Here we go!

It’s time for Seb’s to take the leap

from online to real life and we’re

beyond thrilled to invite you

to join the party!

Seb & Susan

• Seb’s is a mom & son operation based in East Vancouver, with the goal of opening a family-friendly, community-driven, sensory-sensitive, all-inclusive café & retail space in our Commercial Drive neighbourhood.
• We’ve been delivering made-in-East Van goods all over Greater Vancouver since December 2020, always with the view of providing a storefront for our local vendors and a menu chock full of the deliciousness that our wickedly talented local food entrepreneurs are already cooking up, right here in our ‘hood!
• Seb’s exists specifically to serve our neighbours, whether that be through the warm & welcoming hospitality that will be extended to our guests, or the community outreach that’s built into our budget and we’re so excited to invite you to jump in with us now, so we can all build this dream together.

Where will your dollars go?

We’re hoping to raise $75k, which will go towards: 

• Indian Residential School Survivors Society | KidSafe Project Society | Grandview Woodland Food Connection | Eastside Family Place. A portion of your pledge will be donated to one of these amazing organizations, the higher the pledge, the bigger the donation and you get to choose where those dollars go. Click the links above to do a deeper dive on each organization, so that you can learn about the amazing things they’re doing for our community and make an informed choice about where you’d like us to direct donations. Seb’s will also continue to support these organizations in the long term.
• Lease deposits & utility startup costs, once we find the perfect spot! Rest assured that Seb’s will be on The Drive and we won’t be settling for any other neighbourhood. This isn’t to say that there aren’t other fabulous ‘hoods in the city, it’s simply that The Drive is home to Seb & Susan, it’s the neighbourhood that we live in, belong to, feel safe in and know how to serve best.
• Design. Build out. Equipment. Fixtures & fittings. We’ll be hiring local, inclusion-informed designers & consultants, East Van trades people and as much as possible, purchasing materials & equipment locally.
• Toys, games & other fun stuff to keep the kids happy! Imagine a place where your kids feel at home and welcome to be themselves while they play foosball, LEGO or chess (and maybe even some wicked fun arcade games!), or curl up in a quiet corner with a book, all while you sit back with a local beer and something delicious to eat.
• Inventory. We’re going to need to stock our retail shelves high & create kick ass food & beverage programs. As always, everything Seb’s serves & sells will be either made in East Van or will come from an East Van based company.
• Hiring & inclusivity consultants. We want to support our community through employment and intend to pay our staff exceedingly well. We also intend to be an inclusive workplace and will be consulting with local organizations on how to best support our neurodiverse neighbours into well-paid, meaningful jobs at Seb’s.
• Community outreach. Every single dollar that goes into Seb’s will be staying in our community and a lot of those dollars will go into our community outreach programs, through direct sponsorships, meal programs, educational workshops, community art initiatives…the possibilities are endless!

Club Seb

This is the pledge perk that we’re most excited about and it’s included at every tier!

Club Seb is a concept born of the desire to try to find a way to mitigate some of the risks that come along with operating a hospitality business on the super tight margins that the industry is so well known for.

As a member, you can sign up for a monthly subscription, which affords you a monthly store credit of $5-$20, free tea or coffee every time you come in, exclusive updates & voting power and a place on our in-store wall of fame, which includes a family mini session with a local photographer and a take-home print! Depending on what tier you go for, your pledge today will get you either a lifetime or one year membership to Club Seb!

Feel free to pop over to our Patreon page to read all about it….

Back us & you’re backing them, too!

          The East Van small business circle of support is so very strong and has the potential for exponential growth…everything you buy from Seb’s, we bought from our East Van vendors first and you know what? Our vendors like to support local, too! More often than not they’re using local suppliers for the ingredients, packaging & tools that go into creating your favourite products AND they employ local people! If you really think about it, the delicious Jamaican patties that you bought from Seb’s and had for dinner last night are yes, the product of Chris’s hard work, love and dedication but they also represent dollars spent in multiple local supply chains and the livelihoods of so many of our neighbours.

