The Herald Sun Announces Our New Home

A big thank you goes out to Ms. Monica Chen with the Herald Sun for reporting an update on Beyu Caffe. Feel free to check the article out directly from the Herald Sun, or you can simply read the article below.

We are almost there! A couple of months to go before we are all toasting a glass of champagne in celebration of a new coffeehouse in downtown Durham.
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After Search, Beyu Caffe Finds a Home in the Snow Building

BY MONICA CHEN : The Herald-Sun
mchen@heraldsun.com

DURHAM -- The 3,000 square feet inside the Snow Building's first floor is just a shell.

Bare floors, exposed columns and piping fill the empty space, but Dorian Bolden can already see Beyú Caffé alive inside, filled with people, conversation and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

"It's going to look great. It's going to feel great," he said.

Bolden has been working towards opening his coffeehouse/jazz lounge for more than a year. At the start of 2009, he secured financial backing. Now, months later, he has finally signed a lease for a location and done substantial work on the design of the café.

The décor will have an Art Deco theme that's in perfect keeping with the history of the Snow Building, a distinctive building in the city center that was built in 1933 -- featuring a Gothic roofline and a manually operated elevator.

The café, located at 335 W. Main St. off to the side of the building's main entrance, will have 80 seats, tile flooring and soft seating, with a retail component directly in front of the entranceway and the dining and bar off to the right. Space for musicians and poetry readings will be to the right and front of the restaurant.

Alicia Hylton-Daniel, an interior designer with HagerSmith Design in Raleigh, has picked teal, yellow and burgundy as the color scheme, offering a dark and rich contrast to the stark white and neutrals of Revolution restaurant and the fresh minty green of Toast.

The space had been a furniture store and then a bagel shop, and Hylton-Daniel, a Durham resident who has had her eye on the Snow Building's Gothic look for some time, said she jumped at the chance to work on the space.

"Beyú will be its own unique spot," she said.

Signing a lease and beginning the design and construction of the space was the second big hurdle toward opening the restaurant, Bolden said. The first is raising the capital, which was $500,000 for Beyú. The third milestone will be to finally see it become profitable.

Beyú started as a dream for Bolden when he was working in financial services in New York in 2004. In the past five years, he has quit the banking industry, gotten his hands dirty working at various cafés and eateries in New York and Durham and finished a business plan.

In 2008, he began working on putting the business together full-time. So far, the business has already achieved some successes, including setting up a Web site (www.beyucaffe.com) and snagging the title of the official coffee of the Durham Performing Arts Center recently.

Bolden kicked off the design process in May and signed the lease later in the month. Construction is expected to begin this month, with an eye toward opening in mid-September. Hiring won't start until later, and Bolden said he expects the upfitting to cost $75-$80 per square foot.

He picked the Snow Building space partly because it was more financially feasible than other locations, and partly because of its proximity to Five Points and West Village.

"All those factors made this building stand out," Bolden said. "It would be able to capture more foot traffic."

Bolden had gotten in touch with Duane Marks, one of the developers of the Snow Building, through Duke University alumni connections.

Carey Greene, another partner on the building, acknowledged that restaurants are usually risky ventures and expensive to build out, but that Beyú was in keeping with the long-term vision for the space.

"The long-term vision had always been to have some kind of a retail business down there," he said. "It's going to put the building on the map more than it is right now."

Bolden said that picking the right team to work on the design was a critical element. Working with HagerSmith Design and Burke Design Group, both of Raleigh, Bolden's team includes engineer Ben Burke, decorator Hylton-Daniel, LEED-certified architect David Black and Barbara Bennett, a food service consultant.

Having Bennett on board helped a great deal, Bolden said, because she knew how to design the kitchen for maximum efficiency.

"If you don't have an efficient kitchen, you won't be able to succeed," Bolden said.

"I'm not a chef, but I like to think I'm a gifted businessperson," he added. "We wanted to make sure we don't get so encompassed in the design that we forget about the kitchen."

