Photo and text by Stacie Joy
Updated 2/28: The cafe will remain open. Read more about it here.
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The owners of Boris & Horton have put in motion an ambitious crowdfunding and subscription plan to help keep the city's first dog-friendly cafe open.
On Feb. 16, daughter-father co-owners Logan Mikhly and Coppy Holzman announced that the cafe was closing this coming Monday after six years of anchoring the NW corner of Avenue A and 12th Street. The new Williamsburg outpost was also shutting down.
Bottom line: They weren't making enough money, and as Holzman told NY1, "it's expensive to maintain top safety measures for a dog-friendly restaurant required by the Department of Health."
However, the cafe's fans rallied with ideas to help the business remain open, including selling various subscription boxes featuring dog treats as well as items from Boris & Horton's line of toys, mugs, t-shirts, baseball caps, hoodies and stickers.
Starting today, there's a crowdfunding campaign (info here) ... and a subscription box offered at different tiers to help raise $250,000... which needs to happen by Monday.
Here's more...
"We're hoping to generate some recurring revenue, which will allow us to keep the cafes up and running," Holzman told me last night. "We have a short amount of time to pull this off, and we're looking to the community to help amplify this effort. We're humbled by the outpouring of support so far, and we feel energized and excited about keeping the cafes open."
Previously on EV Grieve:
27 comments:
Wishing these guys the best but man, this is the sort of thing they should've been thinking about months ago. Spinning up this Hail Mary out of nowhere and needing to hit goals by Monday doesn't exactly reflect the business acumen of the B&H owners. I hope they hit their goal, but after that they should really sit down with a consultant (I'm sure plenty of people would volunteer to help them for free or very reasonable wages) and structure out a longer-term business plan to diversify their revenue streams to stay afloat.
Agree with the above. Additionally, regardless of the unique space they provide for dogs, a business cannot maintain that footprint when the majority of the sqft being used as a pseudo co-working space. A $5 coffee to sit for hours isn’t a sustainable NYC model. Unfortunately, this space is primarily a laptop farm with dogs. Nice for those patrons, but will never generate the revenue needed as it is.
Boris and Horton should look into London’s Cuppa Pug (they’re on IG). They look like they’ve got a viable model in terms of dogs and a meeting place. I hope Boris and Horton makes it!!!
Hi all! Logan from Boris & Horton here. Last week, we were dead set on closing, but this crowdfunding campaign is a result of the massive outpouring of support we received from our customers. If it is a success we 100% plan to work with a consultant and structure out a longer-term business plan.
>laptop farm with dogs
True. They should charge by the hour with a free drink every hour included.
I hope their customers realize that buying one cup of coffee and sitting at a table with a laptop for five hours is NOT a great way to support the business. Expecting customers to donate cash to help you stay open is also not a sustainable business model.
Yes, if people want this place to stay open, they need to treat it as something other than a Starbucks.
I wonder if they could add a small fee for seating in the dogs-allowed space (maybe at POS? like in Europe where they charge you more if you're going to eat in?). I think it would seem fair to people if explained clearly, as obviously there are more costs associated with keeping the dog space clean and tidy than on the human side! They could even sell a monthly pass to cover the "furcharge" for frequent visitors.
@ Sarah,
Furcharge! 🙌🙌🙌
The "furcharge" is a good idea to explore, as it reflects the reality that there are costs associated with dogs indoors (at least, safely; lots of bars allow dogs but could get slammed by the DOH for it). It also reflects having a warm/air conditioned/safe space for dogs, which isn't always the case in outdoor public venues.
From there, they could explore tiers of service to reward loyal visitors and incentivize them using the space (i.e. monthly/unlimited type plans). Maybe they could further partner with dog brands to get product at an attractive rate to either sell or provide samples to customers, and perhaps even offer some kind of discount/coupon back to those brands. After all, the level of person paying a "furcharge" to hang out with their dog in an EV coffee shop with other dog owners is already a more valuable customer than someone who refuses to pay.
There's still a cafe component to explore, but this is the right kind of vein to mine.
This whole story makes me happy, I really proves that his is our community and we can make a difference. Glad to help.
I have been a patron since day one, but the subscription box biz is notoriously tough, and a local shop isn't going to be able to compete with the more established brands right away if ever. It feels late in the game to even try something like that now, especially given the serious investment in marketing they will have to make to get customers beyond those of us in the area who know and love the business. Maybe shut down the Williamsburg extension and find a business partner able to provide the $250,000 they need to keep the business going? Expanding to a second location wasn't the best idea if the first location wasn't stable.
I’d love to see B+H survive and thrive. Several good ideas here. But the crux of it has to be a willingness for the folks who use B+H (and there always seem to be plenty) to fairly and reasonably pay for being there. And not cop out or cheap out or say “but I can’t afford it” (even if you can’t). The reason they’re closing is because B+H can’t afford you.
