Here is an essay about our experiment at the cafe last year. The self-service tea and coffee station will remain, so at least a part of the original idea will remain alive. The rest is at the discretion of the new owners.

The Meaning of Huzanity Cafe

history
Qupqugiaq has been operating for about five years. The building in midtown Anchorage, at 640 West 36th Avenue, contains a café, school and inn. We have remodeled it several times to try to improve the businesses, and to express in physical form the spirit we are seeking (mainly through the use of natural materials and asymmetric curves).
The café operated two years as part of a popular community center; and a year as a worker owned cooperative. These experiments, though interesting, were not sustainable. After another long period of remodeling, we now want to bring a whole new spirit to the café, based on what we have learned from the previous attempts. We want to address directly the way human relations are defined and limited by institutions—and how changes in business form can help to transform human relations.

introduction
The purpose of Huzanity Café is to address the way human relations are structured by institutions. Typically there are fixed roles, hierarchy, and the division of labor. In business relationships, money is exchanged for goods and services. Interactions tend to be sterile and mechanical. Is it possible that changes in the form of a business can help to transform human relations? The goal of Huzanity Café is to explore these issues.
At Huzanity Café customers prepare their own food at various stations. The elimination of the cook and most other staff transfers responsibility for the food to the person who consumes it. This reduces specialization, hierarchy, and authority, which characterize our time. And it sets the stage for a change in the dependent, structured human relations, which are typically a result. It also puts strangers side by side in one of the most fundamental acts of humanity—food preparation.
Are these questions too big for a small café and school? The questions are not, but the answers may be. At least we can focus our attention on these fundamental issues. If we reveal and see and admit the truth about our relationships, maybe we will become capable of something more.

How can Huzanity Cafe transform relationships?
A cafe is one of the few public spaces left in our increasingly privatized cities. The great beauty of public spaces is that they provide the opportunity for people to meet each other without any ulterior motives, without any personal needs to be met. Our cafe is designed to do just this. It encourages conversation, education, understanding, and whatever else can nurture this particular form of relationship.
At Huzanity Cafe customers prepare their own food at various stations. The elimination of the cook and most other staff transfers responsibility for the food to the person who consumes it. This reduces specialization, hierarchy, and authority, which characterize our age. And it sets the stage for a change in the dependent, structured human relations, which are typically a result. It also puts strangers side by side in one of the most fundamental acts of humanity—food preparation.
We are always spectators, except in the few endeavors in which we ourselves are the specialists. Passivity breeds dullness. Sitting at a table consuming prepared foods, listening to recorded music, subtly dulls the mind by making us dependent on the distant achievements of others. It is far more likely that one will talk with strangers if one is working with them. It is good to sip a latte and contemplate the world. But it is also important to work together.

Features of Huzanity Cafe
While there is no cook or waiter, there is a greeter and guide, who introduces huzanity ideas and the cooking procedures, keeps the place clean, and assists customers. The guide may also make espresso drinks.
The design of the food stations is the most critical, difficult, and creative part of the formation of the cafe. They should be organized to assure speed and portion control. Items cooked should be simple but delicious. Each station must involve at least one significant, active cooking task. Some possibilities: panini (grilled Italian) sandwiches, burritos, pizza, steak, smoothies, specialty teas and drip coffees.
There may also be some prepared foods available, such as desserts and salads.
A certain amount of preliminary food preparation, to stock the trays with cut vegetables and other items, will be required for each station. This job should be completed before the cafe is open each day.
Colorful signs and placards will explain how to use the stations.
The food preparation stations are the most obvious way that Huzanity Cafe differs from other restaurants. But it is only through the synergy of many conscious alterations that the real spirit of the place will be arise:
While there is no cook or waiter, there is a greeter and guide, who introduces Huzanity ideas and the cooking procedures, keeps the place clean, and assists 'customers' (we should find a better word for that!) The guide may also make espresso drinks.
There could be seating designed so that strangers can sit with each other.
Food should be chosen according to huzan standards. It is hardly justified to consume food made with sugar produced by laborers working under slave-like conditions, even if they are far away in a place unknown to us, and even if we have inspired conversations when we are eating it. Especially if we are making moral claims.
There will be educational activities and community events, such as meetings, discussions, slide shows, videos, etc.
There will be an active reciprocal relationship with Qupqugiaq School.

