Food For Thoughts Cafe celebrated its Grand Opening at the beginning of February and is owned by Coronado locals.
Coronado locals Hillari Hamilton and Kai Schoettke, with their business partner Toby Moeller-Bertram, are the proud owner operators of the new “Food for Thoughts Café” located just across the bridge on 26th Street in a building that used to house the Physicians and Surgeons hospital of San Diego.
Kai came here from Germany twenty years ago to attend college. He has an MBA in finance from San Diego State University. He prefers the weather here to that in Germany, met Hillari while at SDSU, and “never went home.”
Hillari is a successful chiropractor and Kai works in real estate. The opening of the new café is a family venture and includes the vision of eventually being a full service restaurant and butcher shop. Hillari offered that, “We want to inspire great minds to come together and discuss great ideas over coffee.” The café has seating inside and several tables outside as well. Presently there is limited food prep, but an extensive array of organic Moto coffee drinks and smoothies. The Acai bowl is a customer favorite, as are the brownies, a bargain at only a dollar each. The fresh, locally made bagels with cured lox and cream cheese is also extremely popular. Kai cures and smokes the lox himself.
The café is adjacent to the Albert Einstein Academy, a German-American middle school. There is an elementary campus in South Park and a high school currently in the planning. The location of Food for Thoughts Café was strategic to the location of the school. In addition to the coffee and eats, the café also offers German candy. Kai laughed when he shared that they originally figured the kids would enjoy the authentic German candy, but quickly found it’s popular with the parents because the children haven’t been exposed to it.
The space is creatively organized, especially considering it used to be a hallway connecting two sides of the building. The hallway has been closed off and one end now features a drink cooler and a food cooler. There are frozen yogurt machines that will be operational in the near future. The other side of the space has large steps for sitting and relaxing and features plenty of electrical outlets where customers can charge their phones or other devices. Old books were used as part of the décor and recycled pallets were disassembled, stained different colors and used to cover the walls. Kai has constructed the tables that are on the outside deck and the shelves along the railing.
You can find Kai in the shop every day, Tuesday through Friday and on the weekends. Toby works in the shop Saturdays through Mondays. The space is a work in progress and Kai estimates (and hopes) that the restaurant and butcher shop will pass health and building department inspections and be open by September 1 of this year.
The drive from Coronado to the corner of 26th and J, where the café is located, takes about 10-12 minutes without traffic. It’s a great commute from the island. Kai and Hillari originally lived in San Diego, but moved to Coronado about five years ago when they realized “all our friends lived over there (in Coronado) and we spent every weekend there anyway. We thought we might as well not have to drive back over the bridge.” They have two children, a daughter who is nine, and a son who is seven. The family loves Concerts in the Park and hanging out with friends at the Del. Both of their children play CYSL recreational soccer and made the all-star team this past season. They also both participate in the junior lifeguard program in Coronado, making them comfortable in the water, says their dad.
“We love that you can walk everywhere and bike everywhere. We love the beach,” says Kai.
It’s exciting to have the café open and the restaurant and butcher shop dream within reach. Since moving from Germany, Kai has always wanted to make German sausage, but shares that it’s “a daunting undertaking.” In 2012, he met Toby Moeller-Bertram through his children’s school. Toby had the equipment, a cart for events and was making sausage. Running four pain clinics in Palm Springs, however, meant that he didn’t really have the time. Kai’s real estate job is more flexible and so, the two men decided to become partners.
They have been refining their sausage recipes ever since. Their product is of the highest quality because they don’t use any fillers, only meats. Many sausages contain bread, tofu or soy as fillers. They purchase the meats, grind it themselves and use spices flown in from Germany. They currently make their sausages for special events and personal functions, but also sell it online. They use a commercial kitchen in Ocean Beach to make the sausage and then sell it frozen. The sausage cart is used for catering events. Last year they met a German butcher who was looking for work. They hired him and have been learning a great deal. He comes from a family who owns and operates 17 sausage shops in Bavaria. You can check out their offerings at their website.
If you find yourself over the bridge, or if you just want a change of pace, visit the Food for Thoughts Café for some gourmet coffee and other treats.
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Kellee Hearther
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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