5 years ago, a Valparaiso staple was created. Blackbird Café opened its doors on the premise of appealing to folks from all walks of life- from the businessman to the free spirited artist. The menu is focused on great coffee and high-quality food made from scratch, using locally-grown ingredients as much as possible.
Owners Mary Koselke and Dan Cook ventured into small business ownership to share their love of food. “Everything about food I love,” stated Koselke. “The idea of sharing food with other people, I love that. Food is something you share with the people you care about. The ability to do that on a larger scale really excited me.”
The idea of sharing a love with their customers is part of the ambience one can feel when walking into the café. Koselke, Cook, and their 10 employees bring a family-like atmosphere, making customers feel adopted almost instantly, following the cafe's business philosophy- help each other and be kind.
“I’m very close to these people, I adore them,” Koselke shared. “Often times people will say this is such a laid back place. But there’s nothing laid back about working here. You will go home tired. Even throughout all of that, we laugh constantly. We are cracking jokes the entire day and having a really great time.”
Newer employee Talia Pasquiali agrees. “I feel like I’ve been adopted into a second family,” she shared, reflecting on her four months at the café. "Working here is great, everyone is great. It’s fun, you get to talk to interesting people all day.”
“Mary and Dan are great, they’re really helping me out- I want to have my own café and they’re helping me with what to do, what not to do. They’ve helped a lot. I love working here!”
Running your own business requires “a constant reinvention of yourself,” Koselke continued. “Know what you do and do it well. You really have to stick with that but you have to be really flexible.”
“It’s fulfilling. It’s the most introspective I’ve ever been. You learn your weaknesses really fast and you can either do something about it or not.”
Blackbird is clearly aware of their strengths, as the casual observer can see on any given day, the café is packed to the brim- people lunching, friends catching up, or someone relaxing with a cup of coffee and a good book from one of the many lining the café walls.
Local resident David Odrobinak is one who is drawn back to the café on a regular basis. “I’ve been coming to Blackbird for one and a half, two years now,” he shared. “I come back all the time! You buy a cup of coffee, you get one free on your way out. I believe a coffee shop like this draws people from the area and hopefully we can meet some people too.”
Restaurant ownership is not without its difficulties. “I don’t think that I fully grasped what it meant to own a restaurant,” Koselke shared. “I think people go into the business not knowing how hard it’s going to be, and how much of yourself you have to give up. My advice to anybody looking to open a business: just have fun. Don't do something you're not having fun with. Time is going to pass either way- might as well enjoy it.”
“Looking at it over time, we grew pretty fast. When you’re in the middle of building your business and its slow and you’re scratching for every dollar and working so hard for every dollar that comes in the door, you say to yourself ‘when is this going to happen, is it going to happen,’” she continued. “The last two years we’ve really seen some big growth.”
“It really went fast. It’s really surprising that I’ve spent half a decade at Blackbird. It’s really fun, it’s still fun.”
Congrats to Blackbird on your five years and many, many more to come!