Former Waking Life barista, Charlotte cafe owner aim to open new Asheville coffee shop

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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queen_of_cupsTwo more women entrepreneurs are teaming up in hopes of opening a new Asheville coffee shop in reaction to the Waking Life scandal. One of the women is Sarah Winkler, a former Waking Life barista who quit last Friday after learning of the misogynistic actions of the West Asheville coffee shop’s owners.

On Wednesday, Asheville entrepreneurs Jodi Rhoden and Amber Arthur announced plans to open Battlecakes, a new cafe and with a business plan that builds in the financial support of nonprofits that empower women. They have launched a crowd funding campaign, and on Thursday, Rhoden and Arthur declared that they had made an offer to purchase the Waking Life coffee shop equipment.

Winkler, who is teaming with the owner of The Daily Press in Charlotte, has a similar idea for a coffee shop called Queen of Cups. In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, Winkler told me she’s aware of the Rhoden/Arthur idea, and that they’re talking. Meantime, Winkler and her business partner are hoping to secure the Patton Avenue location that Waking Life had under lease as a new, second location. That existing lease was broken by the landlord this week following the scandal. Winkler and her business partner’s crowd funding campaign for Queen of Cups is here. More from Sarah on FB:

My name is Sarah Winkler. I am a former employee of Waking Life Espresso. I wanted to share with you all our collaborative dream : Linds Ep of the The Daily Press CLT and I are working to secure the downtown location thatWaking Life Espresso was intending to move into. We are hoping to establish a specialty coffee shop that supports and empowers women in the community as well as our industry. We want to work closely with local non profits supporting woman empowerment, equality and awareness and provide a location for these places to hold events, if not here in anywhere possible. We want to use local roaster Mountain Air Roasting and hopefully other local businesses. We would really love to secure this downtown location at 89 Patton Ave. Locations go fast in Asheville so if you all have any ideas of how to make this happen please let us know! I have so much love for this wonderful community that has been so supportive of me throughout these last couple of days, and I want to be able to give something back to you all!
Barista Magazine Sprudge.com AshevilleBlog Ashvegas Downtown AshevilleOur VOICE Sarajane Case Chakra Fit

Huge Thank you for all of the support! Especially to the women Battle Cat Coffeeand Short Street Cakes

 

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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2 Comments

  1. Jane September 27, 2015

    Using the scandal for your own gain, regardless of intention, is pretty low.

    Reply
  2. indie September 25, 2015

    I’m surprised these crowd funding appeals haven’t really taken off.

    They are so clever. Investing can be such a headache–checking valuations/cashing dividend checks etc. But here you just pay up online once and never have to think about it again.

    Reply

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