Café W is a relatively new enterprise, launched as part of the refurbishment of the Waterstones brand, last year. There are only a handful of these Waterstones-run coffee shops, and the Edinburgh West End branch is one of these select few.
Jonathan Taylor is the manager of Café W Edinburgh West End, and he took time out from his nefarious experiments in coffee to answer your humble editor’s questions…
Andrew Jamieson: Who exactly are you and what do you do?
Jonathan Taylor: Hello Geekzine! I’m Jonathan and I run the Café W at Waterstones West End in Edinburgh. It’s my job to make sure the Cafe performs to it’s staggering potential.
AJ: What was your background prior to becoming manager of Café W at Waterstones West End?
JT: Well I had never worked in a Café before, which may come as something of a surprise. I very much like drinking coffee but I had absolutely no experience in running a Café.
I’ve worked for Waterstones for five years now in different stores and at different positions, so I thought that it would be an interesting challenge to help set up and run Café W.
AJ: What makes Café W stand out from amongst such competitors as Starbucks, Cafe Nero, Costa, and so on?
JT: Well, I like to think that Waterstones is well known for its outstanding customer service, and that’s something we also bring to the Café. The other big difference is that we have been tasked by head office to source all our stock as locally as possible. So whereas the other coffee shops will have a central hub miles away from the actual shop, for the processing of their cakes and sandwiches, we get the majority of our cakes and all our sandwiches from only a mile or two away.
Situated on the top floor of the West End branch, the coffee shop has a great view of the castle and Princes St Gardens
AJ: As a manager of one of the few exclusive Waterstones-only Café W bars currently open (more are coming), what expectations were there upon the shop opening? Have these been exceeded?
JT: I think because this is such a new venture for Waterstones there were very few expectations other than to make more money out of having our own coffee shops than renting the space to a chain. That and to be able to source our stock locally were the two most important things, and we’ve been able to achieve that which makes me very happy.
AJ: Café W is also used as an event space for the Waterstones West End store – is this disruptive in any way, or does the space work well for such co-use?
JT: It works well. We can get around 130 people in for events, which is a big plus for a store like ours that should be attracting big authors. Because some of the machines we have in the café are quite loud we have to make sure all the cleaning up is done before the event starts, so we’ll close the café up to an hour and a half before we normally would. When we first opened it was a bit of a scramble to get everything ready in time but we’re all used to it now.
AJ: Are you a big reader? If so, what do you like?
JT: I adore reading, so I’m very lucky that I get to work for a company that loves books as much as I do. I read fantasy and sci-fi books more than anything else, I’ve just torn through the Ben Aarononvitch’s ‘Peter Grant’ books (we had an event with him about a month ago). The book I’ve read more than any other is ‘The Name Of The Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss, which I just never tire of.
Jonathan Taylor, manager of Café W Edinburgh. A bearded titan amongst men.
AJ: Your cafe has recently started selling cakes from the renowned Cuckoo Bakery – what is it about these cakes that makes them so special?
JT: Most importantly they taste fantastic. In fact I’d go as far as saying that they’re the best cakes I’ve ever eaten. Another important thing is that the people who run Cuckoo’s Bakery, Vidya and Graham, really love and care about what they’re doing. I don’t think the things they bake would be half as good if they didn’t put as much hard work and love into them as they do.
AJ: Do you have a favourite coffee?
JT: Latte. I know that as someone who loves coffee I should say espresso or just a black coffee but I enjoy making and drinking lattes. Never in a tall glass though. They’re just a pain.
Thank you to JT for his time. He makes a great Flat White, by the way.
Andy Jamieson, Editor-in-Chiefdom, Geekzine UK
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