Starbucks can afford to be a “third space” workspace because…there’s thousands of them. They have the scale and volume to absorb people who come in, buy a $5 coffee, and then use the space, electricity, WiFi, and amenities for hours on end. Americans have gotten used to that, and expect it, especially from deep-pocketed large corporations like Starbuck and McDonalds.
But B+H is a true “Mom and Pop” — actually, a Daughter and Pop. And their one-off cafe model (agree Greenpoint seemed ill advised) is exacerbated by needing considerably more space to accommodate dogs, plus all of the additional costs borne by a business that has to deal with NYC health regulations (and I’m assuming hefty liability insurance) as well.
You can want a B+H in the neighborhood. You can get misty about their looming demise. But if you’re not willing to pay adequately for their space and services in order for them to stay open—while you and your dog enjoy the space, light, community, connectivity, bathrooms, etc—the shame is, in all truthfulness, on you.
As others have already stated, there is no way for a non-national chain cafe to survive with laptop jockeys spending a few $ for hours of free office space. My favorite cafe was forced to close because tables which were there for the lunch clients were hogged by the "We Work" crowd. This space which could fit 3 smaller businesses within it's footprint has given it up to non-paying visitors. I would charge a $20 entrance fee for the doggie date section and the dog free section can sell food and drinks like a real cafe and maybe stay in business. A charity mode is not sustainable either, so if you love this place, make sure you spend $20 each time you visit.
I see the subscription box as less of that (and competing with a Bark Box) and more of a monthly membership. It’s just the you can use the space even if you don’t have a membership (in the spirit of community) - so less like a gym and more like a museum where there are regular visitors and there are “members”.
I am interested in contributing financially but rather than donations, wouldn't they be better off soliciting a few investors among us? I wonder if they could share some more information about why they were saying they had to close. Are they in debt? Is either one of the cafes making a profit? It would be great to have more information and more of a sense of if this money is all they need to turn the corner, or if this is just a temporary measure.
I hope they can find a way to stay open. When we'd do out Italian Greyhound meetups in TSP, some of us would head over there afterwards and it's such a nice space.
This is a good opportunity for people to understand that buying a cup of coffee and parking yourself at a table for hours at a time with a laptop isn't helpful for local business. If the approach was more like a restaurant or cafe where customers are seated, someone takes their order, brings them and check and sends them off on their merry way... that might help. As a customer I'd support this approach.
If the laptop customers are not good for business, don't cater to them. That's what Starbucks and WeWork is for.
They were raising capital from investors back in 2022 / 2023 (think the minimum investment was $50K and you needed to be an accredited investor). If you’re interested, or have friends who are, you should contact them - https://borisandhorton.com/pages/contact
I love this place and want to see them thrive. But isn’t the owner worth around 100 million.
noble neolani has the right idea. Steep admission to the dog space, include some drinks and pastries. Cafes make their money on to-go. Charge the laptoppers as well. $5 / 1/2hr with an auto cutoff.
Probably too late for this venue but something to think about.
Or you can donate to save the Merchant House museum.
Can we aim to crowdsource $250K also for migrants and unhoused folks in the neighborhood 🤔
Lots more needs in our community for donations than a business that expanded beyond their means etc. That said if I want to donate or get a subscription do I get my money back if they don't make their goal and close or do they just pocket it.
Goodness, people. You know you can care about more than one thing, right? B&H has been a good community citizen. It would be a shame to lose them (you want another ****** unlicensed weed shop there?). Use your judgment on how you dispose of your discretionary income. This pitting reasonable causes against each other is a typical doomer tactic.
@Saah. The bogeyman man used to be "you want another bro bar", now it's weed shop. We had a great coffee shop there called OST for years so maybe we can get another one or something that benefits all of us not a niche yuppie business that expanded beyond their means and now wants a hand out. Give me a break.
I liked OST, too (in fact, you will see me mentioning it in the comments on the original post here about the B&H closure!), but you can't will a place like that into existence. Meanwhile, if you think I'm scaremongering, I invite you to review how many weed shops have already opened up along Avenue A in the past three years.
You don't think it's worth it? Don't contribute/order. That's fine. In a better-organized society, we'd have a spot where dogs could hang out (and events could be held to support rescue) indoors without depending on the market to provide it, but here we are. If people want to support that, spare them the "but migrants!!!" chiding. It's largely the same people supporting both, i.e., people invested in keeping this a livable neighborhood.
Is it wrong that I remember them donating to our garden raffle then taking it back because we do not allow visitor dogs in our garden? This probably will not be posted but being a good neighbor means being kind to the block. And our block is great. We plant tulips in the flower beds and pick up trash along the block.
Coppy is a very gopd business man and created Webvan.
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