A FAMILY HAUNT A MOTHER
&
DAUGHTER’S COFFEE SHOP
WORDS BY EMILY RZEZNICKI
I discovered The Brockton Haunt six years ago, while working as a line cook at a restaurant in the same neighbourhood. I was immediately charmed by co-owner and mother Kris, who upon making my drink, stated, “I don’t make drinks as well as my daughter Julie, but they’re still pretty good I think. Don’t tell her I said that if you see her, though.” When I bring this up at our interview, Julie laughs, and Kris scolds me but forgives me for doing exactly what I was told not to do. It became a natural part of my going-to-work routine to grab a coffee there, and the shop quickly became my favourite café in Toronto. I began to get to know Julie and Kris, and every visit I felt more comfortable with them. I have sent them Christmas cards, brought them baked goods from jobs, and lent horror movies to Julie, and I once talked to Kris for two hours while she worked. These instances illustrate The Brockton Haunt’s most defining quality, which is to be truly connected to the community and an embodiment of its namesake: a haunt. After moving to Toronto in 2011 from their hometown of Saskatoon, Julie and Kris began searching for the perfect area for their coffee shop. After discovering the current location, Kris researched the neighbourhood demographics and the competition. Kris says, “There were already a few coffee shops in the area, and there was one in particular that we felt would be our biggest competition, but we also didn’t let it intimidate us.” Choosing the name came after finding the area. “Scouting around, we found out that it was called Brockton Village. My daughters [Julie is the youngest of three] had said to call it ‘the Haunt’ because it’s
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a popular term in Saskatchewan,” says Kris. Julie adds, “We had lots of ideas, but we wanted to incorporate the village name and came up with Brockton Haunt.” Kris says, “We love hearing people refer to us as ‘the Haunt’; we’ve become part of their vocabulary, and that is really cool.” It’s no surprise when Julie tells me that the comfort I felt with Kris is also shared by many of the Haunt’s other regulars. Julie boasts of her mom, “People have always felt compelled to talk to her; they see her as a safe person and [she] is able to have deep conversations that I don’t [have]. She is a neighbourhood mom.” Both tell me about being able to see each other’s personality reflected in their customer service. For Kris, it was a natural transition after having spent 10 years working as a social worker in Saskatoon. “You have to be a good listener as a social worker, and that is integral in this business as well. Two ethics come out in a coffee shop: listen and don’t give advice.” Both felt that owning a cafe would provide an opportunity for them to give the social experience they had missed out on at cafés in Saskatoon. Julie says, “I never got to experience being a regular at a coffee shop, but now I get to have that with my customers.” Also important for both women was to provide a quality product alongside a great customer experience. Kris adds, “Coffee was always a passion for us; back home we were always on a quest for good coffee. We wouldn’t serve a coffee that we don’t like ourselves.” Part of the unique charm of The Brockton Haunt is that the shop reflects its owners, and while wanting to appeal to customers, they never sacrificing their own vision to do so. Julie says, “Building it was a combined effort; we either found everything together or physically built everything.” Kris chimes in, “Point to anything, and we made it. The bar,
