Our concept, our dream... (en baix català)
Christian and I moved to Spain over 12 years ago when the promising career of a Professional cyclist was offered to Christian in Girona, Spain. Starting as a Stagiaire, he was able to work his way to the top tier of the peloton, riding in races he had only dreamed of as a child. World Championships, The Classics in Europe to the National Championships in Canada…he was riding them all. Time was passing and while I was happy to support him, travelling and enjoying life of early retirement, the years were passing and I couldn’t ignore the urge to do something for myself. I wanted to do something that I would love just as much as he loved racing.
A couple days after Christian had finished his dream race, The Tour de France, he got a call up from his director for another block of days on the road. It hit me that his career didn’t have an end date as long as he was able to ride. I thought this big race would be the pinnacle of his time on the bike but I realised there was a potential 8-10 years still in the world of cycling for him.
I knew it was time to make a decision; go back to Canada where I could speak the language or start something, in Spain. We had always had a dream of opening a small cafe (that is where we first met so many years ago) and following a 5 hour conversation weighing out every single pro and con to the idea, we decided we were going to try and open a small, specialty coffee shop in our adopted hometown of Girona.
We found the location, put into a design all our ideas and slowly started to chip away at what we thought our ideal cafe would be. It was a big risk as there were NO specialty cafe shops in Girona but we had faith and truly believed if we built it, the people would come. With a menu based on all the places we had travelled around the world like Bali, Japan, Australia and Europe and incorporating an esthetic design that would honour the 100 century old carpenter's shop we had chosen as our “down the alleyway” location, paired with strong, double shot, freshly roasted coffee, 7 months later we opened La Fabrica. I just wanted to break even, so I would have something I could pour myself into.
La Fabrica was the beginning of us making our dreams a reality. We were able to see such a diverse group of people, from students to locals, tourists visiting from Barcelona and of course, Christians friends and cyclists from the peloton.
Fast forward a year later and we knew we wanted to be in control of the whole coffee process. Christian, still being a full time professional cyclist, decided to teach himself how to roast coffee. Starting on a small 250 gram roaster, he learned day by day and eventually, with one cafe under our belt, we ventured to our second specialty cafe and Girona’s only in house roaster. We opened Espresso Mafia.
8 months after the opening of Mafia and with Christian still cycling professionally, we couldn't help noticing a gap in the market for high end cycling offerings. Luxury boutique steel bikes, guided rides, sports massage, experienced mechanics and other services that you would need if you were on a cycling holiday, kept being requested in the cafes and we knew it was time.
We were going to open a bike shop.
knew I wouldn't be able to run three businesses alone and that Christian would need to be here full time. It was time to make a choice, professional cyclist, or business owner? It was a relatively easy decision for Christian as he had reached the highest level he was ever going to reach with cycling and was at peace with having achieved everything he had ever wanted to do in his career on the bike. He was ready to make the decision to stop cycling and continue his venture as a small business owner. The Service Course was born and we were now all in.
After just over a year of The Service Course’s opening, the concept was a hit and was growing faster than we could have imagined. Delivering services fit for a professional cyclist, paired with the amazing hub of Girona being our home base, the weather, roads, proximity to Barcelona, the fact that you could rub shoulders with one of many current world tour athletes here on the roads of Girona helped The Service Course grow.
We were approached by investors to take the bike shop to an international level. We agreed hoping to being our concept and passion to as many people as we could. We had never worked with partners, a board of directors or a CEO before and slowly it felt that the company was going a different direction than how we envisioned. We tried to keep it true to our dream but our attempt were now overturned by a lot of voices and ours got lost. It was painful to no longer be the driving vision of our company, so we both had to step away.
We are both now the majority shareholders in The Service Course and wish them all the best.
We fully own La Fabrica Girona and Espresso Mafia.
You can catch me in La Fabrica making coffees or doing computer work on the top bar and Christian is usually hanging around for lunch, roasting coffee in Espresso Mafia and now even running full time. In fact, he decided he loved long distance and trail running so much that in 2022 he opened a new shop in Girona called Overland Running Provisions.
It is a lovely little run shop that has created an amazing trail running community here, complete with open group runs every week, full moon runs in the mountains and of course all the apparel you need for a long jaunt in the hills.
Thank you for being a part of our dream. If you have a bit of time, here is a small video that sums up a bit of our life
Christian and Amber
El nostre concepte, el nostre somni...
En Christian i jo ens vam mudar a Espanya fa més de 12 anys quan a en Christian, a Girona, li van oferir la prometedora carrera de ciclista professional. Va començar com a ciclista en stage i va aconseguir arribar al capdamunt del pilot, participant en curses que només havia somiat de petit. Campionats del Món, les Clàssiques d'Europa, els Campionats Nacionals del Canadà... les corria totes. El temps passava i, tot i que jo estava contenta de poder-li donar suport, viatjar i gaudir de la jubilació anticipada, els anys passaven i no podia ignorar la necessitat de fer alguna cosa per mi mateixa. Volia fer alguna cosa que m'encantés tant com a ell li agradaven les curses.
Un parell de dies després que en Christian acabés la cursa dels seus somnis, el Tour de França, va rebre una trucada del seu director per a un altre bloc de dies a la carretera. Em va sorprendre que la seva carrera no tingués una data de finalització, sempre que pogués córrer. Vaig pensar que aquesta gran cursa seria el punt àlgid del seu temps sobre la bicicleta, però em vaig adonar que encara li quedaven 8 o 10 anys al món del ciclisme.
Sabia que era hora de prendre una decisió: tornar al Canadà, on podria parlar l'idioma, o començar alguna cosa a Espanya. Sempre havíem somiat amb obrir una petita cafeteria (allà és on ens vam conèixer fa tants anys) i, després d'una conversa de 5 hores sospesant tots els avantatges i els inconvenients de la idea, vam decidir que intentaríem obrir una petita cafeteria especialitzada a la nostra ciutat adoptiva, Girona.
