Deadline Detroit photo
A big part of the narrative of Detroit's come back, at least in Midtown and downtown, is that food-related businesses have been opening at a fast clip.
But there's a downside to the upbeat story.
Café con Leche closes Saturday after two years of serving Mexican mochas and cortados on West Grand Boulevard, across from the Fisher Theatre.
Co-owner Jordi Carbonell tells Stephanie Steinberg of The Detroit News he can recall when he was one of three independent coffee shops in the city. Now, he says he can't compete with 21 coffee shops in Detroit and afford the operating costs for the 1,700-square-foot space he and his wife, Melissa Fernandez, opened two years ago.
“I was trying to find a partner or sell the business,” Carbonell says. “I don’t want to close this way.”
In March 2016, he closed his original shop at 4200 W. Vernor Hwy. in Southwest Detroit after seven years there and nine years in business overall.
The good news is that he plans to move his roasting service to southwest Detroit at a facility he’s purchasing on Michigan Avenue and sell wholesale to restaurants and supermarkets.
