After successfully becoming the premier Cinniapolis coffee provider, Beaned Café hopes to repeat those results in the food arena by expanding its food menu. Currently, their locations offer a small limited assortment of bagels. But, their customer’s appetite for Beaned Café foodstuffs has grown over the years. It is a familiar scene for Oliver Roseman, founder of Beaned Café. Before opening his first location in 1988, Mr. Roseman decided his coffee shop would not offer the traditional coffee compliments, such as milk and sugar. “It was a cost-saving measure. But, it was also my inherent belief that Beaned Café coffee is best without all the frills and pomp of sugars and creams and milks,” he said. However, Mr. Roseman acquiesced to customer requests to offer coffee supplements through the years, “I kind of grew weary of new customers always asking for cream, sugar, and milk. They wore me down, in a good way, but I was stubborn about it for several years” he said.

It’s this same stubborn attitude that earned Mr. Roseman accolades in the minor leagues of professional baseball. He is the current record-holder for most hit-by-pitches. He famously crowded the plate while deploying an open batting stance, exposing the front of his body to 90+ mph fastballs. “You know, I couldn’t hit great. Here and there, I’d get on a hot streak. But, never impressive enough to make it to the big leagues. And, I got hit a lot, sometimes causing me to miss games. I was stubborn, I didn’t move because I knew I was getting on base, helping the team,” he said. “Maybe, if I moved out of the way, I’d hit a homerun on the next pitch. But, I didn’t think like that back then.”

Now, Mr. Roseman has learned to curb his stubborn attitude, in order to benefit his growing business and new teammates. “I played baseball my whole life. My way to help the team was to get on base and sometimes that meant taking a fastball in the ribs for the team,” he said. “Adding creamers, sugars, bagels, food, whatever, now is my way to help out my new team. The more profit we can turn, the better we can compensate employees and serve the public. The more menu items we can offer, the more jobs we can create. Instead of just baristas, now we can employ cooks too,” he said. But, where did the inspiration for the Beaned Café’s new anti-menu originate?

“It’s like a complete 180 degree turn from the first days as a coffee shop,” said Mr. Roseman, referring to his no creamer, no milk, no sugar stance. “Like baseball, there are all these unwritten rules in the food culture, and I was beholden to the black coffee unwritten rule. Now, we are re-writing the rules and creating refreshed, exciting takes on classic foods.” The Beaned Café will be rolling out their new anti-menu that will feature items such as Pig in the Sheet, a hot dog, quarter spear pickle, tater tots, ketchup and mustard, all wrapped in a flour tortilla. This handheld treat might be unrecognizable to the hot dog with mustard only hardliners. Another item that stood out is the Holiday Handheld. “Our approach for this sandwich is to keep the holiday meats in rotation all year long. It’s shaved smoked turkey breast and smoked ham slices on a sweet Hawaiian bun with a spicy sweet cranberry slaw. Now, customers can eat a holiday meal everyday.”

There are also other basic items for less adventurous palettes, such as the hot dog with ketchup only, bratwurst in a tortilla, or spaghetti-neat. The only side at this time are tater tots. Time will tell the tale of success or failure for the anti-menu but at least this success won’t be as painful as a fastball to the ribs. The anti-menu debuts at all locations this Summer.