A popular coffee spot in Charlotte Amalie closed its doors Friday. The My Brother’s Workshop Cafe & Bakery has been serving downtown residents and business people for the past 10 years.
The blue shutters that have opened every morning to greet the customers were shut by Friday at noon. Inside, a group of workers continued serving those who passed through the cafe doors and made their way to the counter. One of them passed the outdoor table where Chef Ashley Allen sat to say she and her co-workers came in that day to buy lunch.
Allen, once the food and beverage manager at the Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas, now heads the workshop’s culinary training program. He told a visitor the cafe was moving to the MBW complex in Estate Donoe. The new location features a 10,000 sq. ft. facility and six kitchens, allowing the workshop to train more students simultaneously. There will also be a smaller, street-level cafe serving businesses, shoppers and residents in the area of Market Square East.
The Backstreet location had to close and relocate, Allen said; the woodworking shop at Tutu Park Mall and other facilities around the island would be relocating too.
“We are very excited and as well very sad to leave the location, but we’re looking forward to the new opportunities and the new venture that we are moving into,” Allen said.
The cafe was started by then-MBW Director Scott Bradley. It was used as a construction project for the center’s trainees, Allen said. When the organization’s leaders looked at the result, they decided to occupy it, operate it, and use it as a means to train at-risk students in culinary arts.
About 30 students are enrolled in the training program yearly. They learn cooking and baking, kitchen maintenance and how to perform customer service. The chef says about 150 students have completed the program at the Backstreet location since the cafe first opened.
During that time, then-owners — Topa Properties — restored a historic feature at the location also known as Bakery Square. The free-standing oven found just outside the kitchen was part of the original Lockhart Bakery complex, said State Historic Preservation Director Sean Krigger.
“The Charlotte Amalie Fire Insurance Map of 1897 shows the kitchen structure in place. I know it’s at least 130 years in age,” Krigger said.
The property’s new owner, Crystal Blue Operations, has let the preservation office know it intends to see that future tenants stay in compliance with historic district guidelines,” the director said.
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