Vam trobar la ubicació, vam plasmar en un disseny totes les nostres idees i, a poc a poc, vam començar a treballar en el que pensàvem que seria la nostra cafeteria ideal. Era un gran risc, ja que NO hi havia cafeteries especialitzades a Girona, però teníem fe i crèiem de veritat que si ho construíem, la gent vindria. Amb un menú basat en tots els llocs on havíem viatjat arreu del món, com Bali, Japó, Austràlia i Europa, i incorporant un disseny estètic que honorés la fusteria centenària que havíem triat com a ubicació "al fons del carreró", combinat amb un cafè fort, doble i acabat de torrar, 7 mesos després vam obrir La Fabrica. Només volia arribar al punt d'equilibri, per tenir alguna cosa en què pogués invertir-hi.
La Fabrica va ser el començament de fer realitat els nostres somnis. Vam poder veure un grup de persones tan divers, des d'estudiants fins a locals, turistes que visitaven Barcelona i, per descomptat, amics de Christian i ciclistes del pilot.
Un any més tard sabíem que volíem tenir el control de tot el procés del cafè. Christian, que encara era ciclista professional a temps complet, va decidir aprendre a torrar cafè per si mateix. Començant amb una petita torradora de 250 grams, va aprendre dia a dia i finalment, amb una cafeteria al nostre currículum, ens vam aventurar a la nostra segona cafeteria especialitzada i l'única torradora de la casa a Girona. Vam obrir Espresso Mafia.
8 mesos després de l'obertura de Mafia i amb Christian encara practicant ciclisme professionalment, no vam poder evitar notar un buit al mercat d'ofertes ciclistes d'alta gamma. Bicicletes de luxe d'acer, rutes guiades, massatges esportius, mecànics experimentats i altres serveis que necessitaríeu si fóssiu de vacances en bicicleta, es demanaven constantment a les cafeteries i sabíem que era el moment.
Anàvem a obrir una botiga de bicicletes.
Sabia que no podria dirigir tres negocis sol i que Christian hauria d'estar-hi a temps complet. Era hora de prendre una decisió, ciclista professional o propietari d'un negoci? Va ser una decisió relativament fàcil per a Christian, ja que havia arribat al nivell més alt que mai arribaria amb el ciclisme i estava tranquil per haver aconseguit tot el que havia volgut fer en la seva carrera amb la bicicleta. Estava preparat per prendre la decisió de deixar de practicar ciclisme i continuar la seva aventura com a propietari d'una petita empresa. Va néixer The Service Course i ara hi estàvem tots.
Després de poc més d'un any de l'obertura de The Service Course, el concepte va ser un èxit i va créixer més ràpid del que podíem haver imaginat. Oferir serveis dignes d'un ciclista professional, juntament amb l'increïble centre de Girona com a base d'operacions, el clima, les carreteres, la proximitat a Barcelona, el fet de poder codejar-se amb un dels molts atletes actuals del tour mundial aquí a les carreteres de Girona, va ajudar a The Service Course a créixer.
Els inversors es van posar en contacte amb nosaltres per portar la botiga de bicicletes a un nivell internacional. Vam acceptar amb l'esperança de ser el nostre concepte i la nostra passió per a tanta gent com poguéssim. Mai abans havíem treballat amb socis, un consell d'administració o un CEO i, a poc a poc, vam sentir que l'empresa anava en una direcció diferent de com havíem previst. Vam intentar mantenir-nos fidels al nostre somni, però el nostre intent va ser anul·lat per moltes veus i el nostre es va perdre. Va ser dolorós deixar de ser la visió impulsora de la nostra empresa, així que tots dos vam haver de marxar.
Ara tots dos som els accionistes majoritaris de The Service Course i els desitgem tot el millor.
Som propietaris al 100% de La Fabrica Girona i Espresso Mafia.
Em podeu trobar a La Fabrica fent cafès o treballant amb l'ordinador a la barra de dalt, i en Christian sol estar dinant, torrant cafè a l'Espresso Mafia i ara fins i tot corrent a temps complet. De fet, va decidir que li agradaven tant les curses de llarga distància i de trail que el 2022 va obrir una nova botiga a Girona anomenada Overland Running Provisions.
És una petita i encantadora botiga de running que ha creat una comunitat de trail running increïble aquí, amb curses en grup obertes cada setmana, curses de lluna plena a la muntanya i, per descomptat, tota la roba que necessiteu per a una llarga excursió pels turons.
Gràcies per formar part del nostre somni.
Christian i Amber
Hear what others have to say about us...
"A naturally sunny person who now acknowledges each customer's order with a chirpy "perfecto," Mr. Meier may be the shop's brooding auteur, but Ms. Meier is its leading lady... - The Globe and Mail
"The café is full of light and love, with every detail clearly carefully attended to by the owners. Greenery injects life. Exposed copper, concrete floors and an abundance of different varieties of wood along with the high ceilings, brick walls and cobbled stone entryway makes the open room feel large and inviting yet still intimate and cosy."- CyclingTips
"Este lugar está repleto de recuerdos y, sobre todo, antigüedades. Hay un poco de cada uno de los viajes que Christian y Amber han ido realizando a lo largo de sus vidas. Incluso ahora, cuando viajan siguen comprando detalles para añadir" - Condé Nast Traveler
"It’s not often you are lovingly served a latte by a Tour de France cyclist. But then, to be honest it’s not often in Spain that you are lovingly served a latte. Coffees here tend to be uncomplicated, cheap, fast and unadorned by pretty pictures of coffee beans and butterflies. La Fábrica Girona is veering from the norm." - Family Adventure Project