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Be a CAFÉ CREATOR.

Be a part of this exciting, rewarding, and innovative program to create the kind of business you want to see in the world.

[Read about the CAFÉ CREATOR CARDS in the Oakland Tribune.]

Give Your Voice.

Your purchase includes exclusive invitations to forums and events, where you may contribute your ideas and play an influential roll in shaping the Awaken Café. You are our partners in creating this exciting vision.

CAFÉ CREATORS are invited to participate in:

  • Monthly conference calls (or webinar)
  • Online surveys
  • Behind-the-scenes updates, photos, and stories
  • Special invite only town hall style events and parties
  • Samples and gifts
  • What else would you like to see?

Get Value.

Used like an electronic debit card to make purchases at the Awaken Café, CAFÉ CREATOR Cards have a dollar value equal the purchase price plus 25%.

For a $1000 advance purchase, you receive a $1250 CAFÉ CREATOR Card that can be used to make purchases at the Awaken Café when it opens in 2007. In addition to the additional 25% in value, each Card you purchase gives you:

  • Front-of-the-line, free admission for you & a guest for 10 Awaken Café events of your choice,
  • VIP invitations to our opening gala, gallery openings, and other invite-only events, and
  • An Awaken Café travel mug and a sweat-shop free Awaken Café T-shirt.

You can purchase the $1000 CAFÉ CREATOR Card in a single single payment or in five $200 montly payments. Also, a limited number of Cards are also available in $500, $250 and $100 denominations.

This program creates an affordable pathway for a wide section of the community to play a role in the creation of the Awaken Café. It’s an exciting win-win where everyone involved receives value.

Even for those of you who live far away, there is real value as you will eventually be able to use your Deibit Card to purchase merchandise, art, and bulk coffee online and you can always use it when you visit beautiful Northern California.

[Need some ideas on how to use your card? Go here.]

Vote for Change.

While you won't be able to spend your CAFÉ CREATOR Card until we open the doors, you will receive immediate satisfaction from knowing you are an active member of a visionary and creative community. Your purchase is a vote for a business committed to building a real sense of community, a downtown area ready for redevelpment, a thriving arts scene, a sustainable business model, and a world-class coffee café and restaurant. Ultimately, it is a vote for individuals, businesses, and communities being all inclusive and in harmony.

The Awaken Café will be a valuable resource for people to meet, network, celebrate, unwind, and be connected. Through this Card Program, our customers will have a stake and a voice in the businesses that serve them. At the Awaken Café, the line between CUSTOMER and COMPANY, between US and YOU dissolves. We are very excited by what is possible when many members of our community come together to cast thier vote for business like the Awaken Café.

[How much do you spend on coffee in a year? Go here.]

Co-Create the Awaken Café.

In addition to $160,000 already raised by the Awaken Café, and other expected sources of funding, this program makes up an important and necessary component of our forecasted financial needs. That is to say the proceeds from the sale of the Cards will give us an important addition to our start-up funds needed to open the Awaken Café.

Share the Opportunity.

Another important role to play in this program could be to share this opportunity and the Awaken Café vision with your friends, family, and community members. Working together something extraordinary is possible, and we invite you help spread the word.

Become a CAFÉ CREATOR!

We thank you for considering being a CAFÉ CREATOR!

We thank you for your support of the Awaken Café and helping us to reach our goal of selling 125 CAFÉ CREATOR Cards and open the Awaken Café.

[See our progress and the current CAFÉ CREATORS here.]


What people are saying about the Awaken Café:

"I work right downtown (in the Rotunda building, across from City Hall), so I been interested to see what kind of business was going to move into the old Golden Bull space. Then someone brought some of the "cafe creator" flyers to Monkey Yoga, where I work out. I read a little bit about you and was thrilled to see that such a progressive and arts-oriented business was coming to downtown. I used to be a member of a workers-coop cafe/restaurant at UC Santa Cruz, so your efforts to create a values-driven and communitee-orientated business, and your unique fundraising approach, were especially intriguing. Besides... I could hardly pass up an investment that returns food!"

- Logan DeLey, CAFÉ CREATOR.

"I am very excited about the cafe, and the opportunity to bring so much of the vibrant and vital artistic culture I've been able to be a part of in San Francisco to my beloved Oaktown (y'know, w/o losing its working class edge of course)."

- Paul Corman-Roberts, CAFÉ CREATOR.

"I'm looking forward to the opening of the cafe. I work across the street and have been excited to see the recent construction activity. You're working on a cool project that fits with my interests too (organic food, green construction, art and dance, community...)."

- Abe Doherty, CAFÉ CREATOR.

"Two Burning Man veterans who believe in unbridled creativity, the power of community and, well, excellent coffee are launching a café and performance space in the heart of downtown Oakland, set to open soon."

- by Andrea Lampros, The East Bay Monthly, 12/07.

"Next spring I'll be moving to a restored historic structure across from the Fox Theater. I'd like to live in a neighborhood with independently owned shops and restaurants, rather than chain stores. I bought the gift card because I wanted to help an independently owned business open up downtown and because I wanted to contribute to the smart development of my new neighborhood."

- Lawrence Biggie, CAFÉ CREATOR.

"Dunlap and Christensen embrace the notion of 'conscious capitalism,' which places just as much emphasis on the person as the profit. It's about making sure everyone is involved in the process and has a stake in it's success, which is something smart entrepreneurs quickly learn to do."

- by Kwan Booth, Novometro.com, 4/30/07.

"When I saw the sign in the window about Awaken Cafe with the inspired mission statement I was intrigued and excited. I checked out the webpage, read about the gift card, loved the concept and felt compelled to help a local business that I believe will improve my own quality of life."

- Scott Yundt, CAFÉ CREATOR.

"Turning to patrons to help open a restaurant is a unique approach, said Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. 'I think this is a great example of someone using a creative process to address a traditional issue,' he said."

- by Eve Mitchell, Oakland Tribune, 5/16/07.

“We vote with our dollars and most of us want to make a difference. Community supported business, of which gift cards are a part, is a way to belong and support the emerging new paradigm of ‘being attentive to the whole.’”

- Matthew Engelhart, Owner of Cafe Gratitude.


[contact] • member SCAA & SBA • © 2007 Awaken Café LLC

414 14th street (between broadway & franklin), oakland, ca 94612 [map]