Bolden hopes to open the restaurant by mid-September.

"The day I can sit back is the day when I can say that we've broken even, paid back the investors and loans and seen it really become a community coffeehouse," Bolden said.

That third milestone will take a while in coming. Hopefully, Bolden said, they'll be able to break even two years from opening.

Putting a Vision on Paper

After meeting with several great architects, I have chosen to work with HagerSmith Design PA out of Raleigh, NC, as the company’s architectural and design firm. I will be working with Alicia Hylton-Daniel, Interior Designer and Durham resident, as the primary project manager and designer, in addition to Barbara Bennett, Food Service Consultant/Restaurant Designer, and David Black, Architect and LEED certified. I believe this three-person team will provide a great value for our concept and operations by specializing in both restaurant design and interior finishes. Together, they bring over 35 years of experience in restaurant and architectural design with interior finishes.

Together, we are finalizing the design phase of the project whereby I will receive full construction documents in a few weeks. Over the past 3 weeks, we have finalized our kitchen equipment list and overall floor plan, which includes the specific layout of our new space (i.e. kitchen and equipment, coffee and bar area, restrooms, seating area, etc.). Now we are working with an engineer to include the plumbing, mechanical, and electrical aspects of the restaurant so that we can bid the project to a contractor, and begin permitting with the city of Durham. Permitting will take approximately 2-3 weeks, and we anticipate starting construction by mid-July. We have 3 to 4 different contractors whom we will bid our project to.

The above photo is a visual rendering of our proposed concept standing at the right-side front entrance of the building. Now we simply have to implement this visual rendering into a physical space!

After Wall Street, Alum finds drive in coffee biz (Duke University Chronicle Newspaper)

By: Julius Jones

When Dorian Bolden, Trinity '02, graduated from Duke, his future seemed promising. Degree in tow, Bolden headed to Wall Street and started his dream job at Bank of America, working in investment banking.

For two years, Bolden, the kid from the ATL, was living the life. Everything was great until a pair of unforeseen events in 2004-the death of his father and a merger by his employer-triggered a series of events that have led him back to the Bull City. Bolden left Wall Street and spent three years working in coffee houses and restaurants, hoping to find his passion instead of simply a career.

Bolden has returned to Durham ready to fulfill his dream of owning a coffee shop, Beyu Caffe. The "Caffe" shop, which will be located on Main Street, has a target opening date of September.

"After my father died and with everything that was going on at work, I was going through a rough period," Bolden said, reflecting on the origin of the shop's name. "When I was deciding what I wanted to do moving forward, my roommates would come to me and say 'be yourself' or 'be you,' so that is where the name comes from."

He added that the name is also his special homage to coffee and to the love of espresso he gained at an Italian coffee shop in New York City, called Si Caffe or "Yes Coffee."

Bill Kalkhof, president of Downtown Durham, Inc., said Beyu Caffe will join a long list of business and entertainment options downtown.

Both Kalkhof and Bolden said they hope Beyu Caffe will encourage students to come downtown and become more familiar with the city in which they live.

"With Beyu Caffe we are creating an atmosphere that we hope that Duke students will find attractive and exciting to come to," Kalkhof said. "You couldn't have said that seven years ago but you can say that now."

Bolden came back to Durham in 2005 because his girlfriend, now his wife, was in the city studying medicine. Originally, Bolden planned to move back to his home in Atlanta, but as he began doing research for his business proposal, he realized that Durham was the perfect place.

Even before returning to Durham, Bolden was confident he wanted to go into business for himself after watching his mentors at Bank of America, who were laid off as a result of the merger, begin their own businesses.

For three years, Bolden jumped from job to job, working everywhere from a coffee shop to a French restaurant, of which he became manager and learned the intricacies of running a restaurant. Along with the skills he had gained, Bolden's background in finance helped him in raising capital.

Bolden credits his Duke education, however, with increasing his management skills and discipline.

