The female-founded Gusto 54 Restaurant Group (the minds behind Gusto 101, Gusto 501, Trattoria Nervosa, Chubby's Jamaican and Azhar) is opening Café ZUZU (a community hub concept) in the middle of the Regent Park community.
They will have their soft launch on Wednesday, October 26, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., where they will be handing out *complimentary* coffee to the first 555 guests -- in honour of ZUZU's address on 555 Dundas Street East. Café doors will officially open on Friday, October 28, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Café ZUZU isn't just an ordinary coffee shop. Its atmosphere will be reminiscent of 1950s Italy, with Italian pastries and 'time-honoured beverages,' a co-working space, a retail section, a bottle shop and a local eatery. The space will also hold Gusto 54's commissary kitchen to continue serving their restaurants with prepared foods and catering projects.
Their café offering includes a traditional Italian blend for their espresso and their house blend for drip coffee. Like at the coffee house counters in Italy, grab-and-go will be the theme, with biscotti, bambolini, cornetto, cannoli and a mix of salads and sandwiches up for the taking.
To keep this 1950s Italian vibe translated into the interiors of ZUZU, Gusto has partnered with Future Studio who are well known in the city for "soft spaces" - they sourced retro furnishings, especially leaning into antique chandeliers and lights, to dress up the café. The space will also be full of marble plinths, natural stone and offcut pieces, and light wood. Café ZUZU will have two corner patios and have collaborated with Regent Park's beloved Lansdowne Cone to continue offering summer ice cream and gelato service.
The café side will be ready for us in October and is built with access to power/internet. When the restaurant side opens (they are aiming for November), guests will have the ability to subscribe to a coffee membership program and use the restaurant as a flex workspace; that side will include a meeting room with IT hookups that you can rent out.
"It is through our charitable arm Gusto Gives Back, that our restaurant's commitment to making an impact in the communities where they operate is shown. Café Zuzu will partner with local organizations in the community to maintain access to the space with a calendar of events centred around entrepreneurship in hospitality and women in leadership."
Café ZUZU will be open on October 28, 2022, with its restaurant/wine bar side opening in the following few months. The operating hours will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week.
