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Coffee with a conscience
Tracy Frank
The Forum - 12/03/2007
Q&A
Beth Lowell of Fargo was looking for a business opportunity. When she came across F-M Java and Slim and Tone, she knew her search was over.
Lowell, who also works as an engineer with Phoenix International, bought the business April 30 and renamed it FairWinds Café and Fitness.
FairWinds is a combination coffee shop and fitness center that sells fair-trade coffee and tea, as well as gift items that are either fair trade or made by local artists. The shop also offers meals, snacks, Italian sodas, and smoothies.
Live entertainment, ranging from music to comedy, is available some Friday evenings.
"I have wanted to own my own business for many years, and the opportunity came up for this place," Lowell said. "The fair-trade aspect of it really was what sold me. Fair trade and taking care of people."
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Q: Why is the fair-trade aspect so important to you?
A: Fair trade means that it is certified by a third party; that the farmers or the producers and the artisans are paid a fair living wage - something that they can live on in that country.
It's usually small farmers or small co-ops of farmers or co-ops of artisans.
I believe very strongly in social responsibility.
We take a smaller profit margin, and we guarantee that the people who we've purchased from can make a decent living.
I have lived in Mexico and in Spain for brief times when I was in school and I got to see some of the poverty firsthand, and so the idea that I could help alleviate that from up here in North Dakota, and know that the benefits are happening to real people was very appealing to me.
Q: Is fair trade catching on, or is it something many people don't really know about?
A: I would say that the visibility is fairly low, actually.
People who know about fair trade, it's important to them. But many people aren't even aware of what it means, and many people do get it confused with free trade.
Free trade is that there are no tariffs as the product comes into the country, which can actually be a bad thing for the farmers in the other countries.
Q: What made you decide to offer items from Ten Thousand Villages?
A: They fit in well with the fair-trade coffees and teas, and people like to have something to look at while they're waiting for their coffee.
They have a wide selection of household items and jewelry.
Anything that anybody would like; if they see it on the Web site, we can order it for them and then they won't pay shipping, which is a savings of between 10 (percent) and 35 percent.
Q: How have you changed this establishment?
A: We did change the layout a bit. I guess the most significant change is we added the local artists and local producers.
We have some very beautiful things that have been created by local artists and are with us on consignment.We have some lovely carved wooden bowls. We have greeting cards. Our watercolors are local. We have some magnets with funny sayings that are made by a woman I met through the Mothers of Multiples club.
We also have some food items that were made by local producers.
We have spun honey. We have gourmet jams and mixes for dips and salsa, that sort of thing.
Q: What made you decide to offer local products?
A: It all comes back to the family, social responsibility and serving our community, both the local community and the global community.
The local artists, many of them don't have much visibility. I would see them at craft shows, but where are they going to sell their things where people can just come and see them on an everyday basis?
Q: How has business been going so far?
A: It really picked up once college started. This summer it was kind of slow.
We also host a number of different types of meetings and groups, and that's been real good for us.
Q: Are most of your customers attracted by the fair trade aspect, or do they usually find out about it after they've been here?
A: Most of them are customers and find out about it, and that may be what brings them back.
A lot of people who come here are the ones who are disillusioned with the large chains.
We offer a very large selection of flavors, including a very large selection of sugar-free flavors, which is unusual for this area.
Q: How do the fitness center and coffee shop go together?
A: It's part of taking care of people, mind, body and soul.
The idea appealed to me because one of the things that helps motivate people to work out is positive reinforcement; reward yourself. After you work out, you come have a nice cup of coffee or a sugar-free muffin.
Q: How do your memberships work?
A: We offer a monthly membership. We also offer a daily rate.
I had some kind of strong opinions when we started here, and how we charged people was one of the things that I changed.
I have always hated the real high startup fees.
Also included with a monthly membership is a half hour a month with our fitness consultant.
She's not a certified trainer, but she's very knowledgeable with the equipment that we have and she's got credibility because she, herself, has lost 75 pounds.
The other thing that was a big problem for me was I would maybe think about joining a place, but I'm looking at this large application fee and I don't know how often I'm going to have time to go and I don't know how motivated I'm going to be once I join.
With a daily rate, you can start going and it's only $3 a day, so if you find that you are going more than 10 times a month, then it becomes worth it to sign up for a monthly membership.
Q: How is the fitness center set up?
A: We have it set up on a circuit.
If it's not busy, we don't mind if people just do things in whatever order they want or concentrate on whatever they want.
That's also one of the reasons for having a half hour a month with the fitness consultant. People can adjust their routine and look at problem areas and what exercises they want to do to address those.
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If you go
- What: FairWinds Holiday Open House
- When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday
- Where: 1101 19th Ave. N., Fargo
- Info: (701) 232-7546
www.fairwindscafe.net
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