   The bigger Seb’s gets, the more dollars we spend in our community! The Seb’s East Van Vendor list is already 20+ strong and we’re bringing in new local talent every week! Pop over to our Fabulous East Van Vendor page to have a peek at all of the beautiful brands that we carry.

Risks & Challenges

We’re very aware that we’re entering a world with many risks & hurdles to overcome and these are the reasons that we believe that we’ll be able to stand proud and unflinching in the face of any challenge that comes our way:

• You. Seb and Susan have been through a world of shit together over the past few years and through it all, our community has been there to back us up, cheer us on and lift us up whenever we’ve needed it. It’s the knowledge that you are behind us that makes it possible to even have this dream and it’s the main motivator behind the drive to make it a success.
• Seb. We’re building this business to serve our community but the really big picture for Susan is that it’s building a future for her son. Seb’s  is a family business in the strongest sense of the term. Not only is it a place where Seb himself will be provided with opportunities for learning, employment and perhaps one day ownership but it’s also a vehicle for building a family of community around him, so that he always knows that he belongs and is safe right where he is and that the people around him know him and love him.
• Susan. If you haven’t met me (just gonna write in first person for this bit!), you might not know how single-minded I can be when I have a goal to work towards. This has been a lifelong trait of mine that has seen me through two transatlantic moves, a self-funded university degree, starting two businesses and now, finding ways to support my little family alone. I spent over a decade working in every iteration of the hospitality industry, from cooking, serving, bartending & nightclub coat check girl, to supervisory & management roles and most recently food production and retail. I pride myself on my resourcefulness…if it needs doing, I will undeniably find a way.
• If we don’t reach our full Indiegogo goal (we know, it’s a lofty one!), we’ll barrel ahead regardless. Seb & Susan have put time, heart, soul and their own cash into this business and giving up is not an option! The funds that are raised here should be enough to get our foot in the door, after which time we would be able to go to the bank to seek debt funding and we’re also very open to partnering up with investors. Feel free to email us at heyneighbour@sebscafe.ca for more info on that

What do we mean by sensory-sensitive?

When you come into Seb’s, you’ll likely notice that things feel a little different from your typical café environment. That’s because Seb’s is going to be a sensory-sensitive space.  Here are a few of the things we’re going to do to try to help make things a little more comfortable for our neurodiverse neighbours and we’ll always try to honour any requests for accommodations:

• Quiet coffee options. Say goodbye to the bashing, grinding, clattering espresso machine!
• Natural/calm & diffused lighting.
• ​No brain melting hand dryers in the washrooms!
• Easy access to written (instead of verbal) options for communicating with staff.
• We’ll always aim to keep noise, odours & the distance between guests at a comfortable level.

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Other Ways That You Can Participate

We know it, money is tight! Absolutely zero hard feelings if you can’t contribute financially to this project! Instead you could:

• Get the word out and make some noise about Seb’s! Tell anyone and everyone that you know about this wicked small local business that supports other small local businesses and that we’re looking for more folks to join the party!
• Use the Indiegogo Sharing Tools at the top right of this page for a quick and easy way to spread the word on socials or by copying the link and including it in a heartfelt email, text or DM to all of your besties!
• If you’d like to contribute but aren’t interested in receiving perks, hit the ‘Back It’ button at the top right of this page and enter your desired pledge (and thank you!).

Some details regarding perks:

• We’re expecting that most folks who make a pledge will be local Vancouverites, so we’ll be offering either local delivery or pickup of any physical perk items but if you’re a more distant neighbour, fear not…we’ll be in touch to collect shipping info!
• The estimated delivery date of Sep 2021 is for physical items…it might take a little longer for us to be able to invite you in for the in store/café perks.
• Club Seb store credit will be available as soon as the campaign is complete, which will be around mid-August!
• We’ll be in touch to ask about size & colour options for wearables. There will be baby onesies, kids tees & hoodies and adult sizes, too!

Credits: videography & editing by Jo Gyurkovics

Brand design: Salt Design Co.

Photos: all Susan’s

Come visit us at sebscafe.ca & @sebscafecandcornerstore