Mountain Time Zone on October 29, to be exact—Utah native Erica O’Brien opened the doors of The Rose Establishment for the first time. At first, business was OK. People were sort of freaked out by the idea of their coffee being brewed to order. Some folks walked out when they found out we didn’t have artificially flavored syrups for our drinks, or wireless Internet. One day, O’Brien decided that s
he wanted to put one of her favorite childhood snacks on the menu: buttered toast with cinnamon and sugar, along with avocado on toast and plain buttered toast. Oh, how quaint our little menu was back then. We evolved. Boy, have things changed. We built a kitchen in the back, and we offer a full brunch and lunch menu. We change it every season, and each new menu ends up containing the best food we’ve ever served. We’re a bakery, too—everything in that pastry case was made this morning. We made it. We never stopped learning, evolving, and forging our own path. We never got wireless Internet, and we still obsess over customer experience as much as we do espresso extraction. After five years, The Rose is still Salt Lake City’s other living room, as much for you as it is for us.
