

Beyu Caffe is featured in the Herald Sun

Looks like Beyu Caffe received a little PR attention!!! Big Thanks to Monica Chen for putting us in her weekly buzz column.

Please check out the Herald Sun article below, and thanks for all your support!
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Buzz: Donuts, followed by coffee, of course

Oct 11, 2008

Dunkin' update: Driving by the brand new Hope Valley Commons shopping
center the other day, Buzz noticed that the Dunkin' Donuts there has
its sign up, but is still in the midst of construction inside.

After checking in with Pete Turner, the local franchise owner, Buzz
found out the Dunkin' is nowhere near completion for this month.

Turner, who also opened the popular Dunkin' spot at Pavilion East on
Erwin Road, said opening is tentatively set for late November/early
December.

Until then, doughnuts lovers, the new Harris Teeter in the shopping
center is fully stocked.

Coffee with passion: A European-style coffee house could be opening
within the downtown loop by the spring, just in time for coffee lovers
to grab a croissant and sip on a creamy café au lait in the warm
sunshine.

That is, if Duke University alum Dorian Bolden will have anything to do with it.

Bolden, a financial adviser turned barista turned hopeful café-owner,
said this week that he is still working on signing a lease but
confirmed he is working on opening Beyú Café in the downtown loop.

Bolden also emphasized that it will be a European-style coffeehouse
that serves waffles, crepes, sandwiches, soup and dinner appetizers at
night.

"We really want to focus on the tradition of coffee, the way people
look at wine," he said.

Bolden has an interesting back story. After graduating from Duke in
2002, he said he was "hedonistic" and just wanted to make as much
money as he could.

So Bolden was in New York as a senior financial adviser for two years,
until in 2004, when two momentous events occurred in his life: His
company merged with another, and his father passed away.

"It made me realize that my life isn't guaranteed tomorrow," he said
Wednesday. "And you don't have all the security that I grew up
thinking of with corporations. I think at that time, entrepreneurship
was born in me."

Bolden hopes to model his café after Café Intermezzo in Atlanta, where
he said he felt most like himself.

"Every time I went there, it was the one place ... I could escape and
relax and be myself," Bolden said. "So 'be yourself' turned into
'Beyú.'"

That's pronounced exactly like "be you," and is just a word that
Bolden made up, accent and all.

Bolden subsequently left his job in New York, moved to North Carolina
to be with his girlfriend (now wife), and worked various jobs at local
eateries as a barista, bartender and even cashier at Panera Bread.
Along the way, he gained enough experience, he said, to feel
comfortable finally with opening his own place.

"It's been a great ride. I always believe in doing it right the first
time. We have a mantra: Without passion, it's just coffee," he said.

The café's Web site, www.beyucaffe.com, will be launched sometime
later this month.

For more information about Beyú or to share ideas on the menu, contact
Dorian at info@beyucaffe.com.

I'll be back: Buzz will be on holiday for two weeks and will return Oct. 25.

What's the Buzz? Call business writer Monica Chen at (919) 419-6636,
send a fax to (919) 419-6837 or e-mail mchen@heraldsun.com.