Quiet Storm is a cafe/coffeehouse in Friendship/Garfield that serves as meeting place and showcase for artists and performers. The 2-year-old establishment on Penn Avenue has seen business grow but no profits. Founder Ian Lipsky, who will address the situation at a meeting there tonight at 6 p.m., described Quiet Storm.

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Ian Lipsky, owner of the Quiet Storm Cafe -- "I've been determined not to have this building follow a conventional model." Click photo for larger image.

How did the Quiet Storm get started? I've had a long-standing, drive to open up a coffee shop. I became aware that the Friendship Development Associates had bought this building, which had been a nuisance bar. When I saw it, I felt a strong connection. It was filthy and it stank of old cigarettes, but I still saw an opportunity to transform it into something else.

How did you finance it, and what risks did you take? I underestimated the initial cost. I thought the project would cost maybe $15,000 to $20,000. It ended up being closer to $50,000. Everybody told me that would happen. Fortunately I have a very generous father who loaned me some money. Plus, I used a loan from the (nonprofit community group) Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., and low-interest credit cards. After close to three years of work and construction, I still haven't been able to pay myself, nor have we been able to pay the other principals. We live struggling to figure out how we can pay salaries. And yet the good news is that the sales and visits here have increased steadily since opening -- it's been about 30 to 40 percent annually.

What sets you apart from other East End coffeehouses? I've been determined not to have this building follow a conventional model. I'm not interested in capturing the mainstream part of the Pittsburgh market. What we lack in Pittsburgh is something that addresses our diversity, whether you're talking our diversity of backgrounds, interests, whatever. As far as I know, no vegetarian restaurant has succeeded here for very long, but that's what I want to do. Some people said I should serve hoagies, fast food or pizza. But I'm trying to serve the 30 percent to 40 percent who don't want that.

What advice would you give to somebody seeking to do this kind of cafe or business? Expect to spend more money than you think, and expect the first couple of years to be more difficult than you think. But be confident that there's a market for all kinds of things that you might offer. We are in a sense creating a clientele for diversity and for things that they might not have been exposed to before. We need to teach that to people. And that's a highly rewarding process.