"It's so amazing how my Duke education prepared me for opening my business," Bolden said. "You never really realize how balancing school and organizations and working late into the night will help you as you try to manage your life."

Bolden said his Duke experience, however, left him unfamiliar with the city he now calls home.

"I did not see myself ever coming back to Durham," he recalled. "At Duke, we don't normally venture out into Durham. We might go to Ninth Street or Brightleaf [Square] on the other side, we might go to Erwin [Road], but that's about as far as we go."

The multicultural nature of Durham appealed to Bolden, who attended an all-black high school. Disappointed by the culture at Duke where students too often did not interact with their peers from differernt backgrounds, Bolden wanted to create a place where you, his customer, can be yourself-or Beyu.

Our New Home

On May 21, 2009 Beyú Caffé officially signed a lease to occupy 335 West Main Street, the historic Snow Building. The Snow building was built in 1933 and is considered to be an excellent location in the heart of downtown Durham, also commonly known as “five-points” due to the crossings of Main Street, Chapel Hill Street, and Morris Street.

The most pertinent question is, When Do We Open? As it currently stands, we have a projected “soft” opening date in the month of September, with our Grand Opening following 1 to 2 weeks after successful training. The next immediate obstacles we face deal with (1) the completion of our construction documents over the next 2-3 weeks, (2) bidding our project out to multiple construction companies and selecting a General Contractor to build Beyú Caffé, and (3) moving through the permitting process whereby we get approval from the city of Durham to build our coffeehouse, followed by a final inspection. We anticipate starting demolition and construction by mid-July.

The Official Coffee of DPAC

I am proud and honored to announce that in April, Beyú Caffé secured a partnership with the Durham Performing Arts Center as its Official Coffee provider. As a vendor and the official coffee provider of DPAC, the facility currently purchases and serves our signature blend, Heart & Soul, at the concession stands during performances and private functions. Each coffee sleeve attached to a cup of coffee proudly displays our company’s logo and the slogan, “Official Coffee of [DPAC logo]” underneath. This relationship provides excellent exposure as we continue to build our company’s brand throughout the downtown Durham and surrounding areas.

Needing to see how our coffee was served at DPAC, I decided to take my wife to the India Arie and KEM concert on Mother's Day to celebrate our new addition to the family this summer (it's a girl). First, Laura Izibor and Kem gave an AMAZING performance, but it was equally great to taste a great cup of coffee at DPAC that night (and I don't think I was biased). Maintaining a premium quality product is essential, and it's rewarding to know that our affiliation with DPAC reflects our level of high standards. My wife and I had a beautiful time that evening at DPAC; and if you love coffee, grabbing a cup of Heart & Soul will only enhance your DPAC experience.

Beyu Caffe's ongoing marketing efforts and partnership with the Durham Performing Arts Center will be instrumental with pushing its retail been business. The company looks to begin our monthly subscription service this summer. We are truly thankful to our customers who have supported our ongoing efforts.

Speaking at the Durham School of the Arts

You may remember that community service is an important aspect of our business model in order to be a good citizen in the Durham community. On March 17, 2009, Ms. Debora Surbrook, a teacher at the Durham School of the Arts, invited me to speak to her entrepreneurship class in hopes of providing both encouragement and practical knowledge to be an entrepreneur. It was a great event filled with energetic students who had lots of great questions and ideas!

I think the highlight of the day came when I asked them, "what is the most important thing an entrepreneur must have to be successful?" The students gave many good answers ranging from dedication, patience, work ethics, etc. But they seemed a bit surprised that I wouldn't agree to any of the 10+ answers they kept throwing at me. Finally they seemed to be growing somewhat annoyed by my disagreeing with them, so I told them about the importance of Passion. From every happy and successful entrepreneur ranging from Donald Trump to Oprah, from Bill Gates to any local entrepreneur in Durham, you will generally hear them all say the same thing: Do What You Love! I've learned that it is love and passion for what you're doing that will get you through the dark and tough times.

