High Point Cafe Expands Its Operation

Two years ago, Meg Hagele of High Point Café started getting “ants in her pants.”

“I was getting restless.  I was talking to my friend Maine who roasts the coffee for High Point right now, and she said, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’” Hagele said.

Hagele added, “I told her, ‘I think I want to start roasting coffee.’”

The seeds for High Point Wholesale had been planted.

Hagele opened her first High Point Café at 602 Carpenter Lane in 2005 after she had worked, lived and owned her own coffee shop in Seattle.

“I cut my barista teeth in Seattle,” Hagele said.  “But my real interest was in customer service.  That’s my thing.”

High Point caught on, but Hagele quickly realized the space on Carpenter Lane had its limitations.

“Our kitchen is less than 100 square feet,” Hagele said.  “We have to make 300-500 pastries for our two locations out of there.”

“We’re the kind of place that makes all our own stuff.  We make our own chocolate sauce.  We make our own simple syrup for our ice tea,” Hagele said.

The idea for High Point Wholesale started to grow.

A couple of years ago, a former employee of Hagele’s opened her own coffee shop in West Philadelphia. 

“We did a test run of selling our pastries at other locations.  It went well, but our kitchen just wasn’t big enough,” Hagele said.

It was time to expand.

Hagele had originally looked at 6700 Germantown Ave. several years ago when this idea first hit her, but the building wasn’t exactly what she wanted.

“It used to be offices in there,” Hagele said.  “It was like a maze.  I couldn’t picture it in my head.”

So, Hagele forgot about expansion for a while, but then fate stepped in again.

“Stephanie Rowley is a regular in my store, and she’s been in the food industry in Philadelphia forever.  Whenever she came in I would joke, ‘You misplaced your resume.  I don’t see your resume on my counter,” Hagele said.

Hagele added, “I kept saying, ‘Come on, let’s play together.’”

Eventually Hagele word down Rowley and she came on board.

It also just so happened that Rowley is a trained sommelier who wanted to get into the coffee roasting game herself.

“She came with the real intention of wanting to roast coffee.  She’s bringing that experience and passion,” Hagele said. 

It seemed that all of the stars had aligned, now High Point just needed a space.

“I was looking in Germantown really earnestly,” Hagele said.  “Then, I remembered that building from several years ago.”

6700 Germantown Ave. was originally slated to become a Wingstop franchise, but the breaks were put on that project.  High Point stepped in.

“It’s the right time and the right place,” Hagele said.  “When I think of the outpouring of support we’ve received it makes me want to cry. “

High Point Wholesale will have no retail presence at 6700 Germantown Ave., but Hagele is:

“I’m super excited.  I already of three or four cafes that are waiting for me to get up and running and make my first delivery.”