The Missing Piece Cafe :

An independent community based cafe in the heart of Toronto. Our main objective is to hire at risk and homeless youth while serving fair trade coffee and teas as well as healthy and delicious breakfast and lunch options. Our cafe will display local artists' paintings and photos, play local musicians' music and support our Ontario farmers by only buying Ontario grown meats, vegetables and fruits.

This is a place that I, Andrea Lloyd and my business partner, Joan Milway want to create. We are in the very preliminary stages of doing so and feel that writing this blog is a good way to take you on our journey and to keep you posted on how we are doing along the way.

I guess I should start from the beginning :

I came up with the idea for 'The Missing Piece' in my kitchen while I was making dinner and talking with my partner in December 2009. I was having major anxiety about what the hell I was doing with my life and decided that I needed to figure it out. I wasn't completely unhappy with the job I was doing at the time, (and still am doing) I just knew that I would definitely not be happy doing it forever. I needed to feel passionate about something for longer than a month. I knew that I had potential and I knew that it was time to start acting like it.

So I made a list. The top two things on my list were :

1. Help people who need it.

2. Open up my own cafe.

3. Become a world renowned broadway musical star.

I decided that I could marry the two ideas together and be doing exactly what I saw myself doing. (I'm still trying to see how I can fit the third one in..) I thought about it for a little while and thought about who I would want to enter into this endeavour with, and I came up with my good friend, Joan Milway. I wanted someone who would feel as strongly as me about this idea and who would want to enter into it full throttle. Someone who would compliment me and who I would compliment. Someone I knew would be a good business partner. I also knew that Joan, like me, did not see herself happily working away at her current job forever and wanted to do something greater.

So I asked her. She said yes (quite enthusiastically). We talked. And talked. And talked. And about a month and a half later came to a strong agreement that this is what we wanted to do together and that we were going to DO IT. End of Story.

So that brings us to today. We have finished our small business course, are currently planning our 1st fundraiser, and are starting to write our finalized business plan.

It has been way longer than a month and I am happy to say that I feel as strongly and as passionate about The Missing Piece as I did from the beginning (maybe even more so) and feel that I have finally found what it is I am supposed to be doing. I am confident with all the choices we have made thus far and am looking forward to the process we have ahead of ourselves. I know that it isn't going to be easy and that it we have an abundance of work ahead of us, but I am looking forward to the process and what will come out of it.

We are hoping to have 'The Missing Piece Cafe' up and running by May 2011.

As I mentioned above we are throwing our first fundraiser. It will be on Saturday, August 21st at the Stealth Lounge at Yonge and Bloor. Doors open at 8pm. We are going to have great music, great food, silent auctions, raffles, and just fun stuff all around. We hope to see you there and will keep you updated as the day grows nearer.

Thank you for reading the very first installment of our blog, and it will only get better from here on out!