Interview with Sheila from Upper Crust CafA©
Sheila’s first career was being a mother of four daughters, and she did not open the Upper Crust CafA© until she was forty. Initially the business began by selling baked goods at the farmer’s market with a friend. When these proved to be a success, her and her friend opened the restaurant with intentions of it being a small little cafA© and tea house. Today, Upper Crust CafA© has tripled in size and has established itself as a popular lunch spot.
1. When did you first become interested in working with food?
My interest in food began as an enforced interest. In my family, believe me, I had to help. I think it’s the biggest joke of my family that I would have ended up being a cook. But I got used to helping and used to seeing it done.
I think I always just wanted to be a mom. Running a business like this is rather like being a mom. Making sure everyone gets fed, making sure the staff is happy.
2. Who have been some of the people who have really supported you through the starting and maintaining of your restaurant?
My partner Karin Fulton and I started this restaurant in 1986. Prior to that we sold baking at the downtown farmer’s market. From there we started catering. People asked us to do weddings and family parties etc. We’d always had the plan of opening a tea shop because we liked the baking. That was our original interest.
Then this space near the university became available. There had been a fire in the building and so it was quite derelict. We moved in 1986 and it took us about a year to get it cleaned up and presentable to open a restaurant. At that time it was a third of the size. We started a small, open only at lunch cafA©. It was mainly a place to cater. We were originally mainly caterers. Then as other tenants moved out wea€™ve taken more and more space, so now we’ve expanded our kitchen and we have a whole new floor.
Karin has moved on and now her sister Barb Bester is now my partner. I think we’re both fairly quickly headed towards retirement. At which time my daughter is going to take over the business.
3. What are some of the most significant joys and struggles of being an independent restaurant owner?
One of the great pleasures of running a restaurant has been the staff that has been here over the years. A succession of students who have been with us for enough time for us to get to know them and to know what they want to do with their lives. Then we see them go on to other careers. They come back and visit. There is always a fresh crop of young, new students that keep us interested in staying. And of course many of the people who work for us have worked with us an awfully long time. Right from the time we opened the restaurant. They’re still here. We become very connected to them, and coming to work is a pleasure for that reason.
I suppose a struggle is to try to achieve a good balance. To get enough time off to enjoy life. To that end, we’ve always closed at Christmas for ten days, Easter for the full five days, and every long weekend. Just for an attempt to try to get some time away.
4. How is your family involved in the restaurant?
I have four daughters. Theya€™ve been a good help over the years. They all have helped in the restaurant. When we’re short staffed, they get called in. Or when we have repairs we need lots of family help for that.
5. How are you involved in the community around you? Do you support any local charities?
This really is a neighborhood restaurant and so we try our best to support the theater groups, the arts groups that approach us. We’ve also had many actors working for us. Actors and students. We tend to support people who work for us, and their interests.
6. What role do ethics play in your choice of products? Do you buy locally, organically, fair trade?
I grew up in a family that cooked a lot, gardened a lot. We were always happy to have a lot of fresh, local produce and animals that hadn’t been raised in horrible conditions. So I developed a taste early for that kind of food. And I know how much work is involved in the production of it. So I’m really glad to support people who do it and do it properly. The taste is worth the extra price, that’s for sure. It’s important to sustain food locally. There is a tremendous amount of labor involved in the old fashioned production. And that has to be recognized. And I think it is more and more. By customers and restaurant owners.
7. Where does the restaurant’s name come from?
We had a friend of ours suggest the name Upper Crust. She had seen it in the states, so it was a complete theft of a name.
8. What are some of your interests/hobbies outside of the restaurant? Do you get a chance to enjoy these?
I like skiing and hiking and traveling. And I do get a chance to enjoy these because I have such good staff and good partners.
