Rainbow Grocery, the Mission's beloved worker-owned vegetarian co-op, will finally have a gorgeous area for socializing and enjoying the store's offerings in next month. Staffers are adding a brand new outdoor cafe, one inspired by the structures of artist Andrea Zittel. Customers have apparently been begging for a Rainbow cafe for "decades," according to Jeff Ray, a member of the collective. Ray is working with architect Tom McElroy and fabricator Richard Hubbard to lead the charge on the new wing of the health food store.
"We were not content at just rolling a cart out there, or interested in following the shipping container trend," he says. "The basic vision is to serve simple, good, healthy organic and/or small batch coffee from ethically grown sources. We are working with Stumptown throughout this process, including which espresso machine to buy." Ray adds that they'll be serving lots of different teas from their amazing bulk tea selection as well as "creative lattes" and coffee drinks.
The cafe will be to the right of Rainbow's native garden, taking over the corner of 13th and Folsom. They're decorating it with donated furniture and plants, with hopes of custom-made furniture in the future.
"There are a lot of bike commuters riding by on Folsom street in the morning and we hope to be inviting to them as well as our regular customers," says Ray.
I asked him about any special events coming up in the new cafe, and Ray said, "We sort of half joked/ half seriously said that we should have movie nights projected on the back of the Rainbow billboard. We certainly will have tastings, and talks, and all that."
Check back with Rainbow mid-July to see the long-requested cafe come to life.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Ray