By David F. Rooney
Sangha Bean Café, probably the funkiest café in town, is set to close on April 28, says proprietor Krista Cadieux.
The café, located at 111 Connaught Avenue near its intersection with Mackenzie Avenue, has been on the market since last October.
Sangha Bean has, since the day it opened, won a reputation as a comfortable place where the Krista and her staff know all of their regular customers.
But, like most small businesses, Sangha Bean has demanded a lot of time and effort. Krista works long hours to ensure its success and those workplace demands have prevented her from pursuing her true love — working with people in the lost stages of their lives. While Krista is mum about her post-café. plans, it’s quite possible that she will put her university degree — gerontology — and her recently gained certification as a death doula, to work. A death doula, also known as a death midwife, is a person who helps someone diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or any other life-ending event get their life in order, think about their end-of-life care and help them and their family cope with the stress of death.
“I’m ready to do something else,” she said in a brief interview last Friday, March 24. “I’m at the stage where I’d like to work full time in end-of-life care.”
A thoughtful person, Krista regards her experience owning and operating a small business as a step along the path life has set before her.
“I’ve learned that I can set a vision in play and make it happen,” she said. “I also have more respect for people who are entrepreneurs.
Sangha Bean was not just a placed to go and have coffee and tea. Krista produced very tasty soups, burritos, croissants and cookies and, for much of the cafe’s life she offered it as venue for special local events such as early morning breakfasts for local cyclists who came to watch Tour de France stages, and in the evenings as a handy meeting place for people who wanted to hold informal conversation in Spanish. She also held two very interesting Death Cafes where people could gather and talk about what happens when we die.
Speaking for myself, I enjoyed using the Sangha Bean as a place where I could interview people I was writing about for The Current. (I work out of my apartment and while I do most of my writing there, I don’t conduct interviews on my home turf.)
Alas! Come April 28 I’ll have to choose a new place where I can have a strong, good-quality coffee or the occasional latte.
Krista: You and Sangha Bean will be sorely missed.
You can find out more about this popular café at its Facebook page.
