The two put everything they had into it and 99 percent of the furniture and decor comes from Goodwill. Their friends and family told them it was a terrible idea to open up the coffee shop. Both had worked in restaurants but never as baristas. When they first started the business they had no coffee shop experience. Now people are being laid off so we are concerned for these next couple of months.” “ with COVID a lot of our college students are back at home.
But since reopening earlier this month First Sip has seen fewer customers than usual.Ĭoconut Jasmine Vietnamese Iced Coffee, the latest drink featured during First-Sip’s reopening Jin the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Ill. Fans can also support the business by purchasing gift cards. The sisters are asking customers to place orders for pick-up or carry-out online. On Wednesday, the cafe is open from 10 a.m. That way government money could support those who needed it most.įirst Sip is now open every day except Wednesday from 10 a.m. They felt privileged, and lucky, they were alright and decided not to apply for unemployment or other financial help. So, while they had no income they didn’t have to worry about other employees.
Their main bill was their rent payments and they had enough savings to cover that. The sisters weren’t worried about their business financially. But then I just felt like I wasn’t doing anything productive and I was frustrated just being inside,” Erin Hoang said. “The first two weeks it felt like vacation. They only reopened for carryout orders June 1. But when Illinois closed restaurants as part of the stay-at-home order they truly closed their business for the first time March 18. They’d only stopped once to take a 24-hour vacation to Miami, Florida. and transformed the place into First Sip, a cafe that blends Vietnamese coffee and tea culture with Western-style sandwiches.īefore the COVID-19 pandemic the Hoang sisters worked at First Sip seven days a week.
Within a month they signed a lease on the storefront at 1057 W. When Vietnamese sisters Erin and Gigi Hoang saw a beautiful storefront open in the heart of their Uptown neighborhood two and a half years ago they decided on a whim to open a coffee shop. The cafe blends Vietnamese coffee and tea culture with Western-style sandwiches. 19, 2019 in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Ill. As always, consistency and quality is our main objective.įrom our humble roots we have gone on to open a second location in Meteghan and moved operations in Yarmouth into another larger location to serve the growing clientele of our region.Above: Gigi and Erin Hoang are sisters who own First Sip. Sip Café’s popularity grew very fast and we started seeing many repeat visitors. We then added a feature rock wall, as well as a fireplace, to create a warm and welcoming feeling for our visitors. We added a cozy sitting area large enough for 20 patrons. We transformed Sip Café into a European style coffee and tea shop, with an ever growing selection of coffee and tea drinks, as well as locally baked goods, fruit smoothies and in-store made gelato. space inside of City Drug Store Pharmachoice and became Sip Café. In late 2012, Sip was upgraded to a 1000 sq.ft. With daily tea tastings and word of mouth promotion, Sip quickly became the tea destination of the region. It was only a 10′ by 10′ space inside of City Drug Store Pharmachoice but contained over 100 varieties of teas from all over the world. Sip Café was first created in Yarmouth, NS, in 2012 as a Loose Leaf Tea only endeavor, simply called Sip. While we strive for quality, we also aim to bring you variety and keep innovating while we do this. Our mission is to bring top quality coffee and teas to the region at an affordable price. We are first and foremost coffee and tea lovers.
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