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From its early success serving coffee, pastries, and a small offering of lunch items, Cafémantic has been around for more than a decade and is surviving the storm that is COVID-19. At its helm is Andrew Gütt, a force to be reckoned with.
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At age 24, after graduating college, working in restaurants, gigging as a tech person for live music around the state, and trying his hand at teaching in Willimantic, Gütt raised funds to start a coffee shop that was “the opposite” of other places around town. A couple of years later, after morphing into a full-service restaurant, Cafémantic became a focal point of the dining scene in Willimantic and, in August of 2014, was discovered by the New York Times.
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Though planted firmly on the map of the Connecticut dining scene since the positive review, the crew of Cafémantic experienced a gas explosion during a catering job off-site in 2017, and a changing of the guard in the kitchen in September of 2019 not long before it was unexpectedly forced, in March of 2020, to face the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within a matter of days, Gütt reduced staff to a skeleton crew, began offering curbside options called Cafémantic at Home, and really started thinking about what would come next.
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Andy spoke to me about his beginnings as an entrepreneur after graduating from Eastern Connecticut State University, his creative culinary partnership with Executive Chef John Hudack, and the transition to a new kitchen team with Tyler May stepping in to fill Hudack’s shoes. Andy shared stories about how his business has evolved and continues to evolve with a new team and a reopening under a new identity and brand: Stone Row.
Interview recorded on June 6, 2020. Musical theme: “Cascades” Podington Bear, Soundofpicture.com.
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Super interview Benedicte! And really inspiring in these times!