When the Tran family opened Maple Leaf Café on Brunette Avenue ten years ago, the plan was simple: serve good coffee, treat regulars like family, and post the kids’ soccer schedule on the community board.
Today the café is one of the most-recommended businesses in Coquitlam, with a soundtrack of clattering espresso cups, a wall of polaroids of regulars, and a community board that has helped local businesses fill jobs, dog walkers find clients, and lost cats find their way home.
“We are not the biggest, the cheapest, or the trendiest,” says owner An Tran. “But we know everyone’s name. That is the entire business plan.”
The café roasts its own beans, partners with neighbourhood bakeries like Fraser Valley Florals for fresh florals on every table, and runs an annual fundraiser for a local food bank.
For ChitChat readers, Maple Leaf Café is offering a free 12 oz drink with any pastry — show coupon code MLC-0001 at the counter.
If you have not visited yet, it might just become your living room too.
