• Folks outside Toronto are less willing to walk and drive everywhere, including drive-throughs
• They are more averse to new and unfamiliar things, and tend to stick to comfortable brands like Starbucks and Tim Hortons
• Population density is not enough to create the traffic for independents.

This may be a case of  ‘chicken or egg first’ scenario. Maybe if I set up Red Bulb in markham or stouffville, the people will come afterall. I am actually leaning towards this option after reviewing cafes at Leslieville, Eglington Ave West, Yonge&Lawrence – those areas are just too saturated with cafes. Real Estate hunting in Markham and Stouffville has already began and I will report more on the progress in future posts.

Thoughts on where we need cafes are welcomed!

We managed to visit Red Rocket, Mercury, Darkhorse, Ed’s Ice-cream, Simple, Lucaffe, LPK, Te Aro. Most of the cafes do not disappoint and I have to say, even for someone who is a Starbucks fan, the coffee served up is great. We would say we like the coffee best at Mercury, friendliness most at Red Rocket, atmosphere felt best at Darkhorse, and found the concept coolest at Te Aro(it is actually built out of a garage). One thing we found at most of the cafes is that they keep the menu simple, use biodegradable cups,  and of course brew fair trade/organic coffee.

Definitely happy to see the cafes striving and doing well – my hope is that I could open up an independent in the Markham/Richmond Hill/Stouffville area. Instead of the commerical fares like Tim Hortons and Starbucks, would people here give independents a chance? I would hope so.