Principles is a woman-/queer-/veteran-owned specialty coffee cafe opening soon in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. The shop is modelled after the dissident, anti-war, pro-peace Vietnam-War-era and Iraq-War-era GI coffee houses that operated wholly as coffee shops and eateries and also provided space for activist gatherings, grassroots charity and mutual aid events, and community-building endeavou
rs. Katie, the sole owner of Principles, is a Marine Corps veteran, active in the pro-peace movement, and the child of a bartender and waitress and thus she has a literal lifetime of experience in all things bar, restaurant, and cafe. Most recently, she has been a barista and manager at some of New York’s premiere boutique cafes and has devoted countless hours to professional development in the realm of coffee brewing and espresso. So much of the NYC coffee scene is taken up by serial entrepreneurs with no cafe or restaurant experience who come from money and thought it would be cute to own a cafe, because how hard could it be, right? Katie doesn’t come from money, but she’s scrappy and has a whole village on her side. It’s cliche to say that there’s no better time than now, but seriously there is no better time than *now* because the forest fire of 2020 has razed the landscape of stagnant growth and from it seeds of the next generation of businesses and ideas can flourish in the wake. The city is in a time of record high commercial vacancy and there is an overwhelming pent-up demand to gather and sip drinks in person and Principles is poised to thrive in that environment.