What's funny is that seeing aspiring entrepreneurs in high school is equally rewarding and inspirational to me. Not to mention it serves as a reminder that there is a younger generation of entrepreneurs just behind me, and they too are as energetic and passionate about their dreams. I simply enjoy being around dreamers who see the world as "what if..." and "why not...".

Thank YOU Ms. Surbrook's class for keeping me going!

Beyu Caffe on National Public Radio

I just wanted to share the positive news about me (Beyu Caffe) being featured on National Public Radio's popular show, The State of Things with host Frank Stasio. You can access the audio file to listen to the show on NPR's website. However, just know they saved the best for last so I am interviewed towards the end of the broadcast (smile).

Sip Local Segment:

The Triangle's robust eat-local scene with its markets, grocers and farm-to-table restaurants means thoughtful consumers can know where their food is coming from. But what about their drinks? Is it possible to "sip local" when you're enjoying coffee, wine, tea or beer? Host Frank Stasio talks to Lex Alexander, founder of Wellspring Grocery and owner of 3Cups, about the past and future of the local-food movement in the Triangle. We'll also meet Dorian Bolden, a young, Durham-based coffee shop entrepreneur; Margo Knight-Metzger, head of the N.C. Wine and Grape Council; and Sean Wilson, a North Carolina brewer who successfully led the Pop the Cap movement to loosen state laws regulating beer.

Coffeehouse Cool: Live Jazz & Poetry

On February 27th, Beyú Caffé hosted a poetry and jazz event at the Mary Lou Williams Center on the campus of Duke University. Our goal was to provide a brief preview of future poetry and jazz performances after we open. The event was a great success, bringing in over 70 persons throughout the evening to enjoy spoken word, live jazz music, and gourmet desserts and pastries. The company would like to thank those partners who were able to make it out to the event.
We are very appreciative to the following companies and organizations for sponsoring Coffeehouse Cool:

• Duke University's Mary Lou Williams Center
• Neural 9 Studios
• Marketing Depot USA
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Amazing Poets: Dasan, Jamilla, and Elliott
• Featured Jazz Artist: Joey Squire & Band
  

Front Cover of the Herald Sun

Beyu Caffe was recently featured as the cover story for the Herald Sun on February 7, 2009 by reporter, Monica Chen. The featured article was the first of an occasional series of stories following the entrepreneurship process of starting a business. The story generated a lot of great buzz around Durham and increased traffic to the company's website.

The link to the story has expired, but you can check out both articles below:

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Saturday, February 7, 2009
"Following his dream, one bean at a time: Entrepreneur unfazed by economy"

