Bongo World
We started in 1993 with a single cafe called Bongo Java and have since added other coffee and food operations. We now unofficially call our entire operation Bongo World.
Bongo World consists of four cafes and a wholesale coffee roasting company. Each store has its own personality, look and menu. Overall, the company seeks to serve high-quality coffee and food in unique, comfortable atmospheres. We also have a commitment to sustainability. Thus, our coffee is 100% organic, bought directly from small-farmer cooperatives under the terms of Fair Trade.
Overall, we are best known as a coffee company even though our busiest operation (Fido) is really a restaurant.
We have received a ridiculous amount of press and awards since opening including
Named Best Coffeehouse by the alternative weekly Nashville Scene annually from 1994 – 2008 and have taken the top two places from 1997 – 2008.
We became world famous in 1996 for our brush with a future saint. (NunBuntm)
Being featured on Food Network’s $40 a Day with Rachel Ray
Owner Bob Bernstein was a featured speaker at three Specialty Coffee Association of America conferences.
And being named as One of 10 great places for Coffee and Conversation by USA Today.
Founding
Bongo was started by Bob Bernstein, a recovering political organizer and journalist. He moved to Nashville from his native Chicago in 1988 after graduating from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism to be a business and political reporter. Bob figured he'd be in Nashville for a year or two and then continue his journalism career in a bigger city.
Like all good plans, this one got quickly interrupted. Bob soon realized that he didn't want to do all the hard work it would take to get his dream job as a columnist for the Chicago Tribune (ala Mike Royko). He also realized that his entrepreneurial desires outweighed his news junkie status.
Bob quit his job days before turning 30 with the goal of opening a coffeehouse. At the time, Nashville didn't have a true coffeehouse. Bob had hung out in coffeehouses throughout high school, college and graduate school. He didn't really like coffee but he liked the cafe atmosphere. He had also worked in restaurants most of his life: fast food, waiting tables, bartending and valet parking.
Bongo Java opened about 15 months after Bob quit his job at the end of 1991. Bob raised money from private investors after banks said they wouldn't fund a place that only sold "coffee and donuts." Truly, Nashville banks hadn't noticed the caffeine craze that had already started on the West Coast.
Bongo World expanded in 1996 with the opening of Fido and Bongo Java Roasting Co. The two started in the same Hillsboro Village building before physically separating in 2000. The two operations were growing and the 3,500 sq. ft. space was no longer large enough. BJRC then moved to East Nashville. The new space also housed a much smaller cafe with a scaled back cafe dubbed East Cafe.
The next expansion happened a few years later with the opening of Grins Vegetarian Cafe. This veggie and Certified Kosher cafe operates on the campus of Vanderbilt University.
Our Operations
Bongo Java is Nashville’s oldest and most celebrated coffee company. The world-famous café serves a full menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our notoriety started in 1996 when employee Ryan Finney discovered a cinnamon bun that looked remarkably like Mother Teresa. The NunBun received world-wide publicity. The café has also become a local icon, being on every “Best of” list, included in song lyrics and a place people use as a reference point for giving directions.
Fido is darn popular yet is perhaps Nashville’s best food secret. The cafe evolved from an upscale coffeehouse with sandwiches into a chef-managed eclectic restaurant with great coffee. The menu includes such items as Breakfast Burritos, Fish Tacos and Grilled Chicken with sweet potato & bacon hash and specials include such things as gazpacho with pear and cucumber sorbet, grilled salmon over polenta and Thai Coconut Shrimp with wild rice cakes.
Bongo Java Roasting Co. is Nashville’s only certified organic and Fair Trade coffee company. The café started in 1996 simply supplying our own cafes. The café now supplies coffee to cafes, restaurants, bakeries and offices all over Nashville. We also have accounts all over the Southeast. Also our online store sells coffee to our loyal customers all over the country. All the coffee is roasted in small batches on a 50-year-old cast-iron German roaster.
Café East shares space with our wholesale roasting company in East Nashville’s 5 Points neighborhood. The working warehouse allows customers to be able to get a tour and a coffee lesson at no extra charge. The café serves a full line of pastries and a not-so-basic sandwich menu in addition to the great, fresh coffee.
Grins Vegetarian Café is Nashville’s first vegetarian and only Kosher café. However, most customers don’t care about the health or religious standards, they simply come because simply because the food is so darn good (many don’t even know that the café is vegetarian or kosher). Daily specials might include Mexican, Thai or Indian inspired dishes. The every-day menu includes wraps, soups and salads. The café is located on Vanderbilt University campus and is open to the general public with convenient parking. Grins is just darn tasty.Mr. Bongo - London
Center for Innovation in College Media Workshop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jrfXvA81IY
Freedom Forum Diversity Institute's multimedia training
program for young journalists
Southern Living
http://talesfromtheroad.southernliving.com/tales_from_the_road/2008/04/the-beanies-sls.html
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/10great/2003-09-29-coffeehouses_x.htm
Student Video
http://www.retinventingcollegemedia.org/conference2008/
(look for "Artsy cafe perks up diverse crowd")
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