Chaco Canyon Organic Café

Great vegan eats

Since he was 14, Chris Maykut knew he wanted to own a restaurant. His vision? Italian, pasta, jugs of red wine. Reality? He's opening his third location of an organic, vegan café.

The third location of Chaco Canyon Organic Café will open this month in Greenwood. Like the University District and West Seattle locations, it will be certified organic by Oregon Tilth and serve sandwiches, raw entrées, salads, all-day breakfast, and gluten-free grain bowls. There's beer, wine, cider, and their homemade kombucha. Sure, it's a great place to eat if you have allergies or the desire to eat things that don't leave a huge footprint on the planet. But it's also a great place to simply get a good meal. "Good food takes time," says Chris. "Don't expect a sandwich or bowl to be fast food. No sandwich is pre-made and wrapped in cellophane. They're made to order." They team up with local farms to offer monthly specials and special soups.

Portobello sandwich

The Greenwood location is large enough to become their centralized kitchen and offer the potential for more growth. It will allow them to source more farms and buy more local product, as well as offer more wholesale items and increase catering. It will have a kids area, like the West Seattle site. "West Seattle is near a day care. Probably 20-30% of our business is moms and kids," says Chris.

"We were first in Seattle to have an every day raw food menu," says Chris. "I wanted to prove business school wrong-back then WalMart was revered. I wanted to do it differently-run an ethical business, provide a joyful/empowered work environment, and offer a food product with as low an impact on the earth as possible. We don't do the "within 100 miles" thing because we want to offer mangos and bananas. Our mission is to have a zero impact on earth. It's impossible, but if we try to reach that goal every day, we'll be doing something right." As they open their third location and employ 75 people, they are adhering to their values more than ever.

Pesto bowl

Umberto's Italian restaurant in Pioneer Square was the first place Chris worked, followed by a dishwashing job at Lowell's. He attended business school in Berkeley and stayed in the Bay Area for 10 years. "I realized I did not want to do anything in finance," he laughs. "But I did get good accounting skills!" He worked in San Francisco restaurants for six years, including Millenium, an upscale vegan restaurant. "It totally changed my perspective on food and how inventive you can be. Guests would tell me it was the best meal they'd ever had. I was a vegetarian for awhile, but it didn't work for my body type."

Returning to Seattle, Chris worked at Carmelita for a year, using his tip money to buy an engagement ring for Samantha (who he knew he would marry, also at the age of 14-it took 16 years to get there, but like good food…).

"Jobwise, I wanted to make a difference. On a whim, I started Chaco Canyon in September of 2003. At the University Farmers Market, I met the Flying Apron owner who told me there was an open space next to them beneath Cedars on 50^th. Samantha suggested I start a café. I went through several business plans before starting a juice/espresso bar. Lois Rivera, a chemistry major from Cornell helped out the first few months. One day she decided 'no more lab, we need food here.' She brought food in and she's still with Chaco Canyon as Head Chef. "Lois creates simple, compelling food; she's amazing," says Chris. "High quality with innovative flavor profiles." Without an oven or hood, she began with raw composed food, and business began to grow. When they moved to new digs in the University District, they added grain bowls and sandwiches. Business almost tripled.

Lois and Chris

They've added a retail area, selling gluten-free bread mixes, soap, sprouters; unique products that aren't perishable. "We have less than 1% waste at the cafes, so we don't want to produce perishable items that, if they don't sell quickly, we'll have to throw out," he explains.

Catering-wise, they do 3-4 weddings per year, but they don't advertise. "We've done fancy wedding dinners for 200 and casual events with finger food and napkins. We definitely want to grow this part of our business." He'd also like to see their wholesale growth continue. "We have exceptional baked goods and want to get those into small places. We've done Whole Foods and it didn't work."

With Greenwood, Chris hopes to get nearer to his goal of running a profitable, sustainable business, focused on sound environmental standards. They've created an employee wage plan that will keep pace with COLA (cost of living adjustment), above state and federal minimums not counting tips or health care. "That's the goal; we really want to make this happen," he says.

"We want to do something different. We do a lot in the community, but want to do more. We'd love to create a space in the South End where we can provide nutrient dense food for the same price as McDonald's. We already do a 'sliding bowl scale' in the U District where people pay what they can for a rice and veggie bowl."

Chris isn't looking to grow in a big way. He'd like to see a fourth location on the Eastside, and maybe one more. "I can make more money doing other things. But if we can create this sustainable business that's good for the earth and people, I will have lived a good life."

Chaco Canyon Organic Café

University District (photo)
4757 12^th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105
206-522-6966

West Seattle
3770 SW Alaska St
Seattle, WA 98126
206-937-8732

Greenwood
8404 Greenwood Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103

www.chacocanyoncafe.com

Photos courtesy of Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe

Connie Adams/November 2014