Dorian Bolden could hardly envision what he was going to become when he graduated from Duke University.
In 2002, the alum was heading to New York to work as a financial adviser for Bank of America. Back then, according to Bolden, “to obtain monetary possessions was the only important thing in [his] life.”
But fast-forward to 2009, and Bolden’s days are filled with roasting and packing his own coffee, meeting with investors and going over marketing materials — all the footwork necessary in pursuit of his big dream. By this spring or summer, 28-year-old Bolden hopes to open Beyú Caffé — pronounced Be- You — a coffeehouse and jazz lounge.
This won’t be easy during a recession in which consumers have locked down spending, banks have tamped down on loans and news of job cuts and store closings crop up every day.
But such is the unpredictable and often inspiring journey of the entrepreneur who moves from
the corporate world into his or her own mission of opening a clothing store, or cleaning business, or grocery store — or, in Bolden’s case, a café, to bring together disparate groups of people in Durham in an appreciation of poetry, music and coffee.
“Believe in God. Be you. Be yourself,” said Bolden, summing up his personal credo.
For a year, Bolden has devoted his full attention to giving birth to Beyú, his brainchild, and it might soon come to fruition.
The son of a single mother who went to Duke University from a minority-majority high school in Atlanta, Bolden has always straddled disparate parts of a community. When he came to Durham, Bolden said it reminded him of what Atlanta used to be and what he loved
about New York.
Durham is home to a variety of people from different backgrounds and experiences, but they often do not interact, he said. Whereas some of his friends would check
out Pinhook, the new bar in downtown, others prefer to listen to jazz at the Hayti Heritage Center.
People often don’t cross color lines, he said, because they don’t know how much they have in common. Bolden hopes Beyú will be a place where people of all races and backgrounds can come together.
“There’s something special here in Durham,” he said. “Why not create a place where people can come and hang out? It’s not about color. It’s about like-minded people.”
According to his business plan, Beyú would provide coffee, espresso and various café fare like sandwiches and crepes. But it would also retail its own roasted coffees, including a signature blend called, fittingly, “Heart & Soul.” At night, it would be a venue for live jazz and poetry readings, with a wine bar and liqueur coffee cocktails.
Bolden has attracted a full slate of investors who say they are inspired by the concept. That’s no easy feat in this economy, when the stock market has wreaked havoc with many people’s savings and injected anxiety into the investment environment.
One of his investors, Wendy Noel, is a firsttime investor who hopes to own a grocery store someday. What attracted her to Beyú, Noel said, was the jazz and poetry element of the concept.
“I think a lot of businesses downtown — not necessarily by choice — tends to attract niche communities,” she said. “I think Beyú is a place that it pretty much asks for people from all different communities within Durham to come there, socialize, gather and discuss.”
The total cost of opening Beyú is estimated to be $500,000. The company is incorporated as a limited liability corporation, with half of the cost to come from private investment, and the other half from bank financing, grants and loans through the city of Durham.
Bolden is personally investing in the venture in addition to making Beyú’s brochures and other marketing materials. When the profits roll in, Bolden said the other investors will be paid first.
It’s an oft-cited figure that 90 percent of restaurants go out of business within the first year. An Ohio State University study recently tried to debunk that myth, reporting that the actual figure for independent restaurants is closer to 26 percent failing in the first year.
But Noel said she is confident Beyú will be successful.
“While it might be hard for Dorian to start up initially, it’s a business that works with a down economy,” she said. “It provides affordable food for people who want to go out but don’t want to spend a lot of money.”
Noel added that she felt comfortable investing with Bolden because of the amount of work he has already put into the business plan and the concept.
“Dorian, he knows his business very well,” she said. “He has a good blend of business savvy
and passion for what he’s doing and passion for downtown Durham.”

"Journey to Beyu has been filled with risks, bold moves"