The worker
We wish to have no authority, in which one person is higher than another. There should be no hierarchy of persons. We wish to minimize the role of management, which exists separate from and higher than those who are doing the actual work. In order for this to be possible, there must be authority of a different kind: the free choice of all who enter to embrace its founding principles. When this occurs, the action of enforcing the rules, and defending and improving the business, will be based on freedom and love.
The cafe is not designed for the enjoyment of the worker or the customer. The worker should feel, think and act as if he or she is the owner. There is no one else to wait for or to appeal to. This means, for example, that he cannot be satisfied to fulfill the narrow responsibilities of his job: he is responsible for the overall quality of the entire business. He should address problems beyond the narrow scope of his own duties; and he should actively seek to improve the overall quality of the business.

What we are not
To say that this is a 'public space' and a 'community center,' that it 'belongs to the people,' does not mean that it is a democracy where people can do what they want. It does not mean that all choose equally, that the majority rules, or that each can do as he pleases. That is confusion and self-interest.
Huzanity Cafe is not meant to be all things to all people. It begins with principles which are its heart and soul. They are not subject to negotiation. It is in the service of those principles, that cooperation is possible.
All are welcome as customers, whether they approve of the principles or not. But as long as they are on our property, they must abide by them. We have a higher standard for worker members. Only those who actually approve of the principles, and who work to defend and elaborate them, are welcome as members of the cooperative.
What we oppose
We are opposed to any action which exploits others by treating them as objects. And we are opposed to self-gratification, when it takes place at the expense of awareness and understanding. That is why we ban promiscuous and obscene behavior; the consumption of alcohol; and many kinds of music.
Sexual talk--jokes, allusions or insinuations of any kind--is strictly prohibited anywhere on the property. It shows a fundamental disregard for our principles. There is absolutely no tolerance of this, under any conditions.
Music often serves to stimulate self-centered and hedonistic feelings. If it unites people, it does so on the basis of shared pleasure and fantasy. It is most often employed as a tool to distract people from the real world they are in; and it makes understanding based on face to face communication almost impossible. That is why we strictly limit the level and kind of music that can be played. Enjoyment of music is not the goal of this place. There are many other venues for music in this town.

Economics
Unless the cafe is economically successful it will not be sustainable. The owner is willing to accept a reduced rent payment for the first few months of operations only. And workers must be fairly paid if they are to retain their enthusiasm.
Economic viability is an unexpected potential bonus of our design. That is because one of the main expenses of restaurants is labor, which is typically about a third or more of gross sales. This cost will be dramatically reduced. While food prices may be moderately lower than normal, the labor savings should mean a high profit margin on each item sold.
There will be a handful of paid positions: food preparation and cleaning; the greeter/guide; and the general manager. The greeter/guide could also serve espresso drinks. This idea, while creating a middleman, would give the guide a useful task, and give the business an economic boost.
Our goal should be to break even, after paying all expenses, within three to six months. According to the following chart, this might be possible with moderate sales of about $500 a day. When sales exceed this amount, significant profits are possible--much greater than profits from a normal restaurant at the same sales level.
Possible breakdown of costs and profit:
Daily gross income $300 $400 $500 $700 $900
Food cost 100 135 165 235 300
Labor 100 150 150 150 150
Rent & utilities 100 100 100 100 100
Misc. 50 50 85 100 100
Profit (Loss) (50) (25) 0 115 250
Monthly Profit (1500) (750) 300 3,450 7,500

Summary
Our work can serve a higher purpose, not just our own needs. This may help to improve society. It may also lead us to what is good, to love, and to spirit--not as platitudes or dogmas, but in tangible ways, expressed in visible action in the real world.
Relationships in typical institutions
Most interactions in society are materialistic and mechanical. We give what we have to and we take what we can. We seldom cease to compare, and judge costs and benefits, trying to maximize our gain. The result is a slow and steady dulling of the mind.
To this world of economic relationships we may try to bring values, of love or compassion, for instance. We can carve out a niche where, in private spaces, among friends and family, we attempt to establish authentic human relationships. But the effects are invariably limited. They depend on the force of personal energy alone, and entails a fight that is never possible to win for long, because the institutional arrangements are so entrenched.
How restaurants function
A customer enters the restaurant, and consciously or not, sets out to make numerous judgments: the quality and the price of the food, the speed and friendliness of the service, the cleanliness and general atmosphere. He resolutely seeks what he desires. This is a fact of life. And this is just what we want to change.
A restaurant attracts customers by what it offers them. It provides a fleeting enjoyment for private parties. This is not what we want to cater to. If we attracted a big crowd and satisfied customers and made lots of money, but did not accomplish a higher purpose, we would be dissatisfied, because popularity and success are meaningless.
What we are looking for
Idealistic and realistic people to help design, create, and operate the cafe! And we especially need a person to take overall responsibility for a period of at least six months. Salary would depend on the success of the business
Feel free to come over and take a look at the space and talk with us (Geoff or Diana). Or e-mail us a cafe[at]qupq.com