Family,
Thank you for all your support of Baobab Fare during a very busy summer at the restaurant. Now we are getting ready to be even busier with the cold weather and holidays starting. This is a time when people get comfort from warm-spiced food like ours and want to share it with community, so we see bigger groups and also more orders for our hot drinks like our African-spiced coffee and tea. (And I love our hibiscus drinks this time of year because of the clove flavor.)
I hope by this time next year we will have more space to host everyone at our new Baobab location on East Warren and Waka in Eastern Market. I have to update you on our progress, but first I want to share some advice for coming to the restaurant during this busy time of year.
Baobab Fare is busiest from noon to 2pm for lunch, and 5 to 8pm for dinner. Sometimes it’s packed, and if you can come before noon or between 2-5pm, it is usually easier to find a table. Bigger groups can make a reservation by calling the restaurant (313-265-3093), and we are also working on making this process easier in the future.
But now I have to vent some honest frustration, because it’s so important for everyone to understand the challenges small businesses like ours face.
Getting money to grow has been very hard. Very hard. Even though our restaurant is doing well and we’ve been working for almost four years, we still have trouble getting financing from traditional banks. We came here as refugees with nothing, and we don’t come from families with a lot of money in Burundi. We want to grow our businesses and team, and luckily there are CDFIs and some other amazing organizations in Detroit that have helped instead.
That’s why we’re so thankful to be in Detroit — where Invest Detroit and the Detroit Development Fund operate and provide businesses like ours amazing support. They believe in us and help us grow. Access to capital has made everything move slower than we would like, but we ARE moving!
So here’s some good news: Waka is coming. We’re just waiting for permits from the city to start building. We have all our designs and contractors ready, and now we hope to open in Eastern Market by spring of 2025.
Baobab 2.0 is also starting to move. (The picture above is of the cleared out interior.) The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and the Mayor’s Office have been very helpful. Invest Detroit and the East Warren Development Corporation have supported us all the way.
We’re so grateful to be in Detroit and have this kind of support. I don’t think there’s any other city where someone from the mayor’s office would follow up weekly and make sure a business like ours continues to grow.
It makes us proud to call Detroit home, and we are so thankful for all of your support.
With Love,
Mamba
NEW COFFEE LINEUP
LAST CHANCE FOR 20% OFF!
In September we had a successful launch of our new coffee packaging with our roasting partners at Sabbath Coffee Roasters, but our launch sale is ending soon!
You have just a few more days to use the discount code COFFEE20 to receive 20% off any one of our Burundi coffee bean varieties.
Don’t miss this deal!