By Monica Chen w/ The Herald Sun
For Dorian Bolden, it was a long and winding road to get to this point, when his dream to open Beyú Caffé looks like it might come true.
From 2002 to 2005, Bolden was a senior financial adviser with Bank of America Investment Services. In 2004, his father died, and the event brought great change to his life.
“I realized that tomorrow is not guaranteed,” Bolden said.
Over the course of weeks and months, Bolden looked at his life and thought about what his purpose was, what he was meant to do.
As he thought about what brings him joy, Bolden recalled Café Intermezzo, the Atlanta
café that emulates 19th century Viennese coffee culture. He also thought about the diversity of
New York, and what brings people there together.
“I thought about, ‘Where would I have fun working?’ Well, I love poetry slams. I love jazz.
Okay, why don’t I create that?” he said.
And after a vacation to Jamaica, everything fell into place.
“I saw in Jamaica the conditions that some people live in, and I realized that I have no complaints,” he said. “That’s when I realized I could do whatever I wanted to do.”
He also realized what the name of his café would be: Be yourself — Be you — Beyú Caffé.
In 2005, he quit his job at Bank of America, worked at a coffee shop in New York for some time
and then moved back to Durham to be with Taineisha Bolden, who is now his wife.
The couple is now in their second year of marriage and expecting their first child. A first-year
resident at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, Taineisha Bolden was for most of 2008 the sole
breadwinner of the family.
She admitted she had some reservations when Dorian Bolden first told her of his idea.
“When he first told me he was quitting his job to go work as a barista, I was shocked and perplexed,” she said. “But for him to own his own business fit his personality. It’s very in keeping with it, for him to be in charge.”
“I never imagined being married to someone who would start their business. Three years is not that long, but it just feels like it had taken forever for Dorian to start his business],” Bolden
added and laughed. “But the fact that things are moving, and he’s really excited, is just wonderful. I’m really anxious to see the fruits of his labor.”
In the years since Bolden came up with Beyú, he worked various jobs to learn the industry, including as a barista at Shade Tree Coffee, as a manager at Amelia Café and a cashier, then assistant manager at Panera Bread.
He learned how to make a good cup of espresso, how much food to order to ensure the optimum
stockpile at the end of the week and how many employees to keep on staff to keep up with foot traffic.
All that time, Bolden was also working on his business plan, meeting with a mentor and enlisting
the help and advice of the people he encountered. One of his proudest moments, Bolden said,
was when the regional owner of Panera complimented him on his business plan.
By 2008, Bolden felt ready to finally realize his dream and quit the assistant managing position at Panera. But the economy threw him a curveball. When Wall Street started to crash last year, all his investors fled.
But Bolden regrouped, picking up new investorsone by one. He also had to scrap previous plans
of building a stand-alone space for Beyú as a real estate investment.
“My biggest doubt came in June 2008 when the commercial development project fell through,” Bolden admitted. “But you have to say to yourself, ‘Either you’re going to do it or you’re not.’ ”
“As Bill Cosby said though, ‘Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it,’” Bolden said. “I had to tell myself, I can do it.”

Our Coffee Beans are a Mega Hit!!

Beyu Caffe has seen tremendous success over the past month from its retail coffee beans, particularly our signature blend, Heart & Soul.

(ADVERTISEMENT: Making a cup of coffee at home can save you well over $500 a year...)

Ok, back to the post. The coolest thing about coffee is that it's a combination of both science and art.

The Science: Coffee comes from bright cherry plants where a small green coffee bean is located inside. The green coffee bean must be roasted at a temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit (thus giving coffee its dark brown color).

The Art: Every coffee region that produces coffee has its own distinct flavor profile. For example Latin American countries are known to be bright or acidic, African coffees tend to be earthy with a full body, and Indonesian coffees tend to be heavy with chocolate undertones. The beauty of creating a great blend comes from finding great coffee from the different coffee regions, and mixing (or blending) the right coffees together to provide a desired result.

HOW did we develop & name our signature blend?

In case you're wondering, a group of 8 to 10 people came together to try freshly roasted coffees from around the globe, all in an attempt to develop the perfect blend. After the event, a coffee lover e-mailed us to say, "I absolutely LOVE your signature blend!!! I would call it Heart & Soul, because it has touched my very heart and my soul." - Nikeasha Nunn, GlaxoSmithKline

Hence, Heart & Soul became the official name of our coffee blend.


Well...if you LOVE coffee, I truly recommend you try our signature blend via online at www.beyucaffe.com. Feel free to check out some recent comments about our signature coffee blend, Heart & Soul (and no one was asked to provide feedback; these were independent comments given after trying our coffees) =D

"[Heart & Soul] was fantastic. We used it in the office and it was a hit."
- Rodney Allison, President, Property Advisory Service

"That's the best coffee my wife and I ever had. "
- Duane Marks, Chief Operating Officer, Blue Devil Ventures

"Dorian, we have fallen in love with the Hazelnut Frangelica blend. [My husband] likes ground, I want to grind my own. So I had to buy two pounds!"
- Bridgette Webb, Manager, Quintiles Transnational Corp.

" I love [Heart & Soul]...I finally got to drink some this morning and it was fantastic. It was rich and full-bodied without being too dark."
- Mark Branly, Managing Partner, Neural 9 Studios

Without Passion, It's Just Coffee...