Emma Campbell and Caroline Murphy, owners of Corner Peach, offer a unique take on a classic cafe concept.
A coffee shop in the daytime where you can still grab a unique cocktail but at night transitions into a bistro that serves seasonal fare.
Campbell says Corner Peach is what they’ve always wanted. It’s a vision of duality that she thinks makes her cafe one of the more unique ones in Ottawa.
“Being able to get a donut and coffee to-go but also being able to sit down and have a nice glass of wine and a good home cooked meal, we do both. Doing the all-day thing is a little different,” she says.
Campbell is the front-of-house manager at Corner Peach and also a former uOttawa student. She has also attended the Richard Robinson Academy for fashion design.
After going to Richard Robinson, Campbell opened a small fashion design company and sold it to a local boutique. After taking a break from fashion, she started working in restaurants. During this time she was at Algonquin for cabinet making.
Corner Peach is aimed mainly at younger adults, but Campbell says Ottawa now has a wider range of people getting into the foodie scene.
“During the day it’s younger but at night we have groups of older ladies that will come in and it’s kind of their hangout,” she says
Being a new business, Corner Peach has not yet turned a profit but Campbell says they are hitting expected revenue.
Opening a business is always challenging and Corner Peach is no exception. Campbell admits that the paperwork that comes with owning a business can be difficult to manage at times.
“As someone who doesn’t really know that side of things, there’s a lot of legalities and formalities,” she says. “For like a normal person your reading contracts that are over your head but you think you know what’s going on. That kind of stuff was pretty difficult.”
Campbell is always feeling inspired and she likes to constantly think of new ideas for her business.
“Inspiration keeps me up, thinking like I can’t wait to get in tomorrow and work on this cocktail,” says Campbell. “Or this dish will pop into your head and me and Caroline will talk about that. It’s not like anxiety that keeps me up, it’s wanting to keep going that keeps me up.”
